Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 03.26.25 Top SCAMS / Again With The Gift Cards About this episode One topic that never goes away are the scams criminals constantly come up with to part you from your money. Clark shares a list of the top scams to look out for today - and a new way for Android users to protect themselves. Another chronic problem - gift cards. Clark provides yet another reason gift cards are fool’s gold. Top SCAMS: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 The Gift Card Hatin’ Club: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: Top scams of 2024 Google takes the battle to scammers with a groundbreaking feature for Android & Pixel phones What Is a Solo 401(k) and How Does It Work? How Should I Handle Car Insurance for My Teenage Driver? What Is Umbrella Insurance and Do You Need It? Walmart+ Membership Program: 4 Things To Know National Academy of Elder Law Attorneys Home NAELA Why It's More Important Than Ever To Have an Emergency Fund The Best Time and Place To Buy a TV The best deals on TVs available now Clark.com resources Episode transcripts Community. Clark.com / Ask Clark Clark.com daily money newsletter Consumer Action Center Free Helpline: 636-492-5275 Learn more about your ad choices: megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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0:46 Speaker 01 UKG is the workforce operating platform with unified HR, payroll, and workforce management. Built to solve the unique challenges of frontline work. Powered by People First AI and decades of labor data, UKG turns workforce intelligence into real-time decisions around staffing, pay, compliance, and productivity, enabling every worker to confidently take action as work happens. Because when work works, everything works. Learn more at ukg.com/work. UKG: HR, Pay, and Workforce Management.
1:21 Speaker 02 I'm so glad you're with us here on the Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you to make better financial decisions in your life. And one way we try to empower you is through our powerful daily newsletters. And I just love the content that we provide you in our newsletters where you get bite-sized or you want a full explanation, you got it right there. Free newsletter at clark.com/newsletter, or newsletters, both work.
2:01 Speaker 02 And one topic that never goes away is scams. Why? Because they work for the crooks. And the scams never stop changing. And you've got to be on your guard all the time. A lot of people will say to me, I can't believe I got taken. I mean, I always laughed about these things and then they got me. So know that criminals really have the ability to get in your wallet. Some of them start off as something that almost nobody's heard of. People get taken and then they become kind of widespread and they say, oh yeah, I've heard that one. I think
2:44 Speaker 02 about the phony jury duty one that got so many people when that first started popping up, I think in maybe three years ago. And now I've got a new list from the FTC. What are the scams that you need to be on the lookout the most? Number one, by far the largest scam losses are happening right now through the payment apps that people con you, get the money that way. There's no way for you to get the money back. And you've got to
3:21 Speaker 02 be just so on your guard. Investment scams have always been a big thing. Now they're the second largest losses people are experiencing. People being contacted through social media used to be the top way people were being scammed, but so much is happening there. And this year, we're going to see so many employment scams as unemployment rises in the United States. That one is an oldie but baddie that I predict is maybe by the end of this year
3:59 Speaker 02 will be our biggest scam area is with job scams. Interesting thing that first came clear. Back about five years ago, that the largest number of people being scammed now are people in their teens and twenties because they grew up in an era where what was a friend was a different definition than in the past. Friend used to be somebody who you were with, that you saw, that you would go have a meal with, or go shoot baskets with, or go to a movie, or whatever. Today, a friend is a whole different fungible kind of thing, and overwhelmingly
4:43 Speaker 02 can be somebody you've actually never seen in person. And so that's why people in their teens and twenties have become the most vulnerable to scams, where they think this person's a friend, and may take their time, months, working up to the point where they scam you. You need to know that the younger you are, the more your friends are what I would call in my mind, virtual, rather than physical friends that you're with, you've got to know you're more likely to stand the risk of being taken. Now, I want to tell you about a tool that Google has developed. I talked about it last year when it was vaporware,
5:26 Speaker 02 and said, this is going to happen. Now, it's starting to appear on Android phones, and it's a setting you have to change in your messages. But what it does is if you allow your Android phone to do so, and hopefully, Apple will follow with something like this, you can allow Google's AI tool to track your messages, not recording them, but tracking them with the AI. And when they see patterns of things that have turned out to be scams, they alert you to be on your guard. And Google's worked hard on this. They have sat down with bank security people at several banks.
6:12 Speaker 02 And they've worked together to make sure the AI is up to date on the latest scams. So when you go, if you're interested in this, you're willing to have them invade your privacy with the scam detection feature, you go to your messages setting and it'll give you the opportunity to turn on this tool. And they also have one on some of their own branded Pixel phones that will do the same with phone calls. That seems a little creepy to me, truthfully, to have AI listening in on my phone calls,
6:54 Speaker 02 but it's there if it's a tool you would like to have. So by the way, if you listen to our podcast and you'd like to watch us, you can watch our YouTube show version that has been growing significantly month by month. Am I right?
7:12 Speaker 03 Absolutely. And if you want to ask a question, Clark.com/ask. I'm going to start with this one from Joe in Massachusetts. Could Clark talk about solo 401ks? What exactly is this and how much and where to set one up? I'm self-employed without employees, which is one of the requirements to be eligible as I understand it.
7:30 Speaker 02 So I want you to know, I have loved solo or self-employed 401ks for a long, long time. You did the preamble, Joe, that makes you eligible. You are self-employed only employee. And so you're allowed, like someone at a big company, to set up your own 401k today at no cost with any of my favorite children. If you don't know what that is, Vanguard, Schwab, Fidelity, you're able to set up the solo 401k.
8:05 Speaker 02 And you're allowed to put in up to the statutory max of 23.5 this year, I think it is. I think it's 23.5. And if you're over 50, you're able to do the catch-up provision. And this is the kicker. If your business is extremely profitable, Joe, you're allowed to put in money all the way up to the mid 60s, where you're able to shelter it in the solo 401k. So it is a way for someone who is self-employed, who has a great year in your business, to be able to put enormous money aside.
8:50 Speaker 02 So now it's 70,000. I thought it was mid 60s. 70,000 a year, thank you Krista, into your solo or self-employed 401k, again with no administrative costs. If you go to a full-commission brokerage, or you go to a bank, you'll have a lot of expense involved with doing a self-employed or solo 401k with higher expenses on the investments. That's why I want you to stick for this with one of my three favorite children.
9:23 Speaker 03 Dan in Florida says, Clark, I've heard stories about children over 18 having car accidents that result in very high liability insurance claims against the parents because the child was on the parents' auto insurance and the car was in the parents' name. What is your take on getting the car title changed to the name of the child only, and then get them auto insurance in their name only as an attempt to shield the parents from the liability claims, since the young person would have very little assets compared to the parents?
9:51 Speaker 02 Okay, so this is one I was schooled on by a number of lawyers on Clark Stinks several years ago, that in most states, moving a child's vehicle into his or her own name, and having their own insurance policy, will not shield the parent from liability. That the parent is, if a parent provides more than 50% of the financial support to a child, in most states, the parent is still liable, even if the vehicle is registered and owned.
10:33 Speaker 02 In the child's name instead of the parent. Now, this is a most states kind of thing because how these liability laws play out varies by state. But what was made really clear to me, and I'm not a lawyer, is that the answer I gave before was wrong on this, that that will not provide the shield. So, Dan, if you are wealthy, you're in Florida, and I gave the example last time of the surgeon who ended up bankrupt because his daughter had an accident and he had Florida state liability
11:11 Speaker 02 minimums, and this was a very wealthy doctor wiped out from the liability claim that took all his assets way beyond what the liability coverage that Florida requires. So you, with a minor child or an adult who still relies on you for financial support, because adulthood's different than it used to be. The law may say 18 or 21, but really, it's later that parents stop providing a majority of support. You want to make sure you have adequate liability coverage to protect your assets.
11:51 Speaker 02 It may also involve you stacking on top of liability, having an umbrella policy, which is excess liability policy for your life, not that expensive, but provides real peace of mind in multiples of $1 million.
12:07 Speaker 03 George in Missouri says, "I heard a question about stacking Walmart plus gas discount on top of the Sam's Card 5% cash back." That was a question we had on the podcast. "I can state that I have been doing this for years. When at a Murphy station, I get a code from my Walmart app, enter into the pump manually, watch the prices on the pump drop 10 cents, then scan my Sam's Card via tap to pay from my watch, and have just again verified that the 5% cash back does show up on my Sam's credit card statement. I've also used it via the app when I can scan a barcode at a pump. Just letting you know it works. Love the show."
12:48 Speaker 02 I was at a Murphy gas station recently in Utah.
12:54 Speaker 02 And, and a guy came up to me, he said, Clark, it works, it works. Cause we'd had the question about stacking with Walmart and Sam's, the double discount. And it absolutely works, apparently. If you are both a Walmart Plus and a Sam's Club MasterCard cardholder, you get the double stack. You get the 5% cash back on the Sam's Club MasterCard and you get the discount you get at the Murphy gas station. And I mean, how great is that?
13:34 Speaker 02 That you're taking that price already at a station cheaper than typical in a market and getting that price even lower. Now, coming up ahead, I want to talk about something that I have despised for so long, I can't even remember, gift cards. And now I'm going to give you even another reason you should join me in the gift card hatin' club.
14:02 Speaker 01 UKG is the workforce operating platform with unified HR, payroll, and workforce management. Built to solve the unique challenges of frontline work. Powered by People First AI and decades of labor data, UKG turns workforce intelligence into real-time decisions around staffing, pay, compliance, and productivity, enabling every worker to confidently take action as work happens. Because when work works, everything works. Learn more at ukg.com/work. UKG, HR, Pay, and Workforce Management.
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15:46 Speaker 02 we can't help you find the perfect volume for your presentation video, LinkedIn can help you find the perfect audience for your business. Grow your small business on LinkedIn. Learn more at LinkedIn.com/smallbusiness. So I am the charter member of the gift card hatin' club. And if you ever went to use a gift card that someone had given you for your birthday or some special event, or you got one from your employer and you go to use it and there's no money on it because a criminal beat you to it and stole the money, you've joined me in the gift card hatin' club. But now we've got an oldie but baddie thing that predates all the theft of funds from
16:28 Speaker 02 gift cards that is back, that is always big when the economy goes into a lower gear. And that is retailers and restaurants closing their doors. And the gift card money that you forgot about now becomes worthless. I saw stories from all over the country with people outraged about the Jo-Ann gift cards.
16:56 Speaker 02 Being worthless. Now, I must tell the truth, there were 800 plus Jo-Ann stores. I didn't even know what that was. It's some kind of fabric place or something, or was. But people had gift cards for it and the money just went poof. And we're going to have a significant number of retailers of various sizes, including large chains that have been around a long time that are going to fail this year. We've been having it going on for a while with big national retailers going bust. And it's a big story when they fail. And then like recently I read,
17:39 Speaker 02 and this is what I love about retail and restaurants. They're like the ultimate form of capitalism. So it's known as creative destruction. So you had all these big lots that closed. And now Ollie's Bargain Outlet signed to take over the leases of a huge number of the big lots. So you had these vacant storefronts for people who love bargains. And now you're going to get them from Ollie's where you got them before from big lots. But what if somebody had a gift card? The gift card goes poof. And you know, restaurants, even ones that are beloved, will get into financial trouble. They'll fail and then your gift card's worthless.
18:22 Speaker 02 I mean, think about the difference. Think about the difference. You have a piece of plastic that is for a particular place, or you have cash, an old expression, cash money, that is actually money, money, paper money, that is good wherever you go and doesn't go out of business. So enough said, I just want you to have the heads up because anybody who's listened or watched me for any period of time knows how much I despise gift cards. It's just that right now, if you say, yeah, yeah, yeah, that's not going to happen to me. Know right now that the store and restaurant failures,
19:05 Speaker 02 because of the economic cycle we're moving into, there's much more risk with them and just flat out, don't buy them. Krista?
19:15 Speaker 03 All right, Kay in Washington says, "I have a question about a difficult situation that many of our parents are facing. My husband's mother was diagnosed with a form of Alzheimer's disease two years ago. We had noticed memory and language issues for some time, so it's likely she had been experiencing symptoms for several years before her diagnosis. Currently, my father-in-law is her primary caregiver at their home in Arizona, but her condition is deteriorating quickly. We are unsure how much longer he will be able to care for her on his own. Both of them are in their early 70s, and we are beginning to discuss the possibility of a nursing home. However, we were shocked by the high costs involved. We are deeply concerned that my father-in-law may have to deplete their
19:57 Speaker 03 entire retirement savings to cover her care, leaving him without enough to live comfortably after her passing. His family has a history of longevity, with most relatives living healthy lives well into their 80s or 90s. I came across information about Medicaid's spousal impoverishment protection, but the asset limits seem quite low. Are there any other options available to help protect his financial future while ensuring my mother-in-law receives the care she needs?"
20:24 Speaker 02 Kay, I am so sorry, and with an aging population, this is something we're hearing more about from more and more families. And it's a little late in the game now that she's already been diagnosed with a form of Alzheimer's. When those early signs appear, that's when family members need to seek out the expertise of an elder law attorney. It's a specialty, a subspecialty of the law, and they know backwards and forwards how to protect your husband's dad, yeah, father-in-law. So, right away, you need to find an elder
21:07 Speaker 02 law attorney in Arizona who will be fully versed on what the laws are in Arizona for what's known as the Medicaid spend-down that will not leave your father-in-law destitute.
21:24 Speaker 02 In order to get the care for your mother-in-law. This is a hard, hard area and time is of the essence. I also want to tell you that Arizona is a very expensive state for long-term care, assisted living, nursing care. It is an unusually expensive state for it. And it's not unusual for people in Arizona when they do need to find a facility for a relative to look in New Mexico or Utah, you know, adjacent states, but tend to have
22:06 Speaker 02 much cheaper assisted living available than you're going to find in Arizona. The obvious reason is that there are so many ultra wealthy people in Phoenix and Scottsdale and Tucson that assisted living and long-term care of various types, including nursing care are more expensive. But absolute first step as a family is getting some clock time with an elder law attorney. There's a trade association for elder law attorneys. Do we have a link to that on Clark?
22:44 Speaker 03 I'll make sure we put it in the show notes today.
22:46 Speaker 02 Okay, great.
22:47 Speaker 03 Andrew in Iowa says, "My wife and I are both focused on saving money, but I'm more focused on retirement and she's more focused on saving for surprise short-term expenses. A good compromise we've come to is putting a decent amount into retirement, but a fairly large portion of our liquid money in a taxable brokerage account that is invested similarly to our Roth IRA. This way, we can sell our stock holdings in an emergency and have access to that cash. I guess our question is, how much is safe to have invested in this way? Not counting retirement funds, we have a little over $10,000 and roughly half of it is in a high-yield savings account while the other half is invested. Our monthly expenses are about $2,500, so we have enough cash to live on for two months with our sellable investments on top of that.
23:32 Speaker 03 And we're hoping to slowly build our investments and emergency funds. Just wanted to get your thoughts on if this is too much or too little to be investing in the stock market in our situation."
23:42 Speaker 02 So Andrew, I'm really happy you're doing the Roth. I'm really happy you're building up the rainy day account. I'm not excited by you putting half of the rainy day account in stocks because when it does rain, it can pour and you may need more than two months of money. And then you could be selling the stocks in, you know, in a bad cycle to do so. I would rather you put your emphasis moving forward on not putting money more in the stocks. Put more of it in the money market fund at where your investment account is till you built up
24:23 Speaker 02 a bigger reserve of funds that would cover at least three months of living expenses from cash and over time get to six months. I'd be much more comfortable with that. You know, I love people being investors, but with rainy day money, that's your dull money. That's where you park money and that's where you build savings. The great news is that you're being so methodical building money for the long term and protecting yourself for the short term.
24:56 Speaker 03 And this came in from James in Alabama. Clark gets a lot of tough questions, so I thought I'd ask him a fun one if you have time. Who is the GOAT NFL quarterback? We all know the GOAT NFL running back is Bo Jackson, so I won't waste time asking him who he thinks that is.
25:13 Speaker 02 So we know Bo Jackson because he went to Auburn for college. So obviously it's going to be Bo Jackson running back. But all time GOAT quarterback, I would do a tie between someone who most people are going to say Johnny who? Huh? Johnny Unitas and obviously Brady. I mean, how many rings does Brady have? And I think about how hard he works because let's take even his, his quest for excellence. When he started doing announcing.
25:49 Speaker 02 On NFL games, color commentary, he was terrible. But he worked at it, he worked at it, and now he does a good job at it. That's the kind of thing with so many things. You build habits, you build good habits, you work hard, and you get to be the GOAT with, is it seven, Super Bowl rings?
26:09 Speaker 03 I thought this might be a good opportunity too, Clark. I know in our show meeting, you talked about how big people want their TVs to be. And so I thought maybe you'd want to mention that.
26:19 Speaker 02 Oh, you want your TV to be giant if you're a fan? Okay, so I don't know if I mentioned this. The TV I watch football on, my wife loves decorating. And now you can barely see the TV because don't watch TV outside of football season. And so she's put all these decorative things in front of it so that the TV is not really visible during non-football season. So it'll be decorated like that till week zero of college football in August. I'm not a big college football fan, but I miss it so much that I actually watch the lame week zero games of NCAA football.
27:00 Speaker 03 But there was recently an article that said Americans want
27:03 Speaker 02 Big, big, big screen TVs. Yeah.
27:06 Speaker 03 And how much would be, like, what could you get, like, a 65-inch TV for today? What deal?
27:13 Speaker 02 Couple hundred to $300, but 65, that's a mid-sized TV.
27:18 Speaker 03 That's too small? Okay, well, I know Clark Deals, ClarkDeals.com does, they do TV deals when they come out.
27:24 Speaker 02 Yep, yep. So anyway, have an absolutely wonderful day. And it's only, how many months till football starts again? Five months till football starts again. That's not that long. And we got rewarded with long days and warmer temperatures and all that in between the end of football season and the beginning again. And know that we're devoted to every day of the year is you. You, with so many ways for you to have more money in your wallet. One is the fact that since 1993, we've been offering one-on-one free advice.
28:09 Speaker 02 You got a question, a problem, a concern? You can talk with a member of the Team Clark Consumer Action Center 30 hours each week. Want to know how to do it? Go to Clark.com slash CAC. And have a great day. Remember, save more, spend less, avoid getting ripped off.
28:33 Speaker 01 UKG is the workforce operating platform with unified HR, payroll, and workforce management. Built to solve the unique challenges of frontline work. Powered by People First AI and decades of labor data, UKG turns workforce intelligence into real-time decisions around staffing, pay, compliance, and productivity, enabling every worker to confidently take action as work happens. Because when work works, everything works. Learn more at ukg.com/work. UKG, HR, Pay, and Workforce Management.
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