Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 09.24.25 The Geography Of Retirement / Fast Food Value Wars About this episode How much do you really need to retire? That is the golden question, and of course the true answer is “it depends.” If you’re worried you haven’t saved enough, new data shows the state you reside in can be a big factor in determining your goal. Also today - We’ve seen so much inflation in the restaurant industry, but now there’s good news for consumers. Fast food restaurants are in a heated battle to offer more deals, and Clark tells you the best way to pay less. State Of Retirement: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 Fast Food Discounts Return : Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: Report: The Best and Worst States for Retirement The Minimum Savings You Need To Retire in All 50 States Why You Should Never Mail a Check 10 Best Free Checking Accounts in 2025 Why You Should Never Use Roadside Assistance What Is a C. L. U. E Report and Its Impact on Your Insurance How to Dispute Your C. L. U. E. Report A wave of significant menu changes is reshaping fast food What Is Umbrella Insurance and Do You Need It? Who Should Consider Setting Up a Trust? 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 0:04 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. So, how much do you really need to retire? It's a question that people focused on financial independence later in life and not having to work the rest of your life, really think about, and the answer is so variable, it's surprising. I want to tell you one way to really think about it that makes a huge difference.
0:45 Speaker 00 And later today, we have had so much inflation in the restaurant industry. I mean, just try to imagine what it's like being a restaurateur today with expenses across the board, not just food having gone up so much, but the customers are in a squeeze play, so the restaurants are in a squeeze play, that suddenly you and I as consumers are starting to get the better deal. I'll tell you what I mean later in this podcast. So, the question of what
1:25 Speaker 00 you need for retirement does not have one automatic answer, because a lot has to do with lifestyle you're used to living. But what's so significant is how different the amount of money it is you need to have in retirement, depending on where you choose to retire. Americans are much less mobile than we used to be.
1:53 Speaker 00 But once we're not working anymore, or preparing to not work anymore, that's when one of the most important things for people to think about is where you're going to decide to live on the money you have for retirement. Because there's such a giant difference in what it costs from one place to another. I've talked before in the past about people who are moving to foreign countries for retirement. And for a lot of Americans, that's a bridge too far. But one that now people in the millions are doing, living elsewhere in retirement
2:38 Speaker 00 because their money goes so very much further. Lainey and I have a friend who has not been able to save a meaningful amount of money for retirement. And she's already scoped and targeted where she's moving when she retires in two years. And she's leaving the United States. Even though her roots are here, her family's here, she's going elsewhere because it's so much cheaper. But even though the number of people doing that is so much larger than it used to be, most of us are going to want to stay in the US. And do you know, from the cheapest state to live in
3:23 Speaker 00 to the most expensive for living expenses in retirement, that it's three times more expensive to live in the most expensive state in the country, which is Hawaii, versus the cheapest state in the country, which I think is West Virginia? West Virginia. You actually have one-third the living cost. And that's just the most extreme. Because the most expensive states generally are at least twice as expensive to retire in as the least expensive states. And a lot of states are pretty close in cost at either extreme.
4:06 Speaker 00 It's almost like a barbell that you have a bunch of the very inexpensive states clumped together at one end and the most expensive clumped at the other end, pretty close together. And so there is such a giant difference from one place to another where somebody chooses to live. And so obviously you don't want to be lonely. So it helps if you have friends or family in a place that you consider moving, but there's a wide variety of places, pretty geographically dispersed in the country where the cost of living is much, much, much lower
4:49 Speaker 00 than the really high cost places. I mean, where are things really expensive? Getting away from Hawaii, top of the list, Massachusetts. I mean, it's no wonder so many people move in retirement who want to stay in New England from Massachusetts to New Hampshire.
5:12 Speaker 01 Yeah, I have a friend who's in the process of doing that.
5:15 Speaker 00 Moving to New Hampshire?
5:16 Speaker 01 Yep, from Massachusetts.
5:17 Speaker 00 Because New Hampshire is about 40% cheaper than living in Massachusetts. So it doesn't have to be radical. You don't have to go from, my dream was to live in Hawaii, to go from the Hawaiian Islands to West Virginia. It can be something-
5:38 Speaker 01 Not that there's anything wrong with West Virginia.
5:40 Speaker 00 West Virginia is beautiful.
5:42 Speaker 01 Yeah.
5:43 Speaker 00 Just beautiful. You want to see my latest pictures in West Virginia? Just kidding, I have them on my phone. Anyway, this is part of the whole puzzle because when you have such a large percent of our population that has not been able to save enough for retirement, where you retire and when will be one factor in how you make that decision. Another factor, like what would be an advantage? Of going through the brutal winters in Massachusetts and staying there.
6:18 Speaker 01 An advantage skiing, if you like to ski.
6:22 Speaker 00 Well.
6:22 Speaker 01 But that can be.
6:23 Speaker 00 Absolutely. If you're older, phenomenal medical care.
6:27 Speaker 01 Oh, okay.
6:28 Speaker 00 Some of the best medical care in the country.
6:30 Speaker 01 I guess that was a ditzy answer I gave.
6:31 Speaker 00 If you can tell, I am so cold phobic. I just do not deal well with cold weather.
6:39 Speaker 01 What would Clark think is good about cold?
6:40 Speaker 00 That was immediately what I'm saying.
6:43 Speaker 01 Yeah.
6:44 Speaker 00 About Texas. I didn't say Texas. Yes, I did. Anyway.
6:48 Speaker 01 Was that out loud?
6:49 Speaker 00 That was out loud. But cold is not for me. That's why of the 50 states, if I could live anywhere, it would be Hawaii, even though it's the most expensive place. But I just can't bring myself to even think about that. And besides, you said I can't retire till I'm 144 anyway. Is that right?
7:13 Speaker 01 145.
7:14 Speaker 00 145. Okay.
7:17 Speaker 01 All right, we'll go to questions. This one came in from, I hope I'm saying it right, Tyus in Alaska. Clark, I was invited to a coworker's child's birthday party. In the e-invite, she asked that gifts be contributed to the child's 529 through a gifting, 529 gifting website.
7:34 Speaker 00 I think you can name this one. It's legit.
7:36 Speaker 01 Yougift. Yougift529.com. Yougift asked me to mail in a check or if contributing online to enter my bank account and routing number and the amount of money to gift. I opted out and instead just gave my coworker the funds.
7:50 Speaker 00 Yeah. So Yougift is legit. There's no fees involved with it. And it helps parents amp up what's in their, their kid's 529 account. But I don't like the idea of mailing checks. Way too much danger with that. And you always have to be very skeptical when somebody asks you to give them your routing number and checking account number, bank routing number and your account number for debiting from your account. In this case, this is a legitimate organization, but you don't always know they are. So your answer of just giving the parents, you gave them a check, you just give them cash, whatever.
8:35 Speaker 00 That's, that's a preferred thing because the time you should mail a check to anyone. Let's see, when would the time be that you mail a check to anyone? You don't. Mailing checks is so hazardous, so dangerous. And the weirdest thing is your check could be stolen in the mail and you get arrested for it. As the check sender, you don't mail checks.
9:04 Speaker 01 I do want to just note that that URL, just because in case someone's like sees a different one. It's the letter U gift, not that we're telling people to do it, but it, I don't know if there's some other gifting 529 set out there. We don't know is legit. Um, okay. Matt in California says, I'm trying to help an aging parent whose judgment is steadily worsening and has already been ripped off a couple of times. She uses credit cards regularly. Is there a senior specific credit card or debit card? That I could get her to limit the damage?
9:34 Speaker 00 So it's not designed specifically for seniors, Matt, but I'm so glad you're jumping in there. And doing something about this, but Discover card has a wonderful account. That you set up an online Discover Bank checking account for your aging parent. And you tie into it a Discover debit card. They actually give you 1% cash back on the, on the debit card. And yes, I know you've all heard me talk about why not to use debit cards. This is a case where you do. You only fund Matt into this Discover Bank checking account. What is the amount that hits your pain point?
10:18 Speaker 00 That an aging parent whose judgment is deteriorating? That they can afford to lose. So, and then you replenish it on a schedule that's reasonable. And that is the easiest product I know to use in the marketplace. And it's fee free. It's also really good for young people. You have a kid in your household who you're really worried about their maturity and judgment. And having this Discover account with a debit card tied into it for them is a good alternative for a young family member who just doesn't have money maturity yet.
11:03 Speaker 01 Okay, Kevin and Georgia sent this one in. I want to verify the excellent tip you gave to your audience, including me, on using AAA or any other methods for towing your car in case of a breakdown, tire blown, et cetera, instead of using your auto insurance. So back in 2021, our Honda Odyssey broke down due to transmission issues. We had the tow option on our car insurance for years because it was for a small amount. And I thought, finally, yes, I can use this after paying for so many years. So I called the insurance and we got the car towed to the Honda dealer. Fast forward a few years, changing my auto insurance and getting quotes over the phone. They mentioned I had a claim in 2021.
11:42 Speaker 00 No.
11:43 Speaker 01 I was puzzled. We have a clean record. So it was that tow claim. And this has been affecting my auto insurance rate since then. One thing I'm not even sure of is how I can even monitor this, similar to the credit card monitoring. I guess credit score monitoring, basically. That's probably another topic to look into. I thought I was the only one this happened to back then. And I'm so glad Clark mentioned this. And I feel so vindicated.
12:07 Speaker 00 I hate that you were vindicated on this about the tow thing. All right. So hear this, hear it loud and clear, Kevin. Not for you, but you're doing a huge favor for your fellow listener or viewer. Do not, do not add or keep roadside assistance on your automobile insurance policy. It is a trap. It is an unethical, dishonest, crooked practice of the auto insurers where they want you to say, oh, this is great. I'm broken down on the side of the road. I'm going to use the coverage I have from my auto insurer.
12:53 Speaker 00 And then they gotcha because they put it into an insurance database, industry database as a claim that then is a curse on you trying to shop for auto insurance elsewhere. And depending on the state will eat up your wallet typically for three to five years. Never, never, not ever have roadside assistance from your auto insurer unless in writing, they tell you it will not be treated as a claim if you use it. Good luck getting that in writing.
13:35 Speaker 00 As for the insurance industry database, there is one run by Lexus that you can see what claims there are for you, not Lexus, the car company, Lexus, Nexus, where you can see for free, like any other credit report, you can see your claims history on your house or on your auto insurance. The funny thing about a house is it's the house itself that has a insurance report, not the individual insured. So if you buy a house that the prior person had a claim,
14:16 Speaker 00 in most states, that claim will follow you on the insurance industry database, not the owner of the house, not the person who owned the house when the claim was made, but whoever owns it when they're trying to get insurance later. Does that make sense? It follows the house, not the driver, like it would with car insurance. So I'm so glad that you shared your story. I'm so sad that it happened to you and I hope that soon that silly, ridiculous claim being there for having roadside assistance falls off your insurance and you become a free agent again
14:57 Speaker 00 to be able to shop for the best deal on auto insurance. Speaking of the best deal, something that's not been a good deal? Fast food restaurants. Not too long ago, I talked about how mid-price chains are outperforming because people perceive much better value than they do with fast food. But times are a-changing. Let me tell you what's going on. I talked about earlier how restaurateurs are just in a world of hurt. Inflation coming from every direction. But who are we really taking it out on? The fast food places.
15:37 Speaker 00 They are all reporting, almost without exception, reduced sales, reduced traffic. Because the cost just hit you so hard in the face. I mean, you just feel it. Because you remember, hey, I used to buy that combo for $4.99 and now it's $8.99? Or $10.99? And if you're in certain high-cost cities, $15.99 now. And people are on buyer's strike. The restaurateurs talk about this just like people do in retailing. That we're in a two-speed economy now.
16:18 Speaker 00 That the wealthiest among us just going along like everything's great. Top third of roughly 30% of income earners in the United States. La di da di da, everything's wonderful. Everybody else is like, man, I don't have enough money and everything I go to buy costs me too much money. And so the fast food restaurants are just getting clobbered. Because we've been getting clobbered from the inflationary cycle that started in 19 and is still continuing here in the fall of 25. And so now, something had to give. Because you gotta have people coming in the door
17:00 Speaker 00 or going through that incredibly inefficient, I can't stand drive-throughs. That's a topic for another time. Anyway, get the apps of whatever place you like to go to, but you haven't been going to as much. The reason is, the discounting going on through the apps is dramatically increasing. More and more freebies thrown in. Discounts that are available only with the apps. And what's referred to as the value wars, they're going to be so prominent this fall.
17:37 Speaker 00 With the fast food chains and the quick serve chains offering deals because they've outpriced their customers and you can't keep the doors open with the lower amount of traffic. So they're in a bind because they've got to cut margins, cut their profits from each item in order to get the traffic counts back up because they've already got the cost of the land and the rent, the utilities, employees, food costs, that's a variable when the food costs, but they've got all these fixed costs and they don't have enough people coming in the door or through that drive-through to cover those. And so that's why you're
18:21 Speaker 00 going to see a lot more creative pricing, i.e. discounts, but overwhelmingly they're going to be driven through you adding another app on your phone. You're even seeing it, people go to this thing where they drink this hot stuff that's dark and tastes really nasty called coffee.
18:42 Speaker 01 That's insulting to coffee lovers like me.
18:47 Speaker 00 Well, you know, I mean, people have seen the video of me having coffee for the first time.
18:52 Speaker 01 I know, it's bad coffee, nothing in it. Yeah, that wasn't a good, you should let me make you a coffee.
18:59 Speaker 00 Yeah, but that was in service to a good cause. We raised extra money for a children's cancer center by my drinking coffee. You know, the craziest thing I've ever done as a fundraising activity?
19:12 Speaker 01 When you got your head shaved?
19:13 Speaker 00 No, I didn't get my head shaved.
19:15 Speaker 01 Oh, no, who'd you got there?
19:16 Speaker 00 Oh, that was another time they threw pies in my face.
19:19 Speaker 01 Oh, yeah.
19:20 Speaker 00 Every time somebody threw a pie in my face, we raised a hundred dollars for children and foster care.
19:26 Speaker 01 Were they delicious?
19:27 Speaker 00 And people, my eyes hurt and I was wearing eye protection.
19:30 Speaker 01 I remember that, I was there for that.
19:31 Speaker 00 Yeah. No, the weirdest thing I've ever done that raised extra money, raised it for a children's cancer center in Florida was I paved a road. I was on a road paving crew.
19:44 Speaker 01 Wow.
19:45 Speaker 00 You never knew that?
19:46 Speaker 01 I didn't know you did that one.
19:48 Speaker 00 Yeah, let me tell you. You want to do some hard work?
19:53 Speaker 01 Yeah, no kidding.
19:54 Speaker 00 Dangerous work. Working on a road paving crew? The men and women who do that, you're a lot tougher than I am. That was hard work.
20:05 Speaker 01 Yep, I bet.
20:06 Speaker 00 But we raised more money for Children's Cancer Center.
20:09 Speaker 01 Well, what can we come up with next?
20:12 Speaker 00 What crazy thing should I do next? Go play in traffic? I don't know.
20:17 Speaker 01 We'll figure, maybe people will have some suggestions. All right, we'll go to these questions that were sent in for you. This one's from Robin in South Carolina. Do you need an LLC for a rental property? And do you need a trust to protect your assets from probate? And can you do it yourself?
20:32 Speaker 00 That's a lot of questions, Robin.
20:34 Speaker 01 A short question, but lots in there.
20:36 Speaker 00 Yeah, let's deal with the first thing. I do believe it's a good idea to have rental properties, each individual rental property you have, if you only have one, then simpler, in its own LLC. The reason is, you cannot control the liability risk of what a tenant does at your property. And you, as the owner of the property, goes back to English common law zillion years ago. You're responsible for what happens on your property. So you don't know if they end up running a meth lab and you don't know it, or whatever happens.
21:19 Speaker 00 So having rental property in an individual LLC, limited liability company or corporation, depending on the state, which it's called, that provides that liability shield to you. Now, if you have a mortgage on the rental property, the mortgage company may not permit placing the property in an LLC. In that case, you need to have a really robust liability insurance policy. You may even want an umbrella liability policy stacked on top of it. As far as a trust, so the reasons for a trust vary by state, depending on how complicated probate is.
22:01 Speaker 00 So a trust protecting your assets in probate, really what a trust does...
22:09 Speaker 00 Is, and this is an area that you want absolute expertise of a lawyer who specializes in wills, estates, and trusts, is when you've got a lot of stuff and you're really worried about fighting the family or fight over what's in the will, a trust provides a layer of protection properly drawn. Trusts are also common in states that have extremely complicated and expensive probate. Often people refer to two of the bigs of states, New York and California. People who own a second home in Florida, normally you want that in an
22:51 Speaker 00 LLC because you don't want to have to do, it's called ancillary probate in Florida. So there's situations that are part of what I call life success taxes. If you have developed a decent amount of assets, Robin, or you have a complicated family situation, you don't try to do online stuff, prepare your own things. You go to lawyers that specialize in those things. The more money you have, the more complexity you have in your life.
23:23 Speaker 01 Brian in Pennsylvania says, "On one of my cash back credit cards, there are extra rewards available on a quarterly schedule. This quarter, I could get 5% cash back on utilities. Could I overpay my bill to get more cash back and carry utility credit into the next quarter? How far could I push this?"
23:42 Speaker 00 As far as you want, depending on the utility. A lot will allow you to, because they're getting use of your money for free, you're getting the benefit of the 5% cash back. If you have a utility that will allow you to overpay a substantial amount, go for it. Now, I have a utility bill that, for a particular reason, I was trying to overpay.
24:07 Speaker 00 And they cap the overpayment at $500 over your bill. So they know people are playing this game and they put a cap on it. So it's all a matter of if your utility will allow you to significantly overpay and get the big reward and you know you're gonna earn that off with what your utility bill's over time? Go for it.
24:34 Speaker 01 All right, and Jim in South Carolina sent this, and not a question, but an answer for Krista that she recently asked on the podcast. During this podcast, the subject was how to spend less going out to eat. Krista had a BOGO for a restaurant and Clark went to Happy Hour and got a $12 pizza, regularly priced $21, but I wanted to share what I used to do. We were a family of five with three young kids. We would go to O'Charley's on nights that kids eat free, two kids for every one adult meal purchased, and I would have a $5 off coupon when spending $15. I would end up with two coupons. I think our neighbors would share their coupon with us. We would head to O'Charley's and I'd inform the family that we would be sitting at separate tables
25:16 Speaker 01 so we could use both coupons and the kids could eat free. Kids were able to get sodas if they wanted, since it came free with the kids meal, but parents were required to drink water. My kids and wife were so embarrassed, but they didn't have any problem pretending they didn't know me. I would tip based on what the total value of the meals and drinks would be, which is, that's so important.
25:38 Speaker 00 Right.
25:38 Speaker 01 So, thanks Jim.
25:40 Speaker 00 Jim, when you get a great deal, it doesn't come out of the hide of the server. And I'm so glad that you were tipping them on what the original cost would have been. Okay, so my family would not have been as good natured as his. And they would have had a complete revolt if I said, okay, so some of us are sitting over here, some of us are sitting over there, so we got maximum discount from coupons. And, oh, so I got a story for you about that.
26:11 Speaker 01 Okay.
26:13 Speaker 00 So a restaurant, we were having a big family gathering. And at the time, the restaurant was running a promotion that if you bought gift cards, you got 20% added value. So I call up and I say, can I buy the gift cards the night that we're coming in? Or do I need to buy them in advance? And I was told by the assistant manager, it's fine. You can buy them when you get here the night you're eating. So we come in, there's 14 of us. Oh, do I still remember this? And I go up to buy the gift cards and the manager says, you can't do that. You can only use them on a future visit.
26:56 Speaker 00 I said, well, I called and I was actually able to show on my phone where I called. He said, I don't care.
27:01 Speaker 01 Oh, wow. Wow.
27:04 Speaker 00 Paid that bill for the 14 of us? Have I ever been back?
27:08 Speaker 01 I bet not.
27:09 Speaker 00 Never, never, ever.
27:12 Speaker 01 Not ever.
27:12 Speaker 00 Not ever been back. But you know, in the manager's defense, do you really want me coming into your restaurant and looking for every discount and deal possible?
27:26 Speaker 01 Why not?
27:27 Speaker 00 Probably better replacing me with somebody else who's happy to pay full price.
27:32 Speaker 01 Well, I mean, it seems like the purpose of their promotion was to get people to come in, right? To give you that extra value so you want to come in there and eat. And so you, you weren't just going to go there anyway. Like you went there because there was a deal there. So you would have taken your business elsewhere. So it makes sense to me that you would be, you know, annoyed by that because you were, I don't know what the difference is to them, you know, unless they think people just randomly were going to eat there anyway, and then they just happened to see it and buy it.
28:00 Speaker 00 No, that was, that was.
28:01 Speaker 01 But I know that wasn't your deal. Yeah.
28:03 Speaker 00 Yeah. But it's funny because you know how you're just supposed to let go of things? I did a terrible thing. For a good while after that, I would drive by this place regularly and I'd get upset when I drove by.
28:15 Speaker 01 No way.
28:15 Speaker 00 Eventually, yeah, I know.
28:17 Speaker 01 Clark rage.
28:18 Speaker 00 Then eventually I was like, dude, that's stupid.
28:22 Speaker 01 Let it go.
28:22 Speaker 00 You let go of it. Just have a. Peace about it. And the power of the marketplace is I've never been back.
28:32 Speaker 01 Wow. That's hilarious. Cause you don't get stuck on many things. You're very forgiving, happy-go-lucky person. Like truly you are.
28:40 Speaker 00 I think it was because the manager was so rude about it.
28:44 Speaker 01 Yeah.
28:45 Speaker 00 Extremely rude.
28:46 Speaker 01 Hmm.
28:46 Speaker 00 Yeah.
28:48 Speaker 01 That's not cool. Well.
28:50 Speaker 00 But you notice I don't settle personal scores on the air. Cause what did I not do?
28:55 Speaker 01 Oh, you wouldn't name them.
28:56 Speaker 00 Would not name them. Can't do, I said on the air.
28:59 Speaker 01 Okay.
29:00 Speaker 00 In the air. Didn't name them. That's such an old habit from all my years doing radio and TV. But anyway, that's one of the ways we do provide advice. Our newspaper column, TV in various cities around the country, radio in various cities around the country. Whatever way you would like to be served with information, social media, newsletters, websites, podcasts, YouTube, episodes and shorts. Whatever way you want to be served, that's what we do is to serve you, to empower you.
29:39 Speaker 00 And the whole idea in why I do everything I do is I want to share with you knowledge that gives you power back in your life. It gives you control back in your life. And I want you to learn ways so you save more and spend less. And never, never, not ever let anybody rip you off. And by the way, if you were very upset that earlier I talked about ways to save money at fast food restaurants, I acknowledge that fast food is generally not the healthiest choice. But if you wish to post about it, remember, go to Clark.com/ClarkStinks.
30:24 Speaker 00 And we can have a conversation again about why eating well, eating healthy is one of the key parts of having a longer and healthier life. I said it.
30:40 Speaker 01 You did, and many, most fast food restaurants do offer salads.
30:44 Speaker 00 They do, varying in quality, but that is true. I'm not going to give them a hall pass.
30:49 Speaker 01 I mean, I'm just trying to throw you a bone here.
30:52 Speaker 00 No, I threw myself under the bus by saying, hey, you want to save money on fast food, do this, that, this other thing. But have a great day and we'll see you on Friday with Clark Stakes.
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