Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 05.30.25 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / Tech Brakes On Super Speeders About this episode Help us surprise Clark Howard for his birthday! We're collecting special wishes for Clark (it's a secret!) to celebrate his birthday on June 20th. Use this form to share your wishes for Clark: https://forms.gle/hNtmFTvqkdZc94J49 -- remember it's a secret! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Friday - Clark Stinks day! Christa shares Clark Stinks posts with Clark. Submit yours at Clark.com/ClarkStinks. Also today, how one state plans to use controversial technology to slow down speeders. Clark Stinks: Segments 1 & 2 Intelligent Speed Assist: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: “Clark Stinks!” - by Son of Scotland How To Open a Roth IRA 3 Reasons You Should Never Book a Nonrefundable Hotel Room How To Use Priceline To Save on Travel What Is an HSA Account and How Does It Work? Virginia will use technology to slow chronic speeders’ cars Car Rental Insurance: Everything You Need To Know Credit Card Car Rental Insurance: What You Need To Know My Credit Card Offers Some Rental Car Coverage. Why Do I Still Need To Involve My Primary Auto Insurance? 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
Transcript 0:05 Speaker 00 It's my pleasure to welcome you here to 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. Today, we all make mistakes, and I'm privileged to get to learn from mine each Friday in our Clark Stinks segment. Also, there's a new idea in town. It's where you are forced to slow down by technology in your car. I'm going to tell you how it works and why it's freaking some people out. But without further ado, it's
0:50 Speaker 00 time to hear where I let you down.
0:53 Speaker 01 You must think I'm pretty stupid.
0:55 Speaker 02 You should be ashamed of yourself. Well, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong.
0:59 Speaker 03 Maybe you're right, pal.
1:05 Speaker 00 What you got, Krista?
1:06 Speaker 04 Okay, I've got something really fun to start out with.
1:10 Speaker 00 Okay.
1:10 Speaker 04 A little change up here. I heard from DT, who is a very talented Clarky, and he noticed we don't have any fan-made, like, songs or intros on the podcast. And so he wrote and produced a song about Clark Stinks. Now, the whole song is over two minutes, so I asked him to send me a shorter clip, which he did. And I'm going to play that for you now. But if you want to, if you want to hear the entire song, his name on YouTube is Son of Scotland. That's his band name. So this is the temporary intro by DT.
2:07 Speaker 05 ...
2:45 Speaker 00 Well, DT, thank you very much. And that is such a different accent than I would expect from the son of Scotland.
2:54 Speaker 04 Right.
2:57 Speaker 04 It's good. The whole song's worth listening to. So anyway, thank you, DT. That was awesome. And now, Clark, you stink like a dozen eggs left in the car on a summer day in the South. When a listener asked if it was safe to shop at Timu, she may have been referring to digital safety, not quality of goods. The app collects a lot of data, although not as much as another one I've never heard of. And Kim Commando recommends deleting the app Timu due to its ties to China. Jesse.
3:26 Speaker 00 Jesse, thank you very much. And I'm sorry if I misunderstood what the individual was asking me about. Timu, Timu basically is in frozen land right now because of the fight with China about tariffs anyway. But I appreciate you bringing a perspective that maybe I completely missed answering that question.
3:50 Speaker 04 Clark said his electric bill was $12 due to him having solar power. He lives in a condo. So did the whole condo get solar power? Or was it, he allocated a part of the roof to put solar panels on. Just last year, when his son lived at home, he said his son ran the AC really cold and he had an electric bill of about $4,000, if I remember correctly. So what gives, Steve?
4:13 Speaker 00 Steve, we have...
4:15 Speaker 04 It was $4,000. Grant would have... Sleeping on the roof.
4:18 Speaker 00 Yeah, it was, it was no $4,000 bill. I think it was 400.
4:22 Speaker 04 Yeah.
4:22 Speaker 00 But that was at the condo. We have the privilege of, for the last, last, how many years has it been? 16 years, we've had a home in Florida that we go to part-time and it runs on solar. We don't have batteries, although I'm thinking of adding batteries to it. But our power bill is so close to zero. It's crazy because the house has a perfect, south-facing roof. We have a huge number of panels and it makes our power bill close to zero, month after month after month. It's pretty awesome.
5:01 Speaker 04 Clark, you stink worse than a dead rat in a Texas attic in summertime. Speaking of attics, we recently installed spray foam insulation in our home because I had heard you talk about it on your podcast. Our HVAC guy told us we would see a huge difference in our heating and cooling bills. Well, our bills have been about the same, if not more at times.
5:21 Speaker 00 What?
5:21 Speaker 04 Not only that, but after the install, a roofer friend told us that spray foam insulation ages your roof quicker. Upon further research, I found out there are potential health risks when breathing in the particles. And mortgage companies won't give loans to people who go to purchase a home that has spray foam insulation. Please tell me these things are not true. I've read that it can cost three times the amount to have it ripped out as it did to install it in the first place. I still enjoy your show, but I think you might want to do more research. Kristin.
5:49 Speaker 00 Kristin, gosh, I'm shocked beyond measure. First of all, if over time you don't see a reduction in your bills, I have no explanation for that.
5:59 Speaker 04 Power prices have gone way up, haven't they?
6:02 Speaker 00 Well, Kristin's in Texas.
6:04 Speaker 04 Yeah.
6:05 Speaker 00 And Texas has generally had more affordable power bills than people have had around the country as a general rule. I think you need to see trend line over time with the bills. That makes no sense about you having put in foam insulation unless it wasn't properly installed.
6:26 Speaker 00 That you're not seeing a meaningful reduction in your bills. It's putting less wear and tear on your HVAC system, or should, is for the health risks. I've not heard that. I've never heard a mortgage company not wanting to give a loan to people with sprayed in foam insulation. It is a standard, routine, mainstream kind of thing to do, Kristin. And I don't think you need to rip anything out. And I don't think there was a failure of you not to do more research just because you heard me talk about it. And I will do-
7:02 Speaker 04 She's saying you should do more research.
7:03 Speaker 00 Oh, but I felt she said she should-
7:06 Speaker 04 Oh.
7:07 Speaker 00 -too. But anyway, I will do more reading about it because what you're telling me, the stuff you're telling me is not on my radar at all. Never heard it, never read it, never seen it.
7:20 Speaker 04 Clark doesn't stink, but may have the odor of oversimplification. He mentioned that a market downturn would provide a Roth conversion benefit. This is not entirely accurate. When looking at Roth conversions, the only thing that matters is the tax rate at conversion versus tax rate in retirement, tax rate arbitrage. If the future tax rate will be lower than the Roth conversion rate, then a conversion is simply a no-go. Now, the reduced IRA balance because of the market downturn may change this calculation. But the point is, a market downturn itself does not automatically mean a Roth conversion should be done, especially if the math didn't work beforehand. Always use a CPA or financial planner beforehand. Best to all you do from a retired CPA, Mark.
8:01 Speaker 00 Mark, thank you. That is very well put and true, that during a market decline, there is an advantage to converting a traditional IRA to a Roth. But if your tax rate, based on your financial picture, is likely to be much lower in retirement than it is now, then you don't want to do the conversion. And Mark, I should have said that if I didn't.
8:30 Speaker 04 The man from Roth may have BO.
8:34 Speaker 04 I've been listening.
8:35 Speaker 00 Do I?
8:35 Speaker 04 No, I've been listening for decades and I swear you said Roth is vastly superior to traditional IRAs. So I followed your advice and everything I saved was in a Roth 401k or IRA. But for the last few years, you've been saying you like people to have two buckets to draw from, both traditional and Roth. All I had left in traditional was match money and as soon as I retired, I wanted to get rid of it. You brainwashed me so bad. It was awful for my taxes that year. What gives? I see no benefit to having any traditional funds to draw from. Did you fall and bump your head? What good is this to anyone? Love the show, Alex.
9:10 Speaker 00 Alex, thank you. I'm thrilled that almost all your money is in Roth because you already paid the tax. It's done. Why do I love Roth so much? Because with Roth, you are putting in after-tax money. There's no tax time bomb later in life. You don't have to worry about Medicare surcharging your Medicare premiums because of the money you have to withdraw or need to withdraw from traditional IRAs, traditional 401ks. What's the advantage of having a little bit of money mixed between traditional and Roth? Because there may be times that your tax rate is so low in retirement, going back to
9:54 Speaker 00 the prior post, that it's good to have some money in traditional in a year that your income is ultra-low and you're able to withdraw at a very low rate. If it's a choice between either/or, I always go Roth. But having a mix of some amount in both, I think is okay.
10:14 Speaker 04 Okay. Clark says, "Don't reserve non-refundable hotel rooms." Then he says he uses Priceline to reserve a hotel room. Isn't Priceline non-refundable? Fred?
10:25 Speaker 00 Fred, great question. Priceline used to be a non-refundable booking source. Now Priceline has what are known as express hotels, which are non-refundable and you don't find out the name of the hotel till after you buy. And then they have other hotels where you're told you can book. Most of the rooms are refundable. And the crazy thing about Priceline is the price difference per night typically with an express deal. And there are times I've been able to figure out what hotel it is. They're techniques I use on an express deal. The savings aren't enough, in my opinion, to make it worth going to non-refundable
11:09 Speaker 00 going into the Express deal. Priceline used to do this thing where you bid on hotels. The bidding thing is not their thing anymore. And with Priceline, the more you book with them, the better deals you get as various levels of VIP. So that's where the real savings are. But I don't just, even though I book, end up booking most of my rooms through Priceline. It's not the only place I look. I look multiple places. I look with the hotel directly. I look at different discount sites. It seems that more often than not, way more often than
11:52 Speaker 00 not, I end up booking through Priceline. It's just the way it works out. I had to book a hotel room for last week in Tulsa for our, start of our Habitat build there. And when I booked that, Priceline was substantially cheaper on the hotel than any other place I looked. It just varies from booking to booking. So even though I know that most of the time I get my best price at Priceline, it's not the only place I'm ever going to shop.
12:25 Speaker 04 Clark doesn't really stink so much as he just has a linger like a teenage athlete's sweaty gear in the trunk of the car. Recently, he spoke of the importance of contributing to an HSA and the benefits it provides. I wanted to add another that is often not thought of. There's no expiration to when something can be reimbursed. So if you can afford not to use an HSA now, keep your receipts and later on, possibly in retirement, submit them for reimbursement and you can use that as an additional revenue stream. My wife and I really enjoy your show. Thank you, Todd.
12:55 Speaker 00 Todd, thank you very much. And you are the second person who has made that suggestion of late, that when I say, try to avoid using your HSA money if you can afford to and put it off into the future. And you're the second person who said, hey, keep those receipts and then let it grow tax-free through the years and spend it tax-free much later down the road for reimbursement. You have to be a really good record keeper, though, Todd, which obviously you are. You're bringing our song back, huh?
13:31 Speaker 04 That's it for today's Clark Stinks. But if you want to submit a Clark Stinks-
13:35 Speaker 00 From the son of Scotland!
13:39 Speaker 00 I do. All right, now here's something you may think stinks, or you may like the idea. Your state purposely having control of the speed in your car and slowing you down. I'm going to explain straight ahead.
14:00 Speaker 00 We've noticed, all of us, since the speed racing of COVID, drivers are a lot more aggressive than they used to be. And I gotta tell you, people used to look at me like I was crazy. I mentioned this a month ago, that when my wife, Lane, and I were in Italy back in the early spring, the drivers drive much less aggressively than Americans do now. It used to be that you go to Italy and rent a car, you'd be traumatized because of how crazy the Italians drive. And this trip was in northern Italy, which is different than southern Italy on the roads.
14:45 Speaker 00 But it was so calm. It was so much easier than driving in the United States. Because we Americans proudly have picked up really bad habits of aggressive driving at much faster speeds. So I read with great interest when Virginia became the first state to adopt something known as Speed Assist, sometimes referred to as intelligent speed assist, which is a technology that allows a device to be installed in a car that limits your speed to whatever the posted speed limit is.
15:28 Speaker 00 And what Virginia is going to use it for, and who knows if this is going to stay in place? Other states will start saying, hey, that's a great idea, whatever. Is that if you get a serious speed violation for a period of time, Virginia will put this device in your car that will keep you from being a speed demon. Now, what an invasion of privacy. But at the same time, driving is a privilege, not a right. And excessive speed leads to so many deaths. It's one thing if the person driving crazy unfortunately loses his or her life. But what about the other people they might kill from excessive speed?
16:10 Speaker 00 This is a tough one because it is a clear invasion of privacy. And I'm going to blow your mind and say that I actually think it's worth experimenting with. Think about somebody who gets what some states refer to as a superspeeder ticket and gets their driver's license lifted for three months or six months. They can't even get to work. Tiny percent of the US population lives where you could use public transit as an alternate way to get to work. You have to have your car to work. And I know, I know, logical consequences. You should have known that before you were driving 30 over the speed limit or whatever.
16:53 Speaker 00 But if this gives people the ability to stay on the road and still go to work, I think it's a reasonable solution. Boy, am I ready for the Clark stinks on that. And who knows if the voters of Virginia are going to revolt against this? Or if this will be something that actually becomes a normal thing in other states? So how would you feel if you were driving way too fast in your car, Krista? Because your car is one of the fastest on the road. And you got pulled over for a superspeeder? And they were going to suspend your license for three months, let's say?
17:38 Speaker 04 Mm-hmm.
17:39 Speaker 00 Would you rather have that? Or would you rather have the speed limiter on your car?
17:43 Speaker 04 Well, I'd rather have the speed limiter than that.
17:45 Speaker 00 Thank you, that's the end of the story.
17:47 Speaker 04 Okay.
17:49 Speaker 00 Well, I could have been a TV lawyer, right? Not exactly.
17:54 Speaker 04 I'll take option C.
17:57 Speaker 00 None of the above.
17:58 Speaker 04 Okay. Here's some questions for you. Kyle in Pennsylvania says, I'm wondering if you've heard of or know about this health payment system, which is a payment option used by my medical provider. If I have my medical bills routed through them, I can save up to 13% on each bill by linking a checking account and can also receive a discounted price using a credit card. Are there any downsides to this I need to think about before signing up? I'm currently on a high deductible insurance plan, so I plan to pay for bills at a discounted price now and then reimburse from my HSA down the road. Will a receipt with a lower amount than listed on the explanation of benefits cause any issues?
18:35 Speaker 00 Yeah, okay. Let me tell you what's going on here. Doctors, Kyle, a lot of times are suffering from slow pay or no pay patients. And they're offering these things and they're saying, hey, you use this to pay your bill, you'll get a discount. And then the doctor knows that he or she is getting the money that you owe for the bill. The problem when I read about these are people are having a lot of problems in regular everyday practice with these payment systems. And so if they work as advertised and you're really getting the discount, remember it's up to 13%. A lot of times the discount is zero. It's just a payment system.
19:19 Speaker 00 And if they make a mistake and take money from you you're not supposed to pay. What I've been reading with these medical office payment systems is getting your money back that's being taken generally through ACH has been very, very time consuming.
19:39 Speaker 00 With a high hassle factor. So it's not a slam dunk. It may work like it's supposed to, but if it doesn't, you're left holding the bag trying to clean up the mess.
19:52 Speaker 04 Okay, this is in from Dylan in Illinois. We live in a town home in a very desirable area of Chicago that we plan to stay in for another three to five years. I'm considering replacing all of our windows and window casings for $46,000.
20:05 Speaker 00 Whoa.
20:07 Speaker 04 Some of the windows currently leak during heavy rain and we've already tried caulking, which helped a bit, but didn't solve the problem. Drafts in the winter are also a concern. We have the cash to pay for it, but I'm worried about putting in so much money when we likely wouldn't recoup it at the resale. We already spent 25K on a new roof a couple of years ago, so this would bring our total major home improvements to over $70,000 in just a few years. We purchased the home for $850,000 in 2022, and I doubt we could sell it for 70K more down the road. I was planning to ask our homeowner's insurance company if they'd cover part of the cost, but was swayed against asking because I've heard some insurance companies raise rates just by asking such questions. My neighbor was able to get his insurance to cover part of the expense due to mold concern.
20:52 Speaker 00 Wow.
20:53 Speaker 04 But I don't know if that would be the case for me. Two neighbors with identical homes replaced their windows, so it's not just our unit with issues. My main concern is whether this is a smart spend if we're not planning to stay long term.
21:05 Speaker 00 It is not a smart spend if you're not planning to stay long term. The payback on doing windows is pathetic. And a buyer coming to see your home is not going to say, wow, we want to pay more for this house because it has these new windows. No chance. You want to see if you can repair them. You said you've done a little work to try to seal leaks, but maybe you need to bring in a carpenter. And see if a carpenter has low-cost suggestions how to do some repairs on some of the windows and seal those leaks. caulking is normally what I would have recommended.
21:48 Speaker 00 You said that didn't make a major dent in the problem. But no, you definitely don't go to your insurer about this. And it would be money that would not be well-spent as a short-termer in the property.
22:03 Speaker 04 Dan in Florida says, "The other day, I was sitting at a stoplight when I heard a loud crash. It turned out that a U-Haul truck had hit the overhang of a commercial building, causing damage to both the building and the truck. I have a couple of questions. Does standard auto insurance typically cover damage to both the rental truck and the building in a situation like that? In addition, when I rented a U-Haul last November, they simply asked if I wanted insurance. I declined, and that was the end of it. They didn't try to persuade me at all. Is there a reason they don't push the insurance option more aggressively anymore?"
22:39 Speaker 00 Okay, I am so glad you're asking this. When you have auto insurance, it's a may-or-may-not-be-able-to-rely-on-it when you rent a U-Haul or any equivalent truck rental. Most insurers will have a limit. They'll say, "Okay, you're covered for a rental truck up to 12 feet, or 14 feet, or whatever the number of footage is." And you rent bigger than that, bigger than their limit, which is stated in your policy. Don't just rely upon what somebody tells you at customer no service. You need to find in your policy
23:20 Speaker 00 what it says about the rental truck. You are uninsured if you rent a rental truck beyond the size that your insurer covers. You are uninsured at that point for a liability, and you're uninsured for the cost to repair the truck. This is very important because the liability and repair cost exposure you have is so large if your insurer only covers up to a certain amount. By the way, for people who rent cars from time to time like I do... Your insurer's coverage for temporary use of a rental car may also have limitations
24:05 Speaker 00 that are much more common now for types of vehicles that you rent, or how much of a car you can rent. If you use a credit card for secondary or primary coverage when you rent a car, they will have very specific language, what is or is not covered. Generally, a vehicle above a certain dollar amount is no longer covered by the credit card coverage, or maybe even your own automobile insurance. So this is something you don't just wing it on. You've got to know what you're getting into, and what liability risk and repair
24:47 Speaker 00 costs for bodywork you may be bringing on. Plus, in the case you described with the U-Haul last fall, there may be out-of-pocket costs for that U-Haul renter for the damage they did to the building as well, if they rented one large enough that's not covered by their own insurance. Thank you very much for that question. That's a great question for people to know, because time to time, people rent box trucks. I have to rent one for something that we're moving really soon, and I've got to make sure it's the size that
25:25 Speaker 00 my insurer allows. In fact, I have a funny thing. I rented a box truck two years ago. Well, I went to rent a box truck two years ago, and they said, "Good news. We're out of the size you rented, but we're going to rent you this one over there." I said, "I can't have it." They looked at me like, "What's wrong with you?" I said, "I can't have that. My insurer won't cover it." And fortunately, somebody else was bringing in a truck then I just waited for. It's time for the weekend. I hope you have an absolutely fantastic weekend in front of you. Know though, that we serve you all weekend long at Clark.com,
26:06 Speaker 00 Clarkdeals.com, and of course, we publish our newsletters that are free on the weekend as well. So I want you to get empowerment 24/7 whenever you need it. And that's what we're about with Team Clark. Know that everything we're about is you being empowered with knowledge so you can save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. And I'll see you Monday.
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