Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 08.27.25 Investing Overseas / Revised Strategy For Shopping Airfares About this episode Clark discusses why having a portion of your retirement funds in overseas investments is highly recommended. Also - Why Clark’s recent advice on shopping airfares just changed. Investing Worldwide: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 Airfare Update: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: Why Investing Abroad Could Pay Off Best Online Banks: Free Checking and High-Interest Savings Accounts - Clark.com How to Buy a New Car in 5 Steps Booking Domestic Flights One-Way? It's Costing You More (Again) Delta’s New Fare Changes Just Made Booking Flights and Earning Miles More Complicated Travel Archives / Cruises - Clark Howard Top 7 Ways To Shop Safely Online Should You Get a Business Credit Card? | When Is It Worth It? Best Small Business Credit Cards: Top Picks for 2025 Best 2% Cash Back Credit Cards: Top Options for 2025 Best Cash Back Credit Cards With No Annual Fee in 2025 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 0:00 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. You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you can make better financial decisions in your life. And today, I'm going to talk about a couple of things I want you to know. Later, I'm going to talk about an update on how to shop for airfare. There's a game of cat and mouse going on with the airlines, trying to force us into higher fares. I'm going to tell you what you need to know to protect your wallet when you're buying a ticket. That's later.
1:42 Speaker 02 And right now, I want to talk about why I have been obsessed for so long with you, if you are an investor, having a meaningful portion of your investment dollars inside an investment account, retirement account, invested overseas. You know, the United States represents somewhere around 5.5%, 6% of the world's population, and represents a little more than 20% of the world's economic activity. But most Americans, if they are investors for retirement, or investors period, invest only in the US.
2:26 Speaker 02 Not in funds that invest overseas. And over the last 15 years, that was a great win. Because if you were diversified around the globe, the US outran most of the rest of the world over a 15-year window, very unusual. And now, US holdings are much higher valued versus the profits of companies than is the case outside the United States. Now, I've always been into investing worldwide.
3:05 Speaker 02 Because economies generally around the world have been growing faster than our economy. And, again, if you're only investing in the United States, you're missing the economic growth story around the world. Where, again, 94% to 95% of the world's population lives. And, in terms of economic size, somewhere close to 80% of the world's economic activity is not here in the US. And it does not make you unpatriotic to invest outside the United States. Would you say that an American company that sells overseas is unpatriotic, selling overseas?
3:50 Speaker 02 No, that's what we want. We want our companies to be so successful, they're selling other places. And so, you do have some exposure to overseas by owning American companies that sell outside the United States. But you're still missing a big part of companies that are owned elsewhere. So, I ask you, when you think about allocating your money, think about at least having a portion of your investments outside the United States. That doesn't mean you have to open an account overseas. It just means with the index funds and mutual funds you might choose from, or ETFs, exchange
4:30 Speaker 02 traded funds, that you have exposure to companies outside the United States, as well as inside the United States. It protects you like now with the dollar having fallen a lot in value. It protects you by having holdings outside the United States is just one example. But having money around the globe, if you are an investor, is part of lowering the risk of your portfolio and over the long haul, may in fact get you a higher overall return.
5:04 Speaker 03 Speaking of returns, Javon in North Carolina says, do you suggest a credit union like Navy Federal or an online bank like Ally for day-to-day banking, for example, a checking and savings account?
5:15 Speaker 02 Well, they serve different purposes. If you're a Navy Federal account holder, it's the world's largest credit union. It's a giant. You have all the normal bank-type services and you have branches in so many facilities by so many bases in so many big cities. So you have the physical presence as well. Ally as an online bank is online only, obviously. And if you're somebody who never, ever, ever needs to walk into a bank branch, you're fine with an online bank like Ally.
5:54 Speaker 02 If you feel like you're occasionally going to need the services of a branch, then that would give the nod to Navy Federal. Plus Navy Federal offers really good deals on loans that often are superior to what you can get from an online bank or a physical bank. And that's one of the great advantages of being a credit union member.
6:20 Speaker 03 And we do have an article at Clark.com, Best Online Banks, Free Checking and High Interest Savings Accounts, if you want to check that out. Corey in California says, my wife and I are looking to purchase a minivan to haul our kids around. We are debating whether to go with an older, used, traditional gas van or a new hybrid van. We really like Toyota Sienna Hybrid, but we're not sure if it's worth the higher cost to get a hybrid. We both work from home, so we don't have a lot of, drive a lot of miles, probably around four or 5,000 a year. Our oldest child is three, so we plan on keeping the car. A while. Love to know what you think.
6:52 Speaker 02 So Cory, you got a double dilemma for me. California where gasoline, one of the states where gasoline is much more expensive than the national average. And at the same time, you drive minimal miles a year. I mean, you think about the average family may be putting 14,000, 12,000 to 14,000 miles a year on a vehicle. At four to five, the cost of the fuel becomes less significant as a factor in making a decision. So if you were telling me, you're trying to decide if you get a used van, hybrid or gas, and you're driving that small a number of miles, as long as it checks out well with a mechanic
7:33 Speaker 02 prior to purchase, that the condition of it is good, I think that's the best money spent. More important than buying one that is new because so much depreciation happens. Vans depreciate at a slower rate than other types of vehicles. They still depreciate. So I would not worry as much about the gasoline. And when you do the Costco runs, that's where you buy your gas because it's the cheapest place in California to buy gasoline.
8:03 Speaker 03 Michelle in Virginia says, "I'm the PTA president of my kid's elementary school. I recently placed a large order on Amazon for new recess equipment using the PTA credit card. As often happens with this card, it was declined. A separate issue I need to sort out with that bank. Amazon alerted me on my order page that the payment was declined and that I should choose another method. It was the weekend. I wasn't able to call the bank to sort out my issue, so I left the payment method unselected and figured I'd get the issue fixed and then put the order through once it was working again. Monday morning, I logged into Amazon to check something else and was surprised to find my recess equipment order had gone through using a credit card on file I never authorized."
8:43 Speaker 02 Wait, I've never heard of that. So wait, have you experienced this before? You go to place and order with Amazon, card gets declined, they on their own automatically just pick another one and charge it to?
8:55 Speaker 03 Hasn't happened to me, but she figures out why, let me tell you. Amazon didn't even use- My default card, I contacted customer service and they said they were unable to change the payment method. They said automatically charging a backup method without notifying the customer or using the default payment method is a setting on my account. After pushing and pushing, I was finally issued a small promo credit as an apology, and Amazon turned off the backup method setting. But this could have been a bigger issue for someone who runs closer to their credit limit, or has a family member or other business cards on their account. I wanted to let you know so you can advise your listeners to watch out for this automatic backup payment method setting. My husband and I are big fans of your show.
9:35 Speaker 02 Well, thank you for that. I'm shocked. I mean, I wouldn't, that wouldn't even occur to me that Amazon would have a decline on something, you'd go away from it, and then they'd run it anyway on just go down your list of cards. This goes to something we haven't talked about recently, and that is the benefit and convenience of storing credit card numbers on a website comes with the added risk of hackers to that site getting your card numbers and things like that. And so with any website, you really have to think through, do you want to store a credit card there?
10:18 Speaker 02 And that's just wild that Amazon did not, doesn't have a procedure where they ask you. They just saw, are you looking to see the setting on your account?
10:28 Speaker 03 I am. I'm looking to see where I can.
10:30 Speaker 02 Where in the world would you even manage it? So let's see if there's anything there.
10:36 Speaker 03 Settings.
10:37 Speaker 02 Settings.
10:38 Speaker 03 Your purchase preference.
10:39 Speaker 02 Manage backup payment method. There it is.
10:41 Speaker 03 Yep. Backup enabled off.
10:43 Speaker 02 All right.
10:44 Speaker 03 So you go to Settings, and then you go to Wallet, under Payments. You go to Settings, and then you scroll down to under Payments, and then you go to, so then you go to Your Payments. You'll be on Wallet, you want to click on Settings, and then there's right there your purchase preference. So we'll do an article about this on Clark.com showing you how to turn this off, and maybe we can even do a video on this too at YouTube.
11:10 Speaker 02 Because think about how many people in their Amazon account use it for. Business purpose, in this case, it was for a nonprofit you're part of and personal and all that. And you don't want something that is for one purpose to be charged to a card for another purpose. So absolutely, you want to turn that setting off. And thank you so much for bringing it to our attention. And it's exactly as you said. So this is part of what we're all about is we're all part of a team together, helping each other, providing information to each other so that we stay out of harm's way. And I'm glad this
11:53 Speaker 02 didn't cause a big problem for you, just a little hassle. And now you've helped a lot of other people that could have caused a big problem before. Speaking of which, this is a game of hide and seek. I'll talk about a way for you to save money on travel or who knows what. And then somebody in that industry will decide, hey, we don't want people to know about this. We're going to take this money saving tool away. Let me tell you what's going on when you go to buy airline tickets.
12:26 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.
12:57 Speaker 04 Low energy, unfocused, foggy, you might be dehydrated. Gatorade Zero powders have been scientifically designed to help improve hydration balance in the body with a clinically proven electrolyte blend and no artificial colors or flavors. Great tasting hydration, no matter where you're going. Shop now online or at retailers nationwide. Gatorade hydrates better than water. Is it in you? Symptoms noted are signs of mild to moderate dehydration. Consult a healthcare professional if symptoms persist.
13:26 Speaker 02 All right, all right. The airlines are on to me. I figured out something about airline pricing that I shared with you a good while ago, that when you're buying a US domestic ticket, which almost all travel people do, is within the United States, that it was much cheaper to shop for tickets one way than round trip. And the reason is that the airline that has the cheapest fare one way, may not be the one that has the cheapest fare coming back. So, as people would shop one way, going, one way, returning, they were consistently
14:07 Speaker 02 saving a lot of money on their travel. Well, the airlines didn't like that this became a spreading practice, and I wasn't the only one yapping about this. So, Thrifty Traveler, which is always watching the airlines for us to see what games they're up to, did recent research that found that half the time now, airlines are quoting higher fares when you shop one way than you do round trips. So, it's now, it's a 50/50 thing, where before, overwhelmingly, you were getting a cheaper fare, shopping your fares one way. And it's
14:49 Speaker 02 forcing me, when I shop for fares, to do it both methods, where I shop fares round trip, and then shop them one way, to see what is going to get me the lowest price. So, far and away, in their research, 2/3 of the time, Delta is quoting higher prices each way, if you shop one way, than if you shop round trip, to try to keep people from doing what's called, they used to call it plating away, booking away from the airline you fly going, that you fly somebody else returning. And so, offering you a lower price round trip basis versus one way, that's skewed.
15:36 Speaker 02 Doing it because in the industry, otherwise it's actually a better than 50 50 chance that you're going to potentially save money shopping fares one way instead of round trip. So all it means is that you take a little more time and comparison shop fares one way for your trip and compare round trip for your trip to see what's going to get you the best overall deal. The reality is up till this change principally by Delta, if you shop fares one way overwhelmingly, you would get a lower fare because of the fact that it's just math that
16:19 Speaker 02 whoever's cheapest going likely won't be the cheapest returning. So you're going to have to do a little more puzzle work to figure out the best deal. But who consistently pays too much for their tickets? People that are brand loyal to a single airline. Leave that for the corporate travelers charging to their companies. The rest of us need to be free agents every time we shop for a ticket.
16:46 Speaker 03 All right.
16:46 Speaker 02 How about thrifty traveler figuring out that the airlines were starting to change on this?
16:52 Speaker 03 Love it. All right.
16:53 Speaker 02 It was just saving people too much money. The airlines didn't like that.
16:56 Speaker 03 Okay, John in Virginia says, hi Clark, my wife and I would like to take a river cruise in Europe in 2027 to celebrate our 10th anniversary. We're looking at some of the higher end lines, including AMI, Uniworld, and Avalon. This will be a pricey trip, but I'd like to try and wear my Clark shaded goggles where I can. So I have a few questions about how to save money. First, do you have any tips about when to book the cruise? Second, one of these cruise lines, Uniworld, is available to book through Costco Travel. Can you please discuss what the advantages there might be of booking through Costco? And I'll accept any other tips you may have.
17:31 Speaker 02 All right. So first things first, I need to tell you, John, people are so polarized about river cruise companies. It's amazing. Like, go look at reviews online.
17:45 Speaker 02 And with river cruises, more than traditional cruise lines, you'll find totally polarizing five-star reviews and one-star reviews. It's like there's nothing in between. People's expectations of river cruises often are based on what they may have experienced with traditional ocean cruises. They're very, very different experiences. Before you book with AMA, Uniworld, Avalon, or, you know, the big players Viking, before you book with any river cruise, go spend time reading reviews thoroughly.
18:27 Speaker 02 Because the things that people are objecting to that are posting the one-star reviews, may be things that you say, "They're ridiculous," or, "Oh, man, that would upset me, too." And try to figure it out that way. I also really like with river cruises, unless you're somebody who's done a lot of river cruises, that you go to a very experienced cruise agent. Either a cruise agency or somebody who, all they do is cruises at a traditional travel agency. Because, yeah, you're going to save money at Costco Travel,
19:08 Speaker 02 but they're not going to give you the kind of advice, deep advice, I want you to have before you spend the money on a river cruise. Because somebody who's really, really involved in that, is what they do, is going to be really valuable to you at giving you a sense of not just what's the cheapest price, but what's the best cruise for who you are, your lifestyle, and the rest. I'm telling you, I'm trying to think of what other thing I've ever looked at reviews of that people are as...
19:46 Speaker 02 Crazy about or crazy mad at as river cruises they've been on.
19:52 Speaker 03 And then the benefit of if you do book through Costco on the one line.
19:56 Speaker 02 Oh, oh, the discounts. So what Costco does is they rebate a big part of the commissions to you with shop cards. And if you are a Costco executive member and you have the Costco Citibank Visa card, you're getting an additional 5% off the cost of the cruise just by booking through Costco Travel in addition to the rebating of much of the commission in shop cards.
20:25 Speaker 03 Georgia in North Carolina says, what is Clark's opinion about using virtual cards for online shopping? Does it help prevent identity theft or scam and/or scams or my info being sold on the dark web?
20:36 Speaker 02 It helps a lot, Georgia, but all it helps with is that nobody captures your actual credit card number. So paying with a one-time-use card number is the only way to go online. Because so often criminals look at that as a treasure chest. If they can break into the database of an online seller and capture all those credit card numbers, if you've used a one-time-only-use number, they got nothing.
21:09 Speaker 03 Also, Tap to Pay does the same thing.
21:11 Speaker 02 Tap to Pay does the same thing in person. Thank you.
21:14 Speaker 03 Frank in Maryland says, I'm a longtime listener and first-time small business owner.
21:19 Speaker 02 Congratulations to you being in business for yourself.
21:22 Speaker 03 I need to apply for a business credit card, and I'm in the process of reading about the best cards, including Clark's recommendations. I'm considering the Sapphire Reserve for Business, which has a lot of benefits, but a very steep annual fee. Since my business is not going to be spending $30,000 in the first six months, I will miss out on the new card member offer of 200,000 points. Assuming that I could deduct the card annual fee as a business expense, will it still make the card worth it?
21:50 Speaker 02 No way, not at all. If your charge volume... Isn't going to reach 5,000 a month. You absolutely don't want a high annual fee card like the Chase Sapphire Reserve for Business. I know that Chase is advertising that card and promoting it like it's the greatest thing since individually wrapped cheese slices or sliced bread, but it's not. I mean, you've got to be a high-volume charger who travels a lot to really make the Sapphire Reserve for Business pay off with the $800, I think it's $800 annual fee, Brett? Yeah.
22:33 Speaker 02 And so, in your situation, you want one of the cards like, there's like a business, Quicksilver, and there's nothing wrong, you're going to have to, you'll be personally liable anyway as a business owner, to go with a consumer version card that'll get you 2% cash back on everything, no annual fee. Those are the cards I think you should think about. And if you go Clark.com, we have an article on the best cash back cards. And just get whatever's the best one for your situation, and that's what you use. You're not going to have to overcome an $800 annual fee. You're not getting their 200,000 points anyway.
23:18 Speaker 02 So you might as well go something simple, cash in your pocket. And thank you so much for joining us today. I hope that something today, something that triggered in your mind, hey, I should be doing that, or I shouldn't be doing that. And that you're able to use the knowledge in order to booster shot your wallet and your money. Because what we're about in everything we do on social media, the markets I'm on television, markets I'm on radio, podcasts, YouTube, everywhere you reach us, our Team Clark Consumer Action Center, our newsletters, it's all about empowering with knowledge so you can
24:03 Speaker 02 make better financial decisions in your life, so you can save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. And I'll see you again on Friday.
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