Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 04.06.26 How To Invest for $0 / AI in Healthcare About this episode Investing has never been cheaper - or more expensive - depending on where you choose to grow your money. What to know to be a Clark Smart investor. Also - Should you use ChatGPT Health? While AI is revolutionizing medical research and helping patients find specialized care - this all comes with a warning. Investing Expenses: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 AI & Health Monitoring : Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: Best Investment Companies for Investors in 2026 - Clark Howard What Fee Percentage Is Too High for Your Investments? What Brokerage Do You Recommend for First-Time Investors or Kids? Barrons: Commission-Free Annuities Are on the March. When They Make Sense. How To Find and Choose a Financial Advisor How To Roll Over U. S. Savings Bonds Into a 529 Plan Best Term Life Insurance Companies, Plans & Coverage AMEX - What is Send & Split? WPost- I let ChatGPT analyze a decade of my Apple Watch data. Then I called my doctor. Kardia Mobile EKG Monitor The Cheapest Grocery Stores - Clark Howard Best 529 College Savings Plans By State Where Should I Set Up My Health Savings Account (HSA)? 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. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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1:02 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. Coming up straight ahead, we are in the strangest time when you are trying to build financial security for your future. Expenses of investing are the lowest they've ever been on one hand. At the same time, we face enormously high expenses in other choices we could make with investing. I want to tell you what to watch out for. And then coming up later, AI is talked about all the
1:46 Speaker 02 time, and a lot of it is scary, a lot of it's possibly true, and then some of it is scare lines. But one area where AI is going to play a bigger role is in healthcare, including what role AI may have in you trying to self diagnose. I'll talk about that later. So with investing, it's amazing how much cheaper it is. When I first became an investor, well, way long ago in the 1970s,
2:28 Speaker 02 the cost of investing was crazy high, pretty much not even, you can't even come up with numbers to compare how expensive it was for you to buy a mutual fund, to buy stocks, to do anything in the investing world back before the internet and back before the competition that exists today for investing. I was reading recently that Vanguard now has an average cost of its mutual funds of six one hundredths of 1%, which is so cheap, that's what they charge you
3:12 Speaker 02 over the course of a year to manage the money that you have in that fund. That's so cheap that it's basically free. And speaking of free, Fidelity Investments has their zero funds that actually are free. Fidelity uses them as almost like an advertising vehicle, a promotional vehicle to bring in new clients or bring in more money from clients, giving them a small group of funds that you can invest in commission-free and fee-free. So you get 100% of the return of whatever you're investing in. And stock trading now routinely, essentially free.
3:57 Speaker 02 And it used to cost hundreds of dollars in commissions just for you to buy a stock. And now that same transaction, free. And then at the same time, we've got that going on. We've got all these games and gimmicks going on from non-fiduciaries trying to sell you junk that has ultra-high fees and all the pitches trying to get you to do private placements and private equity where you pay. Massive commissions upfront. And then if the investment makes money, you give up in addition 20% on average, what your return would be.
4:41 Speaker 02 So you're paying humongous fees. And then you've got the insurance people trying to con you into thinking that insurance is an investment and telling you how great it's going to be for you to pay their huge fees that are not disclosed with commissions upfront that can be the entire amount that you put in the first couple of years in an insurance product. And then massive ongoing expenses. And don't even get me started with the cuss word. And we're a family show. You may need to cover your kids' ears. Annuities. Annuities are why the insurance industry
5:25 Speaker 02 fought so hard and spent so much money on lobbyists and gave so much money to politicians that the insurance industry would not have to behave as fiduciaries, meaning that they would have to do what was best for you as a customer, as an investor. And as a result, the insurance industry has won. The American people have lost. And people continue to be sold piece of junk annuities with gigantic upfront commissions and ongoing expenses. And then what are known as surrender charges that can leave you 10 years later
6:09 Speaker 02 with less money than you started with, even if the investment markets have gone up over those years. But I do even have some hope there on the piece of trash annuity market. There are a small number of fiduciary financial planners that are selling commission-free annuities. And over the years, if an annuity is in fact appropriate in your life, and a fiduciary would only recommend it if it was an appropriate tool for where you are in your life, that annuity will be much better because it won't have. Fee after fee after fee, and it won't be a junk one that's being sold by some
6:54 Speaker 02 salesperson so he can get the free trip to Hawaii from the insurance company. And there, there he is sunning himself on the beach in Hawaii, or on a junket to Europe, and having so much fun sending the pictures back home to family, and you paid for that, and your future security paid for that. So, the point I want to make is how important it is that if you do pay for advice, that you make certain that you're dealing with somebody who has signed a fiduciary contract
7:31 Speaker 02 with you, that he or she is legally duty-bound to do what is right for you, and not what lines their pockets. Second, that investing is there for you at even zero cost today. And a lot of people intimidated by the terminology, or what's going on, or whatever, feel like they've got to go to that friendly person who says, "Oh, I'm gonna take care of you." Take care of you for sure. And remember the snake in the grass, investment arms of banks that very rarely are truly fiduciaries.
8:13 Speaker 02 And if you're gonna ever use a financial arm of a bank, know their costs are higher, and often, they are not working for you. They're working for whatever gets them the most commission. Now, it's possible you could be with an investment arm of a bank, and they play it clean and straight, but you gotta make sure they've signed a fiduciary agreement with you. Krista?
8:39 Speaker 03 Okay, Scott in Colorado sent this question in.
8:42 Speaker 02 Do you think I'm going to be Person of the Year for the life insurance industry, the annuity industry, or the banks?
8:50 Speaker 03 It's a tough call. I'm not sure.
8:53 Speaker 02 Zero for three on that, right?
8:55 Speaker 03 Yeah, I think so. It's like the opposite of your favorite children.
8:59 Speaker 02 They are.
9:00 Speaker 03 Okay, well, Scott in Colorado wants to know this. He says, I recently cashed in some EE savings bonds that were near maturity. I know earnings from these bonds are tax-free if they are used for a qualified education expense. My question is, can I use the proceeds from the savings bonds to fund my granddaughter's 529 plan and not have to pay taxes on the earnings?
9:22 Speaker 02 The answer is yes, as long as you jump through like eight hoops. There's an income limitation hoop, the designation originally of ownership of the EE bonds, but has to be done within a tight time limit. And there's a lot more than that. But the answer is yes, if you meet all the requirements. There's also an IRS filing you have to do with your return if you do convert EE's to a 529 account. It's one of those things that, yes, it's possible. Yes, it's a great thing to do, but you got to make sure you
10:03 Speaker 02 meet all the requirements. The best guide to this is one that was written originally and has been continually updated by savingforcollege.com. If you go to Saving for College, you'll be able to search their briefing on converting EE's or Series I savings bonds into a tax-free, essentially, exchange into a 529 plan for the benefit of your granddaughter. And I hope you meet all the requirements.
10:36 Speaker 03 Jared in North Carolina says, is the no medical evaluation life insurance from banks and insurance companies legit?
10:42 Speaker 02 What a great question. Okay, this is weird. This morning I was eating a bagel and a nice woman came up to me and was talking about how her grandmom was filling out an application for one of these. And she asked me, was it any good? And she told me what it was. I said, no, I'm sorry, that one's junk. Don't let her send it in. When you refer to the no medical exam life insurance market, there's the old dirty way and the new clean way. So let's deal with the dirty way first. They advertise very heavily on nostalgic TV shows. What
11:25 Speaker 02 they're pitching is that, hey, you know, you're worried about what's going to happen when you die, you know, burial costs, things like that. And no one will be turned down. Just apply right now for this life insurance. So those policies pay no benefit, usually for a minimum two years. So you paid in the premiums, you think you're going to be providing peace of mind to your children. And poof, you got nothing in that waiting period, which is usually a couple of years. Now, that is the old dirty way. The new clean way is insurers
12:04 Speaker 02 that do instant medical underwriting of you using industry databases, instead of putting you through a normal medical exam where a nurse comes and sees you and takes blood sample and other stuff, urine sample, all those things. And the instant issue market in that case is legit. We have a brief guide on Clark.com, how the legitimate instant issue market works. Now, remember, I said, your question was no medical exam, right?
12:44 Speaker 02 So there is no medical exam with the legit market, but there is a medical background check on you on because so much data, in spite of HIPAA, so much data is out there. They're able to, in the overwhelming percent of cases, calculate risk and you get real insurance issued almost immediately.
13:10 Speaker 03 Matthew in Tennessee says, previously I've linked my Venmo account to a throwaway checking account to limit the blast radius of a hack under your recommendation.
13:20 Speaker 02 Okay, I love that sentence. That was beautifully worded.
13:24 Speaker 03 The blast radius, I love it. But recently, when making a payment, I saw an option for using Amex Send and Split on both Venmo and PayPal. I tried it. It was quick and easy and it posted the charge to my Amex credit card. No credit card rewards, but no fees either. For someone who pays his credit card in full every month, what's the catch? Is this more secure? Do we need to get any consumer protection since it's going through the credit card account? Can I unlink Venmo from my checking account entirely now?
13:55 Speaker 02 Yeah, you know, somebody else had asked me about Send and Split. Have you ever looked at it?
14:00 Speaker 03 I haven't used it, but I do think it's, I mean, it's an interesting way to do it.
14:04 Speaker 02 It's completely legit.
14:05 Speaker 03 And then if someone wants to pay you, you can receive the payment as a credit on your American Express bill.
14:11 Speaker 02 So American Express has done this as like a broadening of their banking kind of umbrella. And people don't want to use a credit card typically with Venmo or Cash App because of the fees involved. American Express is absorbing it, taking on credit risk, but you're getting no membership miles, points, or cash back or anything like that. So what you're doing Is from what I know is completely a great alternative to my whole thing about having the cordoned off separate bank account with usually with an online bank where you don't pay any fees on that where your money's not at risk.
14:56 Speaker 02 And the issue with it I saw online before is that American Express limits how large your transactions can be and how many you can do over a month to limit the risk to American Express. But for routine kind of Venmo transactions where you're just sending, you know, $20 here, $50 there, $100 there, absolutely the American Express send and split is a great alternative and probably superior to the advice I've given over the years to people who have an American Express card eligible for spend and split. You just gotta pay your bill.
15:41 Speaker 02 Coming up ahead, AI, AI, AI, AI now is becoming part of medical care. How do you fit in as a patient, as a consumer?
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18:06 Speaker 02 We're in early innings on the role of AI with healthcare. And there was a lot of fuss recently because ChatGPT, which is, I think, the most popular consumer version of an AI assistant that consumers are using, now has a health outlet, ChatGPT Health, where you can ask medical questions. And I read a story from a tech person who took their Apple Watch health data, ran it through the ChatGPT Health, and it let them down, well, unfortunately, a lot of rabbit holes
18:50 Speaker 02 that turned out not to be, well, not to be accurate based on the reporter's findings. But we're in early, early innings and people in medicine are using AI assistants, AI tools, a lot in medical research, trying to figure out.
19:13 Speaker 02 Something that might take months of research from graduate assistants, letting AI test different theories in just minutes. And so these AI tools have the potential over time and in the right hands of significantly enhancing medical research. I'll give you another example. This is different than Dr. Google, where Dr. Google, any of us at any time are two clicks from cancer. It's just a fact. Try it. List any kind of aches and pains and Dr. Google will quickly have you figuring you've got weeks to live or something.
19:56 Speaker 02 But the technology that is going to be in our hands as consumers is not a replacement for you going to a doctor. But how about finding the right doctor potentially? Family member has an ongoing chronic disease and needed to go to a medical research facility instead of traditional medicine. And so she started using Claude, which is another AI assistant, and was able to find three different medical centers in the United States where advanced research was being done on her chronic illness.
20:39 Speaker 02 Not only did it say where the most advanced research was going, it talked about what areas of that chronic illness the various researchers were working on and who at the three medical centers was the lead researcher on that. And then went through quite a process to get an appointment with one of those researchers. Because there are times that you'll have a chronic illness that you just don't seem to be getting anywhere with traditional clinical care. Not the fault of the hardworking doctors in clinical care. It's just they're busy and the latest cutting edge research they may not know about.
21:21 Speaker 02 And that's the kind of thing, that's just one small example of where AI can be a benefit.
21:30 Speaker 02 In being a patient advocate, advocating for yourself or advocating for a friend or a loved one is if you're running into a wall with medical care, knowing where better care may be available. I talked before about people who use the Kardia Mobile, which is not an AI tool, but it's one that is able to track with a six-lead consumer device daily what's going on with your heart. I have a brother who has an AFib problem and he uses the Kardia every single morning. The medical center he goes to is a cooperative
22:14 Speaker 02 facility with Kardia and they get a report on him every morning. And if his daily EKG is showing a bad pattern, it goes straight to his cardiologist and then the cardiologist knows. Otherwise, you know, heart patients so often die because between visits, something will be wrong and nobody knows. And we're going to have more and more of this kind of thing where consumers are able to get access to real information that can save their lives or improve their health. And it is going to be a process of hit or miss
22:54 Speaker 02 like Dr. Google, but absolutely big changes here. I should have said Kardia is spelled K-A-R-D-I-A, Kardia Mobile. And for people who have ongoing concerns about their heart, don't buy the cheap Kardia. Buy the one that does the full six-lead. That was medical advice from a medical idiot.
23:18 Speaker 03 Well, you know, Clark's telling you to spend the money, spend the money. That's what I would say too.
23:25 Speaker 02 Yeah, but I mean, let's face it, my understanding of medicine is nothing.
23:30 Speaker 03 I wouldn't say that.
23:32 Speaker 02 It is. It is nothing. So if you are a medical professional, you're a doctor, you're a scientist or researcher and you're like, Clark, when did you go to medical school? I didn't.
23:45 Speaker 03 All right, let's go to some questions. Nancy in Wisconsin sent this one in. Like you, I'm a huge fan of Aldi. Recently, I began noticing something and I want to get your opinion. In their weekly ads, some items have a red circle with the words "price drops." Other items just have a price. I assumed that everything in their ad was a special price just for that week. But when I see price drops, I figured they were lowering the price long-term for more than a week. I learned the hard way this is not true. To me, if they had their regular items on sale, then mark them as sale price. And their special items there for short-term can be in the ad marked "get them while they last"
24:27 Speaker 03 or something to that effect. I feel like Aldi's doing bait and switch with their pricing, or purposefully trying to be confusing. What do you think?
24:36 Speaker 02 I think they're confusing, but not on purpose. And your advice is well-taken. So Aldi finds is what they call the items that now you see them, now you don't. And then, why they just don't say "sale" when something is on sale and they call it a "price drop"? I don't get it either. But what I do know is people are getting the Aldi thing. Do you know they're opening a new location in the United States roughly every other day now?
25:08 Speaker 03 Wow, that's insane.
25:10 Speaker 02 So they came to the United States 50 years ago to the Midwest. And Aldi really struggled in the United States for a good while. They really didn't understand American consumers. And they worked at it, worked at it, worked at it. And now, they're booming and they're in, I think like 35 states now, or something like that. They're growing like a weed. And I know there are people who go in an Aldi and just can't stand it. They don't get it, they don't like it. You have to bag your own groceries, the stores can be disheveled, and everything is store-brand, almost 100%. But the prices are dirt-cheap.
25:52 Speaker 02 And that's why I wanted to name our last dog Aldi, but got outvoted by our social media audience. In the contest, Aldine lost to Kirk on signature.
26:06 Speaker 03 And Kirk's an adorable dog.
26:08 Speaker 02 Kirk is an adorable dog.
26:10 Speaker 03 Or doglet.
26:12 Speaker 02 All nine pounds of Kirk, because Kirk almost died at birth and barely survived. And Kirk's siblings are all about 40 pounds. And Kirk is generously a nine pound dog, maybe.
26:28 Speaker 03 Mary Ann in Florida says, "We've been saving money for our three grandchildren ever since they were born. They're now 10, 17, and 20 years old. Rather than give them money upfront for college, we want to see that they are serious about getting a good education and graduating. Our daughter believes the kids should have no student loans and is of the opinion we should give them all the money upfront for college. Growing up, my husband and I paid for our own education, and it meant so much to us at graduation because we achieved it on our own. Any thoughts on dispensing savings to grandkids? Once they graduate, we would provide them the money to pay off their student loans."
27:06 Speaker 02 So, Mary Ann, there's an old expression, "He who has the gold makes the rules." And if you're being kind and generous enough that you're going to absorb the cost of college for these grandkids when they complete, I think your daughter should say, "Thank you." And, you know, I'm a big believer in the 529 plans. You could set up three 529 plans, put money in them. You get, for the 10-year-old, it would really matter because you get some growth over the years. 17 and 20-year-old, really not appreciably. But the student loans,
27:45 Speaker 02 if any of your grandkids go to really expensive colleges, the new cap on borrowing under the federal student loan program is very tight, and it won't pay for four years of college in any way unless somebody goes to, they don't go to sleepaway school. They go to community college or a local college that is a state school, then yeah, you could stay under the federal borrowing cap. So, I would say, since you're the ones being so generous that all three kids can borrow up to the federal limit.
28:28 Speaker 02 And beyond that, you would go ahead and pay. And when they graduate successfully, that successful graduation, you would wipe out the 50,000, I think is the limit now, for each of the three children. Imagine where your son and mine go. 50,000 is gone in, oh my goodness, like a semester and a half. And it's a state school.
28:54 Speaker 03 Not our state, though.
28:55 Speaker 02 Right.
28:56 Speaker 03 Craig in Colorado says Clark has commented about high fees for HSA accounts. What I don't know is how much constitutes a high fee. I haven't paid fees with my employer, but after I retire soon, my HSA administrator will start charging $2.75 per month. Is this considered a high fee? And if yes, is it possible to move the entire account to a lower fee administrator without triggering taxes?
29:23 Speaker 02 Okay, we got a lot to say here. First of all, what you earn on your savings in the employer-provided HSA is one of the hidden fees. It's probably near zero that you earn on your savings. If you do any investment options through them, they tend to have extremely high fees. And then you talk about the salt to the wounds. If you're no longer with the employer, you're then going to pay about $35 a year in junk fees just to have the HSA. So yes, you can transfer funds in your HSA from the crummy employer-provided HSA
30:05 Speaker 02 to the excellent plans at Fidelity Investments. Now, there may be somebody else who offers really outstanding HSA plans other than Fidelity. They're the only one I've seen in my research that offers an incredibly outstanding HSA account. So while you're there still with that employer, you can move money out of it to Fidelity. And when you're no longer with that employer, you can move the remainder all to Fidelity. And at the time when you may change employers, there could be another better HSA choice out there. But what employers are looking for
30:49 Speaker 02 With an HSA plan, they're looking for something that's the easy button that costs the employer as little money as possible. And they're not really paying attention to how most of these employer-provided HSA plans have all kinds of hidden fees and obvious fees when you invest with them that are really bad, ugly. And your HSA can end up with a smaller balance over time, particularly if you invest through employer HSA than through your own independent one with fidelity, just because of the fees. And I wanted to mention,
31:29 Speaker 02 when I said the thing about Krista and me having a child at the same state university, it's not the same child. We each have our sons are each at Auburn University, War Eagle, both sophomores completing their sophomore year right now. Just wanted to clear that up, Krista. Didn't want people to think there was something about us that you and I-
31:57 Speaker 03 I didn't even think about it.
31:58 Speaker 02 The way I said it-
31:59 Speaker 03 Okay.
32:00 Speaker 02 I thought later, wow, people are gonna think, wow, Clark and Krista have a kid together. No, we don't.
32:07 Speaker 03 No.
32:12 Speaker 02 Anyway, have an absolutely wonderful day today. And on Wednesday, we're going to be back serving you with more empowerment for your wallet, so you can save more, spend less, and never, never, not ever get ripped off.
32:33 Speaker 00 Progressive's Accident Response can contact emergency services if you're in a major accident. The only thing worse than someone you love being in an accident is not being able to help them. So Progressive is here to help when you can't. So get peace of mind knowing your loved ones are protected with Progressive's Accident Response. Learn more at progressive.com. Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Limited availability in California. Driver is responsible for emergency and towing charges not covered by the policy. Coverage subject to policy terms and conditions.
33:03 Speaker 01 As wish lists grow, you know where to go. Head to Ulta Beauty. We have gifts they'll love from brands like Tato One and Rare Beauty by Selena Gomez. Shop beauty faves to give or keep from Shark Beauty, Sol de Janeiro and more. Not sure what they want? You can't go wrong with Balmain, Clinique or Redken. And don't forget to put yourself on the list. Book a salon moment or add a little more sparkle to your season. Shop holiday in store or at Ulta.com. Ulta Beauty.
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