Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 08.05.26 Starting A Small Business / Automated Check-Out Warning About this episode More people are looking for ways to create their own job security. Clark shares two invaluable, free resources every aspiring entrepreneur should know about, and breaks down why the freedom of entrepreneurship remains one of the best ways to build lasting stability.
Also, a critical look at the rise of AI-powered, cashierless grocery stores and automated micro-markets. Highlighting an outrageous story where Ford wrongly fired an employee over an automated market glitch, Clark addresses the dangerous gap between automated retail technology and human common sense. Know how to protect yourself with electronic receipts and tap-to-pay records, ensuring an automated mistake doesn't turn into a major headache for you.
Plus, Christa shares your #AskClark questions and Clark gives his take. All this and more on the August 5, 2026, episode of The Clark Howard Show. Submit your opinions or questions: Ask Clark.
Resources For Entrepreneurs: Segment 1
Ask Clark: Segment 2
Automated Check-Out: Segment 3
Ask Clark: Segment 4
Mentioned on the show:
Business & Entrepreneurs Archives - Clark Howard
Service Corps of Retired Executives / SCORE.org
America’s SBDC / Small Business Development Centers (SBDC)
National Trades Jobs Report
CNBC: 27-year-old locksmith spent $7,000 on tools, works around the clock in NYC: 'I'd never held a screwdriver in my life' before starting
Unclaimed Money: How To Find and Claim Missing Funds for Free
Mint Mobile Code: SAVINGSPOD
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
Transcript 0:00 Speaker 00 This episode is brought to you by Indeed. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed sponsored jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed sponsored jobs. Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.
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1:04 Speaker 02 It's my pleasure to welcome you here to the Clark Howard Show. Now, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you to make better financial decisions in your life. In this episode, a lot of people have been facing job loss or job dead end, and you need a career pivot. I want to talk about where small business fits into that. And also today, a warning about automated checkout. And by the way, I'm talking about automated checkout, not necessarily what you think of as self-checkout.
1:43 Speaker 03 All right. So before you get to the first topic, we did get a question that kind of spurred this along, so I'm going to read that really quickly. It was from listener Stephanie. She said, Clark recently spoke about small businesses. Are there any resources he can provide to someone who wants to start their own business? Is there a government entity or an organization that could assist me with getting my idea off the ground? Any direction or information is appreciated.
2:08 Speaker 02 All right, Stephanie, I love this because... There are two little-known outlets, resources that are available pretty much around the country, except in extreme rural areas. One of them is SCORE, which is the Service Corps of Retired Executives. The website is SCORE.org. And at SCORE.org, you're able to locate resources, maybe seminars, and maybe one-on-one mentoring for people who want to start a business or have a business and you're having trouble with it. Having a mentor guide you with things you're having a problem with may help.
2:51 Speaker 02 One of my late uncles was a SCORE volunteer after he retired from running a business for a long time, and he loved doing the SCORE volunteering. And most SCORE services are completely free, and SCORE.org. The second is all over America, there are what are known as small business development centers, usually attached to or affiliated with a state university or a regional state university. And these are like incubator kind of places for people trying to start a business. And they offer a variety of programs.
3:32 Speaker 02 And I think often for a would-be entrepreneur, checking out the resources available near you with both a SCORE chapter and with a small business development center, both can be very, very helpful to you. And I mentioned incubators with particularly technology-oriented business ideas. There are a lot of attached to or related to small business development centers or state colleges or universities. There will be these incubators where Spaces made available to you at free or low cost.
4:11 Speaker 02 The idea is that the university or college may want to be involved with you with the startup. If it's a tech-based one, there are a number of places you can turn for resources and help. And they may or may not be helpful to you, may not speak to you, but there are places I would start, Stephanie. So this entrepreneurial bug that I have is a bug that I'm so glad there's no antidote for. Because I have been entrepreneurial from probably my first breath. It's just who I am, what I am.
4:51 Speaker 02 I believe so much in if it's in your spirit to create your own opportunity. I've been talking over and over again to so many people that are mid-career, who corporate America has this cruel thing they love to do. That if people are mid-career, they decide, you know what? They're a pretty big chunk of payroll here. They're out and they throw away all the experience, the training, the knowledge, the maturity that that person has. And there you are, you're too young to retire and you gotta start over in some way.
5:31 Speaker 02 And so, starting over can mean taking the skills you have, the knowledge, the experience, seeing a hole in the marketplace and you start your own business. It could even be something more radical that you use your ability with people, your years of experience to decide you're going to go get a new skill. I want to share a stat with you that's mind-blowing. Okay. Do you know that the feds put out a report recently that we are going to need 21 million people in skilled trades over the next four years?
6:12 Speaker 02 21 million. Let's say they're wrong and it's 16 million or 24 million. The reality is the trend is your friend for things that you don't go to four-year college for. You may need to go to a trade school, state-supported technical college, and go through a program depending on what it is you're going to do. It could be months, maybe a couple of years, but the idea is maybe the fresh restart is something completely different than you ever thought of, ever did. I loved a CNBC story I read about a woman
6:51 Speaker 02 who in her twenties was like, what am I gonna do? I'm not getting anywhere. She heard from somebody that there was a real need for locksmiths. And so this 27-year-old, who is a workaholic, her name, I will mispronounce her name, Sahar. But Sahar now owns a business called Locksmith Girl of New York City. And she is such a workaholic in her twenties that she sleeps next to two phones and a laptop, has the volume turned all the way up because she doesn't want to miss a potential customer. And so she went to locksmith school, learned
7:32 Speaker 02 how to be a locksmith, works all the time. She's doing great with it. She also, being in her twenties, what did she do? How did she build her business on TikTok?
7:48 Speaker 02 She posts TikTok videos all the time of her working as a locksmith. So she gets customer calls as, as people watch social media instead of sleep around the clock. She gets jobs all the time. She's getting 60 jobs a week. She worked one day 21 straight hours backed up with customers. I mean, first of all, the ambition is great. The money she's making is really good. The training was not forever. The point I'm trying to make is that if corporate America
8:31 Speaker 02 looks at you as surplus, or it's mind numbing for you. What is there that you would be inspired by, that you would be attracted to, that you would enjoy doing as a business that you own, that you run? Now, what's the bad part? When you're sick, you're not getting paid. When you take a vacation, you're not getting paid. If you have an employee who steals from you, you gotta make up that loss. I mean, when you're a business owner, a lot comes with it. But the benefits that come with it as well.
9:12 Speaker 02 I am obsessed with being my own boss.
9:17 Speaker 02 And it doesn't have to be a traditional four-year college degree.
9:23 Speaker 03 Okay, and I have a question kind of related here from Maggie in Maryland. She said, "We paid roughly $100,000 for my son's computer science college degree. He has been working as a waiter for one and a half years since he and many other college entry-level grads cannot find a job. As a next step, he considers going to grad school or law school. Would another undergraduate degree in a different field with jobs be better? I'm trying to prevent throwing good money after bad."
9:51 Speaker 02 All right, Maggie, let me tell you, I do a lot of reading about the problems with computer science grads, and everything I read say that conditions have improved. Your son's information
10:04 Speaker 02 Maybe based on how discouraged he was a year and a half ago, running into a wall and not being able to find work. One path that I read again and again and again for computer science graduates, which I'm so interested in because if you go back 10 years, it was considered to be a certain ticket to great income. That people are making it into the field doing externships, which require, and this would be better in my mind, since your son already has the skills, knows the business, that he should take another stab at this. And externships are where people get some training in the field when they're already
10:48 Speaker 02 out of school. And it makes them a potential employable person now that there are more openings in computer science. He should also try to network with fellow graduates from when he graduated a year and a half ago and see what they're up to, because I think the conditions have improved somewhat. Now, ultimately, he may decide he wants to go back to school for something else, but not because he ran into this wall trying to establish himself in what he studied. Because once you get into a job in computer science and you get some experience, it seems
11:33 Speaker 02 once you get past three years of work experience, what you can earn is really what your son was looking for and expecting when he went through this very difficult course of study in college. I wish him a lot of luck.
11:47 Speaker 03 I do, too. Paige in Massachusetts says, "I have $320,000 saved for my youngest son's college. He received a merit scholarship for $70,000 per year."
11:58 Speaker 02 Wow.
11:59 Speaker 03 Yeah. "I know I can move $35,000 to a Roth, $7,500 at a time, but I also just found out I can give him the money equal to his scholarship each year and not pay a penalty and only pay taxes on the earnings. Since he's only 19, his tax bracket is as low as it will ever be, and I want to be sure he has the most flexibility with the money. Would you recommend taking it out now, $70,000 at a time? Before we knew this rule, we figured it would be an account for his kids someday, but taking it out seems like the best way to ensure he gets the most use out of it."
12:30 Speaker 02 Right. First, I want to say Paige, what's the most important thing Krista did not say in your question?
12:37 Speaker 03 Oh, the beginning part she wrote, she wrote, she's the B C alum like me.
12:41 Speaker 02 Yeah.
12:41 Speaker 03 Go Eagles.
12:43 Speaker 02 Worst football fans ever. My son and I went to a bowl game B C was in two years ago.
12:50 Speaker 03 You're totally wrong.
12:51 Speaker 02 The fans are just like polite and clapping.
12:55 Speaker 03 What, that they're too polite?
12:55 Speaker 02 And the opponents were just going on cheering and booing and they were fully into it and the B C alums who were at the game are just kind of sitting there like they were at a cocktail party.
13:07 Speaker 03 Okay, you weren't at Alumni Stadium in Chestnut Hill, so you and I need to go to one of those games and you'll see that they're very enthusiastic.
13:15 Speaker 02 Well, only in September because it's too cold once you hit October in Boston. Way off the track.
13:23 Speaker 03 Yeah.
13:24 Speaker 02 Let's go to the question. All right. So this is hard. First of all, congratulations on all the scholarship money.
13:31 Speaker 03 I know, your son, that's awesome.
13:33 Speaker 02 Okay, second, if your son is likely to go to grad school, then you don't want to raid the 529 you're talking about. Wait a little longer while he's an undergraduate. He's only 19. He's going to remain in a lower tax bracket until the point that he would go out into a career. So let's wait a little while, see if he does choose to go to grad school, which may, he may not scholarship out. He may have to pay big money for, if he goes for a professional degree, it could eat up all that $300,000. So too early to do this, but your strategy is fine.
14:16 Speaker 02 You do the 35 grand over the years into the Roth. You go ahead because of the merit scholarship. You're able to take the money free of the 10% penalty. You only pay on the earnings, tax on the earnings. Great way to see this future. Also have know that your son is mature enough to handle that kind of money. And you want to say again, go Eagles?
14:38 Speaker 03 Go Eagles. Ally in North Carolina says, even though I've checked previously, I followed your advice and checked for unclaimed cash on the sites suggested on the Clark.com article. I was shocked to find two different items. I received the details this week. One is $195 from an old credit card account I haven't used in many years. I have to wonder why they took so long to report the cash or didn't track me down. If I owed them money, they would have found me. So true. Thanks for the help in getting this little bonus. I'll add checking the sites to my annual to do list.
15:11 Speaker 02 So Ally, my sentiments exactly. And I've got good news on that front. A lot of the banks now, having had a lot of negative publicity about absconding with people's money that's a credit on their credit cards. Now it's very common that after 60 days of inactivity on an account, you were sent that money either electronically or by a check. So what happened to you shouldn't happen. And the great news is you got your money back. And I really strongly suggest, even if you've heard me say it 50 times over the last many decades,
15:54 Speaker 02 go to missingmoney.com and see if there's unclaimed money for you just laying around. It's free to use. You find that money. I told the story a few months ago about how we found money for my late mom who died more than 10 years ago. And we found money that had just been lost in space. Took a while to get that money, but we did. You just aren't going to know unless you look what money could be sitting there floating around in space. It's your money. Coming up ahead, automated checkout, something that I got all excited about years ago.
16:37 Speaker 02 Wow, turned out there could be downsides. We're going to talk about that.
16:43 Speaker 00 This episode is brought to you by Indeed. You're ready to level up your business, but the pressure to find the right person to make that happen is intense. Indeed sponsored jobs can help carry the load. It boosts your job post to help it reach quality talent fast. Cut through the chaos with Indeed sponsored jobs. Get a $75 sponsored job credit at indeed.com/podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Hiring now? Then this is a job for Indeed sponsored jobs.
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19:13 Speaker 02 News of the weird, story that got big play, but you may not have heard about it. A career Ford assembly line worker was fired for stealing a $1.95 cookie from the automated market that they had in the assembly area. Guy was a diabetic, his sugar count was bad, and he needed to have that cookie right away. So he goes in the automated thing, there was a problem with the payment thing.
19:52 Speaker 02 The AI there, which I've been in these AI-based self-service little convenience stores, make mistakes. They made a mistake there. He was fired, but guess what? He had paid for the cookie. Ford didn't care. They threw him out. Career employee threw him out. When it became a media frenzy, Ford then, without really a proper apology, offers him his job back. And he's like, "I've lost the fever for the flavor, I'm not coming back." It was bad on Ford.
20:35 Speaker 02 It was bad on the automated convenience store operator that nobody checked. They just reported that he had stolen the $1.95 in cookies. Nobody used any common sense or judgment. Nobody said, "Hey, show us you paid for it." So he did. He was able to show them. He had paid the $1.95. And then Ford, to their great embarrassment and media coverage that followed, said he needed a certified statement from his bank. Come on. Anyway, the point is, I have experience with these automated markets.
21:21 Speaker 02 I used one in an airport last fall. I did tap to pay, paid for my items, and then the automated gate wouldn't open. That I had somehow, the AI cameras, decided that I had absconded with something. And I was trapped in there. And I had to wait till there's like a monitor employee for this automated store in the airport. I had to wait for them to come back from a break, and I'm just sitting in there. And then they look at my stuff, and then they overrode it, tapped, and I was free to go. But your friend in these automated places, because they got cameras on you everywhere,
22:06 Speaker 02 and the AI of them is deciding, your friend or foe is tapped to pay, was my best friend, or a receipt that would have shown clearly I had paid for things. And here I am, the one who was all excited and made a big fuss about it on TV. Did, you know, as a TV reporter, I did a story about Amazon having the automated convenience stores that you could tap into with your Amazon membership and pick up whatever you want, and just walk right out the door and it would charge whatever form of payment you had on your Amazon Prime account.
22:46 Speaker 02 Well, Amazon's now closed all those because they didn't perform to market expectations. But I am too trusting many times when it comes to automation. And man, the Ford thing was just a failure.
23:04 Speaker 02 Of humans, a failure of automation, and the most important one, a failure of common sense and decency.
23:15 Speaker 03 Okay. Allison in South Carolina sent in this for you, Clark. My daughter bought a small house and her boyfriend has moved in with her. How should she decide what his rent should be? Her mortgage payment is $1,600. Insurance is about $100 and the home value is $280,000. Yes, she made a nice down payment. We decided to gift her money to help with the down payment with the agreement. She will save and pay for her own wedding in the future.
23:43 Speaker 02 Okay, so Allison, you don't go based on what the mortgage payment is. Because the mortgage payment, as you said so eloquently, is what it is because you so generously gifted her money for the down payment. If you hadn't done that, the mortgage payment would have been substantially higher. So here's the hard part, but this is the right way to do it, is that instead of thinking about what the payment is, what the insurance is, what you do is you think about what rent would be on the house if it were a rental house and what rents are in that area. And that'll take a little work on your daughter's part.
24:25 Speaker 02 But let's say rent would be 2,400 a month. Then it would be, it would be smart, the rent should be 1,200 for the boyfriend. If the rent would be 3,000, it should be 1,500. If the rent would be 2,000, it should be 1,000.
24:42 Speaker 03 You're saying on a one bedroom?
24:44 Speaker 02 Yeah, on the, no, on the equivalent size.
24:47 Speaker 03 Oh, you mean the total rent and then you divided by the number of people living there, right?
24:51 Speaker 02 Right.
24:51 Speaker 03 Because he shouldn't have to pay.
24:53 Speaker 02 Living there.
24:53 Speaker 03 Yeah, yeah, yeah.
24:54 Speaker 02 So you just split the rent.
24:55 Speaker 03 Got it, got it, yeah.
24:57 Speaker 02 On what the equivalent rent would be on the place. That they just split that and that split is what he pays her every month.
25:06 Speaker 03 I like it. Okay. Masaki in California says, hi Clark, a long time ago, you used to recommend the Members Mark luggage set sold at Sam's Club. I bought one, had a great experience with it, but recently ran into some issues with it where the TSA broke my lock and I cannot reset it. I'm likely going to talk with Sam's Club as well as the TSA for how to move forward with this. I also started looking online to see if I can get a replacement and realized Sam's has stopped stocking this item altogether. Do you know what happened? Do you have another recommended luggage set in case this one that I have is going to be returned, but I won't have a replacement?
25:48 Speaker 02 Okay, so I have terrible news for you, Masaki. Costco no longer sells Kirkland Signature luggage, and Sam's Club no longer sells Members Mark luggage. I don't know why both of them have gotten out of it. I'm also a member of the regional warehouse club chain, BJ's Wholesale Club, and that's where my carry-on is from now. I have a BJ's Wholesale. I have a Berkeley and Jensen carry-on. So far, I've been really happy with it. So what do you do with the Members Mark? Oh, and I used to use the Members Mark suitcase, but one day it split, and so it was
26:31 Speaker 02 done. So Sam's Club, the good news is Sam's Club guarantees that Members Mark luggage for life. Since they can't replace it, they'll give you your money back. So that solves that. But who knows why Sam's and Costco decided that private label luggage was no longer their thing?
26:51 Speaker 03 So I needed a new suitcase recently, and I went to Home Goods. Home Goods, TJ Maxx, Marshall's, all the same company, and they have luggage, but usually the luggage I find is not as sturdy as I would like. But they do have, occasionally they'll get in luggage, like I got a Samsonite bag that's very good. It was very- Well reviewed online. I look at the reviews online and it was really inexpensive. So I, you know, that's one place you might want to look and see if you find something.
27:18 Speaker 02 Yeah, because there's no BJ's wholesale in California. The furthest west they go is Texas.
27:23 Speaker 03 Yep. Lauren in Georgia says, I have a Delta American Express card. Somehow months ago, I ended up with a one cent credit on the card. I only use this card for travel with Delta and have not traveled recently. So the balance remained in my account for several months. This past week, I received a check in the mail for one cent. With all the electronic tools, artificial intelligence and MBAs in today's world, why would any company today print and mail a check for one cent? And I've not even deposited it yet. So I still need to scan it into my banking phone app and send it to be processed by the bank.
27:57 Speaker 02 Well, I mean, this, this goes right to something we talked about before is credit card companies sending refunds for any amount of money now because they don't want to be in trouble with the regulators. A one cent check is really dumb. What did it cost them? How many dollars did it cost them to send the one cent check? But they are in compliance.
28:23 Speaker 03 Yeah.
28:24 Speaker 02 By sending the one cent check. It just seems like that check you should just keep as a memento because it's just stupid.
28:34 Speaker 03 Yeah.
28:35 Speaker 02 Again, lack of common sense. It's gotta be a better way.
28:42 Speaker 02 Oh, man. Thank you for sharing that. And know this, that coming up two days, Friday, we have Clark Stinks coming your way, where you get to see where I messed up on you. I didn't do a good job. I gave lame advice, whatever it is. I so look forward to when you take over and share with me how I can serve you better. Because everything we do is about serving you so that you are empowered with knowledge so you can save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. And I'll see you on Friday.
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