Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 05.22.26 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / Life Saving Health Tracking About this episode Friday - Clark Stinks day! Christa shares Clark Stinks posts with Clark. Submit yours at Clark.com/ClarkStinks. Also, while many of us use fitness trackers to count steps or monitor sleep, the latest data shows some of these devices are evolving into genuine lifesavers. Clark has worn a Garmin for twenty years and a Samsung smartwatch, but the Oura Ring has truly impressed him and for good reason, as new findings indicate. Clark Stinks: Segments 1 & 2 Oura Reports: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: Is Turo Legit? 5 Things To Know Before You Use It 5 of Clark Howard's Most Extreme Frugal Hacks What Is Umbrella Insurance and Do You Need It? - Clark Howard The Insurance Policies You Need (and Some You Don't) What Age Are Americans Actually Starting Social Security? Term Life vs. Whole Life Insurance: Understanding the Difference Oura Ring Helps Uncover 'Multiple Cases of Lymphoma,' Says Its Chief Medical Officer Axios: Finish Line: The quiet rise of "prescribing connection" 4 Ways To Stop Junk Mail - Clark Howard How To Choose the Best Charities for Your Donations - Clark Howard Memorial Day 2026: Facts, Meaning & Traditions 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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0:46 Speaker 01 At Edward Jones, we believe rich is about taking care of what gives your life meaning. That's why your financial advisor personalizes your plan to help you preserve your progress and create something that lasts. Let's find your rich. Edward Jones. Member SIPC.
1:06 Speaker 02 I'm so glad you've joined us today on the Clark Howard Show. You know why? Well, because this is our last show for five days. Because I don't like working holidays. So we're off on Memorial Day. And remember what Memorial Day is about, by the way. And we will be back at your service next Wednesday. But today is such a special day for empowerment. Our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you to make better financial decisions. Because today is when I get to hear how I can do a better job in Clark Stinks. And then later, you know I'm obsessed with fitness trackers?
1:50 Speaker 02 There's an extra reason why you might want to wear the Aura ring for your health. I'm going to explain why I am Aura-obsessed later in this podcast. But right now, it's time to hear where I just stink it up in today's Clark Stinks.
2:11 Speaker 03 I should have never encouraged you to speak.
2:13 Speaker 04 You must think I'm pretty stupid. You should be ashamed of yourself. Well, maybe I'm wrong.
2:17 Speaker 02 Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you're right, pal. You're not dancing as much.
2:23 Speaker 05 Janet in Virginia says, Clark, as the Grinch would say, stink, stank, stunk. A gentleman who wrote in to ask about a problem with rental agencies being out of cars when you get there for your reservation. Apparently, he had a horrible experience with that and was very anxious about it happening again. You explained that there's really nothing that can be done about it and that this is a general and well-known problem with rentals, which you have experienced as well. However, you neglected to talk about Turo or other similar platforms. I used Turo once on your recommendation and have had a wonderful experience. Since Turo operates like Airbnb for cars, you're renting a specific vehicle and should never have the we're out of cars problem.
3:07 Speaker 05 This seemed like the perfect answer to this gentleman who was so fearful of getting stuck again.
3:12 Speaker 02 Janet, you are so right, and I don't know why I didn't mention Turo as an alternative.
3:18 Speaker 05 And there could be a Turo problem. I had a Turo reservation once where the company, it was a few days before the reservation, and they had a few Turo cars. It was like a small business that was doing this. And they said, that car actually is now not available, but you can have this one. So, I mean, there can always be something, you know, someone could have, there could be an accident with their car, it breaks down, and then you don't get it.
3:39 Speaker 02 But, but you're right that that was a blind spot on my part.
3:42 Speaker 05 Okay. Melanie in Maryland says, not stinky, just confusing. A listener was concerned that the large 529 plan for her son would go unused because the ownership had recently switched from the husband to the son, thus starting the 15-year waiting period to transfer the son's Roth IRA to the son's Roth IRA. Clark's suggestion was for the son to invest the 529 money in a growth fund within the 529 and transfer it to Roth in 15 years. I thought that there was a 529 to Roth limit of $35,000. Am I wrong? Or gulp, is Clark wrong?
4:14 Speaker 02 No, under current tax law, you're right. Was that 529 bigger than 35,000?
4:19 Speaker 05 I don't know if we knew how much. She's just said, I don't remember how large it was.
4:23 Speaker 02 So, what would happen in that case is if tax law... Has not changed and raised that limit over the years. The sun would be able to transfer over five years. If also the limit's still the same. The 35,000 tax free from the 529 that would have had 15 years more of tax free growth. Then it would be in the Roth, be able to grow for the rest of the sun's working cycle. And spend tax free. And then any excess would suffer ugly tax and penalty.
5:01 Speaker 05 Unless then the sun wants to put it in a 529 for his own kids at that point.
5:05 Speaker 02 Had you.
5:06 Speaker 05 Oh, I'm sorry.
5:07 Speaker 02 No, that's perfect. No, that was great.
5:10 Speaker 05 Okay, Brad in Florida says, love you, Clark. But the tip you've always given that drying your razor blade after each use with a towel. Saying it's going to last a long time does not work.
5:20 Speaker 02 What?
5:20 Speaker 05 I've been trying this for probably 15 years now with a bunch of different types of razors. Hoping that someday it's going to work and it's never worked for me. Thanks for all you do.
5:30 Speaker 02 Brad, I'm so sorry. I mean, I, I made one blade last 14 months. Drying it after each use. Now, should have gone 14 months? No, it was a miserable experience. The last few months trying to stretch that. And I remember CBS News did a story with me shaving. And with the 14 month razor. And I was having to stand there with the camera guy shaving and hope that I didn't nick and cut.
6:05 Speaker 05 Cutting artery. Yep.
6:06 Speaker 02 Cause it was, it was so overtime, but having a razor last many, many months. I don't know what's happening in your case, but that's been no sweat for me. Now, I don't talk about it anymore in my case. Cause I got lazy and I use an electric razor almost always. And so I don't have a way of calculating how long I've made a traditional razor work. But I'm really sorry because we've heard from a lot of people. That drying the razor every day has gotten them ultra long time out of a razor.
6:42 Speaker 05 Steve in Oregon says Clark was told that umbrella insurance increased a lot for the caller and they suggested it was cheaper to raise their home and auto policy coverage for around $1,000 in savings. What Clark didn't correct is that umbrella coverage does not equal home plus auto coverage. Umbrella covers additional categories. Liability of rental properties, personal liability when away from home, liable slander and defamation claims, false arrest or malicious prosecution claims, liability as a volunteer or board member, dog bites or injuries caused by your pets that your home policy might exclude, watercraft and wreck vehicle liability. Dropping umbrella for increased home and auto does not bring them back to baseline categories.
7:25 Speaker 02 Thank you so much for mentioning that.
7:27 Speaker 05 Jacob in Pennsylvania says, Clark, your advice about the KS diapers didn't smell quite as bad as a full diaper, but it wasn't great. After looking on Costco's website, the 204-pack of Huggies is on sale for $39.99, the same as the cost of the 222-pack of KS diapers. With a cost difference of 1.6 cents per diaper, the young parents shouldn't have to buy KS if they don't want to. Thanks for all you do.
7:54 Speaker 02 Jacob, thank you. Oh, man, have we heard from a lot of people about store diapers.
8:01 Speaker 05 Personal preference, right?
8:02 Speaker 02 Yeah.
8:03 Speaker 05 Paul in Kansas says, Clark, you're wrong on the national debt problem. Your first response was to raise taxes, but that will only lead to more tax fraud in the USA. No one really knows how much fraud is actually being done, but some accounts have left it. Over 50% of the tax revenue is not accounted for. And would you allow this for a company you own? Fix this first and the tax deficit by a year would go away.
8:25 Speaker 02 Paul, I mean, I hope you're right. And the reality is, we have obligations that we want the federal government to provide for, and we don't have the money to pay for them. So we either stop having the federal government provide things, or we have to pay for them. And how do you pay for them? Your suggestion is there's so much tax evasion and tax fraud going on that we Could solve it with that. And I hope that what you're saying is true.
8:56 Speaker 05 Justin in Texas says, not sure what consistency smells like, but it sure does stink. Regarding jewelry insurance, the Clark.com article titled, "The Insurance Policies You Need and Some You Don't", dated in September of 2025, says you advise your audience to add a rider to an existing home or renters coverage instead of buying a separate policy. On your podcast, you've advised a separate policy instead of a homeowner's rider to prevent a claim on your homeowner's policy that could result in higher premiums or cancellation. So which is it?
9:26 Speaker 02 Yeah, this is a great question, and I do speak in a confusing way about this. So, most people who add a jewelry rider to a homeowner's insurance policy are insuring a few very precious valuable pieces. That's when you buy that rider. You're not going to make a claim, at least I don't want you to, for an inexpensive, relatively inexpensive piece of jewelry. So if you're adding a jewelry rider, it could be for a claim of such size that you would make a claim on homeowner's insurance. But you always have the alternative, particularly if you would be tempted to
10:10 Speaker 02 use an insurance policy for more modestly priced jewelry. You buy a separate policy and then you're never tempted to make a claim against homeowners for a relatively, what in the world of what a house is worth, a relatively minor claim. So I've talked about it in both scenarios and have led to confusion in how I explain it. I hope that explains why it can be on a homeowner's policy, but only for mega expensive pieces of jewelry, not everyday kind of, I don't call it every day, but pieces that are not big, big money pieces.
10:52 Speaker 05 Like costume jewelry, probably.
10:53 Speaker 02 I'm not even talking about costume jewelry. I would say, okay, so let me put a dollar figure on it today. I would say that if you want to insure jewelry- That a piece of jewelry is under $10,000 and you want to insure that. That goes on a separate jewelry only policy, not connected to your homeowners. If you're somebody who has like a really expensive heirloom handed down by a family member, or you like to really buy really expensive jewelry, then it's okay to have those items insured on your homeowner's policy because you would make a claim for something that was a mega dollar piece of jewelry.
11:36 Speaker 05 And we'll update our article on Clark.com. So thanks for pointing that out. Larry in Idaho says, Clark doesn't really stink, but does have a bit of an odor when it comes to waiting until 70 to take social security. You need to do the math. I was 64, my break even point was 84. Taking it at 70 would have denied my wife and I many experiences and travel that we would not have been able to afford otherwise. My wife waited until she was 70. Longevity runs in her family and she has many relatives that live well into their 90s. A simple answer to a complex question does not help people.
12:07 Speaker 02 Okay, Larry, thank you very much. All right. So why do I stay on this 70, 70, 70 theme? Because people overwhelmingly claim early on social security and a meaningful number of people claim at age 62. What I'm trying to make people do is think about later in life. What are you going to live on? Every year you wait makes your social security check from the day you start receiving it significantly larger and every inflation adjustment is larger because you waited on a higher base.
12:47 Speaker 02 So what I'm trying to do, you ran the numbers, in your case, it made sense for you to take it at age 64. And you did the math and you were really happy with what you did. Your wife waited till 70 and for specific reasons. But what I'm trying to do is make people go through a process like you did.
13:11 Speaker 05 Leandra in Massachusetts says, I must disagree with the answer Clark gave recently on the podcast to a question from a young couple who were planning to invest in whole life insurance policy to pass down family wealth. I thought Clark would tell them not to buy the whole life insurance package and invest their money in one of Clark's three favorite investment companies. Instead, Clark went off on a long tangent, talking about consulting with an estate advisor before buying the whole life package. My dad worked at a small life insurance company for over 35 years. He started as an actuary and worked his way up to being the CFO, second only to the president. He told me in his very quiet but stern voice that if I ever needed life insurance to only buy term insurance, he said the life insurance industry developed all the other variations
13:53 Speaker 05 of life insurance to bamboozle and confuse the public about the value of insurance policies being sold by the life insurance companies.
14:00 Speaker 02 Okay, so Leandra, why did I answer that particular question like I did? And why did it feel like I was off on a tangent? Because there are people who are being pitched life insurance as this incredible wealth tool that will allow them to retire much earlier and live an incredibly high-end lifestyle. And so if I immediately shut down the conversation, only talk about term, I really needed to talk through why this was something that was overhyped and all the rest. So for you, knowing clearly what I talk about regularly, that for almost everybody, level
14:45 Speaker 02 term life insurance is the only smart choice. If I just said that there, I wouldn't have addressed where, but this isn't about that. This is about me becoming crazy wealthy, almost like magic, like it's a magic room or something. So that's why I answered it how I did in that case. Because yes, baseline, what you said, 100% right.
15:11 Speaker 05 David in Texas says, your warning about horrifically bad, in quotes, forced place homeowners insurance did not explain why this expensive insurance is as useful to the homeowner as a screen door on a submarine.
15:25 Speaker 05 You pointed out that the premiums are ridiculously high, but failed to mention the big downside. The coverage is capped at the amount of the remaining balance of the mortgage loan, no matter how big the damage to the home may be and how small the remaining balance due on the mortgage loan may be. The homeowner gets only a release of the mortgage lien on what may be nothing but a heap of ashes or other debris that remain.
15:48 Speaker 02 Thank you for saying that. I mean, force-placed insurance is an abomination. And the way it is allowed in various states is reprehensible. And what this is, just very briefly, if you've never heard us talk about force-placed insurance, is when your mortgage company decides the insurance you have on your home is not adequate, or if you accidentally let your policy lapse, they place this horrific junk that is unbelievably profitable for the mortgage company and will leave you pretty much high and dry.
16:28 Speaker 02 So you never, ever, ever want to find yourself in a situation, not ever, where you are left with the insurance that the mortgage company has forced on you, known as force-placed. I want to thank each of you for your posts. I learned so much from you. I learned that the way I talk about something may be incomplete, maybe inaccurate, or in some cases, just wrong. And it's so important because this is all about you being empowered with knowledge that will help you improve your life.
17:08 Speaker 02 And if I do a bad job, I have failed you, and that's the last thing I ever want to do. So you ever hear something and you're like, "What did he say?" Or, "What didn't he say?" And you're like, "No!" Take the time to go to Clark.com/ClarkStinks and post it so we can all help each other. Coming up ahead, I want to talk about this Oura ring of mine that I've been wearing Oura more than six years. What it now is doing that is absolutely amazing for your health and life.
17:52 Speaker 01 At Edward Jones, we believe rich is more than caring about the latest and greatest. It's also taking care of what gives your life meaning. That's why your dedicated financial advisor meets you where you are with personalized financial strategies that help protect what matters, so you can preserve your progress while creating a path forward. The key to being rich is knowing what counts. Let's find your rich together. Edward Jones. Member SIPC.
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20:05 Speaker 02 So, it's a joke, and it's really true.
20:11 Speaker 02 There is something wrong with me that I wear a Garmin fitness tracker as I've been wearing for closing in on 20 years, I think. Not the original one, they've all died. But I wear a Samsung device that gives me my Samsung smartwatch has the Samsung health on it and gives me a daily report. And then I wear the Oura. And the Oura is amazing.
20:39 Speaker 05 If you don't know, that's a ring.
20:42 Speaker 02 O U R A ring.
20:43 Speaker 05 Mm hmm.
20:44 Speaker 02 O U R A ring.
20:45 Speaker 05 I wear one too.
20:46 Speaker 02 Dot com. And I just love the Oura. There's so much data there that people don't even know is there. But what I want to talk about right now is something that's been saving lives on the Oura. There is a section of it that tells you what it thinks is going on with your health. If you don't have an Oura, don't worry about this. But if you do have an Oura, you can go to your report on your Samsung, on your Android.
21:16 Speaker 05 Uh uh.
21:17 Speaker 02 I'm Samsung.
21:17 Speaker 05 Or your iPhone.
21:20 Speaker 02 And you will be able to see, under your health, you'll be able to see how your heart is. My heart report is not as good as it's been. It says that my heart is functioning with a cardio age roughly one year younger than my age. I was at one point, four and a half years. But it also looks for, with deeper reports, looks at things about your health that you should be aware of. And it's been something that has turned into a potential
22:02 Speaker 02 lifesaver for people, where it will tell you that there's something that looks really not so good about your health.
22:15 Speaker 02 And there are people whose lives are literally being saved by the health reports that people are seeing on their Aura and Android discovering cancers, heart problems, and the rest. Now, it doesn't tell you when you wake up in the morning, "Good morning, your sleep score was blah, blah, blah, and your readiness was this." That's their rating of health. You have to actually take time, at least once a quarter, when you get your quarterly reports, and look what it's saying about your health. And if it's saying your trend lines are not good, even if you're somebody who doesn't like going to the doctor,
22:58 Speaker 02 this is a good time for hypochondria. And go find out if something is, in fact, wrong with you. If you haven't had a physical in forever, and the Aura is indicating really not good things, hope it's a false alarm. But if it's not, you want to catch things early. One of the diseases that, according to Aura, has helped a number of people is some of the indicators have helped people discover very early-stage lymphoma before it had a chance to really progress as a disease. And the heart stuff is there every single
23:39 Speaker 02 day, where you can see stuff about your heart. And yeah, you can become too obsessive, which is a problem with me, that I become too obsessive about data. And over time, others are going to have more and more success with direct-to-consumer devices, rings, who knows what. Watches have not been as successful at tracking health as the rings, because of the connections they make to you. But I want to talk about something much more basic for one second before we go to your questions. And it's how your health can be so determined by how you're living your life. And I'm not talking about how you eat or
24:24 Speaker 02 how you exercise. The breakdown in social connections.
24:29 Speaker 02 And loneliness is really affecting people's health. So much so that there's something that's been going on in England for a number of years that has the loneliness problem that's pretty much a part of modern life. And they've been prescribing doctors write out a prescription for social connection and talk to you about how to get connected to people different ways. Because it is so important that you not live an isolated life. And that it will actually help your health. There was a study in Britain about how much difference it makes
25:14 Speaker 02 in people's actual health and longevity. Just being involved in activities, clubs, being involved with other people. However, you do that. You know, I've always had this thing about the multiple benefits of volunteering. And it fits right into this. The study involved millions of people and found direct results of you getting out there and forcing yourself. That's right. Forcing yourself is a prescription, just like you might. Doctor says you need this pill. Instead, what you might need is you need social connection and engagement.
25:59 Speaker 05 All right. And I know Wes, who does our Tuesday podcast, Ask an Advisor, has done extensive research on what makes people happy, specifically in retirement. And that is the biggest part of it is the social connections.
26:12 Speaker 02 Yeah, wasn't that interesting? Because as a financial advisor, there can be a tendency with your clients. And from your mind, you're only talking about the money side of things. But money is not what makes people happy. An absence of money can make people unhappy. But happiness involves much more than money. And Connections with people and community matter so very much.
26:39 Speaker 05 Dan in Florida says, hey Clark, my son loves using your phrase, I'm Clark Howard. Toward the end of your videos that he uses it the same way when he introduces himself to others. LOL gives us a laugh and thank you for that. My question is about your fascination of wearing two watches at a time for health reasons. What are your thoughts about luxury watches such as a more than $10,000 watches? Do you see yourself wearing one or would you rather invest in a simple S and P 500 fund? Are luxury watches investments or are they worth waiting for due to the long waitlist? This is a thing that so many people, I know of someone who is very obsessed with this and buys these things.
27:22 Speaker 05 I know a couple of people, actually, they watch YouTubers, I mean, on watches, the luxury watches. It's.
27:28 Speaker 02 I have a friend who spends so much money on these watches and I razz him a lot and I say, so what time does your watch say? You know, mine are all hooked up to the internet, so I know the exact time. Those fancy watches are never right on time, but it's a collectible. A collectible is a form for people who do so, a form of potential investment. But the tax code even discriminates against them if you're buying them as an investment. For me, I spent $249 on the watch I'm wearing, the Samsung watch. And that just seems like a luxury to me.
28:13 Speaker 02 That seems crazy expensive. I was wearing a $12 wedding ring from Walmart and then I bought the Aura. And I was spending, and I wear it as my wedding band, even though that's not, the wedding finger's not the best for monitoring, but it's close. And that was when I first got one was $299. So that's luxury to me.
28:38 Speaker 05 Right.
28:39 Speaker 02 You start talking about spending.
28:42 Speaker 02 $10,000, or dare I say, there are people who spend more than $100,000 on a watch.
28:49 Speaker 05 Oh, yeah.
28:50 Speaker 02 That is so outside of my experience. It would make my head explode if I bought a $100,000 watch. So, everybody's got to do what they love and what matters to them. But to look at it primarily as an investment, you said it right. I'd rather own a total stock market index fund than a fancy watch that might someday make me more money.
29:15 Speaker 05 So, I also have another reason that I don't want, I would never want a fancy watch, and I don't wear like designer, bring designer purses or anything like that, is I feel like it can kind of make you a target, especially when you're out and about or you're traveling in a city, you know? I don't know. Do you ever think about that?
29:31 Speaker 02 I don't know. Do armed robbers go after people's watches?
29:35 Speaker 05 I mean, no, I just think they might think you have, that's a $20,000 watch that guy's wearing. He's probably, you know, I should go after his wallet instead of-
29:42 Speaker 02 How do you know it's not a $20 imitation from canal street?
29:46 Speaker 05 I don't know. Maybe I'm, maybe I'm just paranoid.
29:49 Speaker 02 No, you might be right.
29:50 Speaker 05 Or like big jewelry. I don't know. It just makes me like-
29:52 Speaker 02 I don't even think that way.
29:54 Speaker 05 Okay. Kevin in Ohio says, "I recently purchased a house and part of the purchase terms was for the previous owner to give me $10,000 for a new roof at closing. The money was given to the escrow company to hold until we could get the new roof scheduled to be installed on the house. It was winter here in Ohio, so we all knew it would be a few months. I was notified by the title company about a month ago that they've been hacked and the money was stolen and is, as of now, not available to me. According to the title company, the FBI and other agencies are involved in tracking down the money. There are others who have had their money stolen as well. My question is, do I need to hire a lawyer to get involved on my end, or do I let the title company work it out? I really don't have the money to replace the roof on my own."
30:40 Speaker 05 When I purchased the house, the insurance company wouldn't insure the house with the roof the way it was unless it was replaced. If they find out about the stolen money, that can they refuse to continue to insure the house unless I pay for and replace the roof myself?
30:54 Speaker 02 Right. Let's move away from what the insurance company might do to you about not having replaced the roof on a timely basis. Time is essential here.
31:06 Speaker 02 If you can find out other people who also have their money missing, together, you may want to hire a lawyer to represent you. This is, this is a messy situation when money is sold from an escrow company or a title company. Usually, they will have insurance for this, but it's not something that you just sit there and wait. Oh, I'm going to just wait for the money to show up. You sit on your rights, you lose them. And that's why, at the very least, you'd want to see if you can get with some people who this has also happened to. And you don't know how much money different people have at risk. Somebody else may have already hired a lawyer.
31:51 Speaker 02 You would want to join them if you could. And maybe you won't need to proceed with a legal action, but you have to be prepared to do so. Again, the laws vary by state on the responsibilities on the escrow agent or title company. And you want a lawyer who specializes in real estate in the state of Ohio where this occurred. And there are states where there's no clear requirements, believe it or not, if an escrow agent has money stolen from them, that lays out a procedure for you to get your money back. So this one is ugly,
32:36 Speaker 02 and you don't want it to be ugly to you. And that's why you need to be active, not passive.
32:43 Speaker 05 So sorry that that happened to you, Kevin. I've never heard of such a thing.
32:47 Speaker 02 And you know, we may hear from, in response, we may hear from some lawyers on what they have found in the past is the best way for him to proceed.
32:57 Speaker 05 I also wonder if Kevin used a closing attorney. Maybe they might know of other people that if they were the one, I don't know if like they would know who else might use this title company or a way to hunt down people who, you know.
33:09 Speaker 02 So I'm not, I'm not smart enough to know in Ohio if closings are done by title firms or they're done by lawyers. So it could be the very organization that did the closing that also is missing the escrow money. That we don't even know.
33:26 Speaker 05 Okay.
33:26 Speaker 02 Because there are states where escrow agents actually, or title companies actually are involved.
33:33 Speaker 02 With the closings instead of a traditional real estate lawyer.
33:37 Speaker 05 Obadiah in Georgia says, I'm getting an onslaught of US mail solicitations for charitable donations, sometimes as many as 10 a day.
33:45 Speaker 02 No, you're not.
33:46 Speaker 05 Is DMAchoice.org a legitimate and effective way to stop the insanity? On a side note, we know you love redundancy, i.e. multiple health trackers, et cetera. I think you should consider wearing both suspenders and a belt to make you doubly sure that your pants don't fall down. I had to put that in here.
34:07 Speaker 02 Fortunately, I've never had my pants fall down. No pants on the ground here.
34:11 Speaker 05 Oh.
34:12 Speaker 02 Was that a bad pun?
34:13 Speaker 05 No, I loved that Pants on the Ground song.
34:15 Speaker 02 Okay.
34:15 Speaker 05 Reminding me, bringing me back.
34:16 Speaker 02 Yeah, so DMAchoice.org, which is Direct Marketing Association, works with legitimate organizations. Unfortunately, a lot of the organizations you may be solicited by are not up and up charities. They may not be charities at all. They may just be con artists, or they may be solicitors for kind of sketch charities that qualify as charities but don't spend money wisely. So this one's a bad one. My late mom, early-stage dementia, was giving money to some phony charities. And we had to divert her mail, and I would go through her mail.
35:00 Speaker 02 I would have a basket, and I'd be throwing away one sketchy solicitation after another, after another, after another, after another. And one day I was sitting with my mom, had this really thick southern accent. She said, "Darling, you're throwing all those away." And I said, "Yeah, when there's a legitimate one, I'll give it to you." So know that if these are on the sketch side of charities, you're not going to be able to stop the solicitations. But DMAchoice.org will, if you want to shut down a lot of charitable solicitations, they're just overwhelmingly you, and they are from up and up places.
35:43 Speaker 02 Going there should stop those. But, gosh, I know it's terrible for me to say there are people soliciting from you that are not okay. Or are maybe a little shady is charities where the money is going to insiders and not to the service delivery. It's just a fact. And so we have some sources you can go to to actually check out a charity that you're considering or interested in giving money to. And on Clark.com, we've got links for you directly to where you can check out charities. Not every charity will be rated there, but it's a really good help to you to check them
36:28 Speaker 02 out. And I hope you have a wonderful kickoff to summer this weekend and a wonderful holiday, Memorial Day on Monday. You know, this is my absolute favorite time of year. I love it. The hotter it gets, the better for me. The longer there's sunlight, the better for me. The one thing that is true, though, for me about the dead of winter, I get more sleep. My, they called circadian rhythms. When it's light later, takes me longer, settle down. When it's light early, I tend to wake up earlier. So that's the only downside for
37:11 Speaker 02 me of summer is I just don't get as much sleep. But I sure do love it. And I hope you have an opportunity on Monday, just take a second and remember the people who lost their lives fighting for your and my freedom. And I'll see you next Wednesday.
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