Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 09.26.25 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / Amazon Prime Family Shipping About this episode Friday - Clark Stinks day! Christa shares Clark Stinks posts with Clark. Submit yours at Clark.com/ClarkStinks. Also today, has Prime membership reached its peak? Clark discusses Amazon Prime, including why & how they’re ending a family sharing program. Clark Stinks: Segments 1 & 2 Amazon Prime Change: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: How Much It Will Cost To Watch Every NFL Game in 2025 4 Things To Know Before You Buy a TV Antenna What Is a 403(b) and How Does It Work? Why You Should Never Use Roadside Assistance What Is an HSA Account and How Does It Work? Report: Automakers With the Most and Fewest Recalls The Verge: Amazon ends shared Prime free shipping outside your home Is Amazon Prime Worth It? STREAMING TV - Clark.com 3 Financial Documents Everyone Should Have by Age 18 Why You Need To Talk to Your Family About Your Estate Before You Die How To Make Your Online Accounts Accessible When You Die Wills & Funerals Archives - Clark Howard 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.
0:34 Speaker 01 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. In today's episode, we're starting with my favorite time of the week, Clark Improvement Class. I like that, Krista.
0:55 Speaker 02 Thank you.
0:56 Speaker 01 That's where I got to hear your constructive criticism in our weekly Clark Stinks segment. Also today, Amazon is giving you an early lump of coal in your Christmas shopping. I'll fill you in on what Amazon's up to that shows they're not really your friend right now, but right now it's time for something more important.
1:25 Speaker 03 You must think I'm pretty stupid.
1:27 Speaker 04 You should be ashamed of yourself. Well, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you're right, pal.
1:37 Speaker 02 Okay. Couple about football, which I know you also love. It's your favorite time of the week because you're going to have to watch football this weekend.
1:45 Speaker 01 Football's my life. Football is on a lot of weeks this year. Seven days a week. Seven. I mean, how great is that?
1:57 Speaker 02 All right, here's the first one from Matt in Illinois. Clark, during your recent rundown on how to watch football, you failed to mention subscribing to NFL Plus Premium on NFL.com. For $14.99 a month, you can watch the live local games, all primetime games and the playoffs. The only downside is you have to watch on a phone or tablet. No, I do not work for NFL.com. And then Mark in Wisconsin says, Mr. Howard smells like a flaming pile of poo on this one. I cannot believe Clark does not mention that the NFL Carriage Agreement calls for TV stations to broadcast local market games, provided that the game qualifies as a sellout. As long as you're in your area, you can most certainly enjoy your beloved games for free.
2:41 Speaker 01 And so I have my antenna that we've talked about. It's on a long coax and I put it over by a window. And yes, I am watching local games with that antenna or whatever's being broadcast locally. And the picture is so much better than it is on streaming.
3:03 Speaker 02 Byron in Missouri says, or Missoura, I remember I was corrected about that. I am sick to death of virtue signaling do-gooders, scolding you for drinking a diet soda while sermonizing about their own most excellent choices. While their stench is profound, yours is greater as you apologize for a small pleasure instead of politely inviting them to get a life.
3:23 Speaker 01 So just in the last week, full disclosure, Krista sent me something about how much danger I was in for drinking my beloved diet sodas. You've been worried about me drinking them for, well, since 1997?
3:41 Speaker 02 So now we're going to get Clark's things about me. No, I mean, I drank an occasional diet soda. I do.
3:47 Speaker 01 I saw you drink one the other day.
3:48 Speaker 02 Yeah.
3:49 Speaker 01 And what do you call it?
3:50 Speaker 02 Poison, but I thought you'd be interested. I mean, everything in moderation, right? I thought you'd be interested in the article because it did say there was a link between the artificial sweeteners was the thing and Alzheimer's dementia.
4:01 Speaker 01 So, you know, this is...
4:04 Speaker 02 But gosh, there's a link between everything in that, it seems these days.
4:07 Speaker 01 But Byron, thank you. I need to acknowledge and respect that when people do those posts, they're doing it because they care about me and they worry about me drinking my soft drinks. And it's my one, let's call it vice, that I embrace. And I've been drinking soft drinks since I was, I mean, a little teeny kid. And it is something that I really, really enjoy. And I don't do other things that could be potentially harmful, but that one would be a tough one for me to give up.
4:49 Speaker 02 I remember, this is just a quick aside, when I was 16, I remember this so clearly, I was at a friend's older sister's house, and she was bragging about how she wouldn't have a microwave in her house because they're so unhealthy. And then later on, talked about how she had done cocaine. I was just like, what? All right, David in California, Clark, your dislike of 403B plans makes you a little stinky as you paint all 403B plans as bad. I looked up the San Francisco public school system on 403BYs and determined that one of the options is fidelity investments. Because you lay your dislike for 403B plans so heavily, I'm afraid you're scaring people away from investing in good 403B plans. Please make sure to tell people to check what plans
5:34 Speaker 02 they have available to them before they make a decision to skip investing in the 403B.
5:40 Speaker 01 David, thank you. And 403BYs does the most fantastic job. There's so many different school districts and all that. They can't have data on all of them. But any school teacher should check 403BYs because they are the nation's experts on being able to figure out In your school district or from your union, if there is an acceptable plan. I will tell you that you've got the option of being able to invest in a low-cost plan from Fidelity in the 403B. That is as rare as looking for a needle in a haystack.
6:23 Speaker 01 Overwhelmingly, and it to me is a scandal, that we mistreat teachers and people who work for other nonprofits so horrifically that the retirement plans offered to them are so bad, are so laden with fees and commissions, that a hard-working teacher putting money aside can end up with less money years later than what they put in because of all the insurance company junk ladled on those plans.
6:54 Speaker 02 Mary Ann in Minnesota says, "You published information that I believe is totally incorrect regarding buying roadside assistance from your auto insurance company. I worked for 25 years in the insurance industry and worked with many insurance companies, and never did they use that claim against you to raise your rates or cancel you for anything. It is called a claim only in order to facilitate the refund of your money up to their limit. I think you need to research this further before you tell people that."
7:21 Speaker 01 Mary Ann, thank you very much for that, and you're an insurance industry insider. We've also heard from people who have had that claim on their record for using roadside assistance, and it has spoiled their ability to shop with other insurers who say you have a claim on your record. So I think it depends on how the insurance company is reporting it in the insurance industry database that they all draw upon. And unfortunately, it seems to be, for many insurers, now a trap. To harm their insureds rather than a help when you're broken down by the side of the road.
8:01 Speaker 02 Alex in Georgia says Clark snuck it up in two ways addressing HSAs. First, he failed to mention that just because one spouse is not eligible for an HSA account, the younger spouse can still contribute at a single contribution limits until they reach age 65. That said, I've looked into this extensively. I feel Clark doesn't give any consideration to the complications, he adds to his life. You must continually prove to the government that your expenses paid from this account qualify for legitimate medical expenses. I opted to forego the HSA for simplicity in my life. There are other ways to have tax-free money available for medical expenditures. The Roth is one, and I know you don't get this tax savings upfront, but you can spend it on anything you want tax-free.
8:43 Speaker 02 You can also borrow money against a regular brokerage account tax-free as well, but that is more advanced. Let's not forget the elephant in the room. You have to be substandard health insurance for it to be called.
8:55 Speaker 01 Have to have.
8:55 Speaker 02 You have to have that for it to be HSA eligible.
8:58 Speaker 01 So, substandard. The way health insurance is changing, it's becoming more and more designed to be for catastrophic reasons rather than everyday medical care, which is why the deductibles have been going higher and higher and higher. And so more and more of us do have plans that make us HSA eligible. So yes, you're right. Every time you do something involved with something that the government gives you, in this case, triple tax benefit with an HSA, you also have all the paperwork that you're required to maintain.
9:41 Speaker 01 It is creating more complexity in your life. People are trying to get the greatest efficiency out of every dollar that they save, don't spend. An HSA is the best bang for the buck of anything that we can do, avoiding paying tax, which is something that is being able to pay for things pre-tax versus post-tax can make a big difference in your life later.
10:09 Speaker 02 And don't you spend, it's like 96% of your health costs are in the last few years of your life, or something like that, average?
10:18 Speaker 01 There's a lot of different stats, last six months of your life, you know, the overwhelming amount of your health spending. The idea of the HSA, if you can afford to let it build over the years, is that it gives you the ability in the later part of your life, to be able to absorb those expenses with money that has grown tax-free and that you spend tax-free later in life. You know, they talk about, demographers, actuaries, talk about how, if you think of retirement in three phases. The first phase is the active phase, traveling more than we have in the past, we're doing
10:59 Speaker 01 more activities than we have in the past, and spending actually is at the high end. Then, the middle stage, later in life, we're less active and we have our lowest spending levels. Then the last phase, is what you're referring to, is when we're living, but not well necessarily health-wise. We have a lot more medical expenses, and that's where the HSA can really come into play, because then you have your other money, like social security and whatever, to be able to pay for regular stuff, and the HSA pay for all those medical bills that come in that last phase of life.
11:42 Speaker 02 Because you just can't get the same kind of long-term care insurance that you used to be able to.
11:45 Speaker 01 No long-term care, right.
11:46 Speaker 02 All right, Tom in New Mexico.
11:47 Speaker 01 Can you use an HSA for long-term care?
11:50 Speaker 02 I would think it's medical expenses, like assisted living, wouldn't you be able to?
11:54 Speaker 01 You know, I've never thought about that. I don't, I actually don't know the answer to that.
11:58 Speaker 02 Okay, we'll have to look into that. Tom in New Mexico says, "I'm very disappointed in the car recalls article. I've owned a Tesla for four years and I've never had to take it in for a recall. Every recall has been handled with a software update." How many of those Tesla recalls that put it on top actually require a shop visit?
12:16 Speaker 01 That is a very good point. Tesla is a computer that happens to drive.
12:22 Speaker 02 Right.
12:23 Speaker 01 And that is the future of automotive transportation. And as a Tesla driver, I'll get a notice of a recall, and it'll say in the recall that
12:36 Speaker 01 I'm going to get a software update to take care of that recall. Now, there are recalls that you actually have to go to a service center or have a mobile appointment. But the thing that makes Tesla different than a lot of other brands is most safety-related recalls are able to be handled with software updates that go right over the air rather than a visit to a technician.
13:03 Speaker 02 Cal in Georgia says, "Hey, Clark, I love your show, but today I think you stunk. You mentioned teens not wanting to go to college because AI may take their jobs. I agree, but you left out why they're looking at the trades versus other areas. The need for tradesmen is huge, and the pay reflects it. Mix that with the ability to become a small business owner with a set skill, and I think that many teens are choosing it over college, not just because of AI. Again, I love your show. Keep up the great work."
13:30 Speaker 01 So, thank you very much for your post. And one of the things, Cal, that's so important about what you're saying is the average age of workers in skilled trades is pushing upper 50s right now, if they're blended average across skilled trades. For probably two generations, people coming out of high school have not considered skilled trades. And now, there's this effect where people are saying, "Wait, wait, wait, wait. All these people getting college degrees with the debt, and they're not finding a job that calls for what they went to college for. Maybe there's a better path."
14:12 Speaker 01 And so, the extreme shortages, we have technicians and mechanics in all different areas. Gosh, I could name so many skilled areas. The opportunity is quite large. The training gets you right into a workplace quicker. A lot of times, you're making money as an apprentice while you're getting the skilled trade. And it is a viable alternative that many people now, as teenagers, say, "Yeah, that sounds like a better idea for me." And what you said is right. It's not just about AI. So, thank you for that. And I want to thank everyone for your Clark stinks.
14:56 Speaker 01 You make me think in ways I've not thought. Or make me remember something that I've gotten lazy and forgot to mention. And so I appreciate so much every time you post a Clark stinks because we're all in this together. The whole idea is for us all to be empowered by sharing our knowledge and experience with each other. And that's why Clark stinks is so important to me because I want to grow as a person. I want to do better at what I do. And I want to do the best I can at serving
15:34 Speaker 01 you. Coming up ahead, a company that doesn't serve people as well as it used to, Amazon. And now Amazon wants to dig deeper in your in my wallet. Here's what you need to know about the special early Christmas gift nobody wanted from Amazon, coming up.
15:56 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.
16:26 Speaker 01 There's disagreement among financial analysts why Amazon Prime memberships have stalled out. There are lots of theories debated about. One is that Walmart Plus has started to take market share from Amazon. Don't know that that's true. Walmart Plus has attracted a significantly higher income household with its shopping program than goes into physical Walmart stores on average. So it may have been some part of it. Amazon becoming less customer friendly, which they certainly have no doubt from the feedback we get from people
17:10 Speaker 01 every week could have an impact. But I think the biggest reason is Amazon is a victim of its own success. Amazon Prime has become so large with such a monstrously huge membership base that there's not much more they can grow from here. So, Amazon before the Christmas shopping season has cut back membership privileges for family members who don't live at the same address. And so now they're being kicked out and Amazon's giving a one-year transition
17:55 Speaker 01 of an ultra-cheap membership for family members who don't live at the same address, who were part of a family Amazon Prime membership. So, for the first year, you become a member for roughly 15 bucks for the year. Then after that, you've got to pay whatever the prevailing is right now, I think 139, to remain a member. Amazon clarified after an inquiry from the New York Times that it looked like they were removing the ability for you to buy anything on Amazon Prime that went anywhere but your home address.
18:38 Speaker 01 And Amazon now has said, "No, no, no. You as the member, and you can be the only member in your household, you know, it's gotta be that address. You can send items to any other address. You could, let's say, order something for one of your adult kids who is part of your membership. You can order it, you can pay for it, you can send it to them. They just can't order for themselves anymore." The whole idea is Amazon's looking for some way...
19:11 Speaker 01 To boost the Prime memberships from where they have stalled out. And they may get a little bump from this, but again, the reality is only so many people are going to pay $139 a year for Amazon. And by the way, a lot of things on Amazon, you just have to have a certain order minimum not being Prime in order to get free shipping. So you don't have to do Prime, but Amazon gets most of its sales from people who are Prime members. How does it work in your household? Do you have multiple family members at different parts of the country?
19:56 Speaker 02 I've got my kids, so my kids do log into my account and they'll order some stuff that goes to their address.
20:03 Speaker 01 So they commit wire fraud and pretend they're you?
20:05 Speaker 02 Yeah, basically. With permission.
20:07 Speaker 01 That still will work.
20:08 Speaker 02 Yeah, thank goodness.
20:09 Speaker 01 That will work just fine.
20:10 Speaker 02 Yeah, and I like to be able to send them stuff. And when my parents were living in a different state, I would send things to them that I knew they needed through my account, so yeah.
20:18 Speaker 01 So you can still do that?
20:19 Speaker 02 Yes, exactly.
20:20 Speaker 01 Yeah, so that has not changed. It's where Amazon was allowing, under the umbrella of one Prime membership, multiple family members who live in different parts of the country to all be under one Prime membership. And that's no more. It's almost like what happened with Netflix where people used to share the Netflix sign in and Netflix permitted that as part of how they did things. And they were like, well, we need more member revenue. And they went to where everybody had their own, have to have their own Netflix account.
20:54 Speaker 02 Yeah, I know. My daughter was very upset by that. She loves a documentary.
20:59 Speaker 01 So you need to tell your daughter that she needs to go read our guide to fast because you can watch just about any documentary you ever wanted to see through free and supported television. Although for our kids, having to watch commercials, they would rather eat glass than watch commercials.
21:19 Speaker 02 So true. All right. We'll go to questions. Tate in Florida sent this one in. Again, the NFL again. Clark, you've mentioned that you purchased an indoor antenna to receive NFL games and the antenna worked well. Could you share the brand you used? Lots of people called our Consumer Action Center and have written in asking about your antenna.
21:38 Speaker 01 So I've been trying different ones. And what I've found, what you need to do is the minimum standard you should look at for an antenna to attach coax to the back of your TV. Coax like, like from 1990 in the cable era or something. You plug these antennas into coax. They're amplified. Some require a separate plug-in to the wall. Others get their power, I guess, from the television itself. I don't know how that works. But anyway, I've got one from Best Buy that has the Best Buy Essentials, which are their, it's their junior private
22:19 Speaker 01 label, and it's about 25 bucks for a 50-mile rated antenna. So what I'd like for you to do, when you're trying to pick up free over-the-air television, is you start at a baseline with the 50-mile range antenna. If for whatever reason, where you live, if the 50's not going to get it, and this is for urban suburban, you can go with a 60 or an 100, which have stronger amplification. So what I do, this is like, so backwards. So from my TV, I have the long coax. When I'm watching football over the air, I have to take the antenna,
23:04 Speaker 01 pull it over against the wall where the window is, find the best position on the window, and then I get a 5x5 signal, a fantastic signal. But then, you're getting that for free. And the coolest thing, in most major metro areas, you'll pull in about 100, 110
23:26 Speaker 01 Free local channels that you didn't even know existed because you'd know the network affiliates exist, but then there's so many minor channels that are available, a lot with programming you're not interested in, but then others, it's like, wow, I didn't know I could watch this or that or this other thing.
23:43 Speaker 02 I just, by the way, would love a camera on you when you're moving your antenna around. Your family's probably just like eye rolling, like, there he goes again.
23:51 Speaker 01 Well, I mean, you gotta save money. And you know, when I dumped YouTube TV, because they went to 83 a month base. I mean, I remember when YouTube TV was the absolute bargain out there was $35 a month.
24:05 Speaker 02 Yep.
24:06 Speaker 01 And now we're with Sling and Sling, you know, the operators of Sling are really cheap, like I am. So they've had all these fights with local broadcast stations. So I don't get a lot of local broadcast. So that's why I have to have the antenna if I'm going to get programming from Sling and save the money with Sling and still be able to watch football.
24:29 Speaker 02 Angie in Georgia says, hi Clark, thanks for all the advice you share. When you speak, I definitely listen. My question is about my son. He's a senior in high school and will turn 18 the same year. As a parent of an 18 year old who is still at home and then off to college next year, are there any legal papers or protections that I need to have in place? I swear he was just four the other day. Please help me to know how to parent an adult.
24:52 Speaker 01 Angie, gosh, you know, all the recommendations about what you do when a child reaches adulthood, which in many states for some things is 18, others it's 21, involve negative things like having a medical directive if sadly your child was in an accident or something like that. Having, in most states, it's called a durable power of attorney for healthcare because once your child's an adult. You don't have parental oversight in a legal medical environment if something did happen with your child and your state, almost certainly like others, has a state standard
25:36 Speaker 01 form you do for a durable power of attorney for health care. And you can go down a rabbit hole from there of all the different legal forms you might want to have in place once a child reaches adulthood. And Nolo has an article about it that's pretty easy to follow at N O L O dot com. And there are others that you can find with an online searcher. If you use an AI tool, you'll see what papers you should do. And again, it can get really more and more extreme with what you might be recommended to do for a child turning 18.
26:18 Speaker 01 But I'd say the one that is thankfully remote is a possibility, but the most important is for you to have authority in the case your child can't express his wishes in the event of a medical emergency, and that is the durable power of attorney for health care.
26:40 Speaker 02 All right. This is a sad story, but I wanted to make sure I read this. Kim in Florida says, "My husband passed away on 5/29 of this year unexpectedly."
26:50 Speaker 01 Really sorry.
26:51 Speaker 02 "We both followed Clark. I was overwhelmed with trying to handle things financially. Fortunately, we had discussed a lot of things and I could make decisions because I knew what he wanted. People need to let each other know, passwords, et cetera, in order for the remaining spouse to find answers concerning accounts. Please cover this with your listeners again. No one knows when your time is up. Be prepared. I love your show."
27:13 Speaker 01 Kim, my absolute sympathy goes out to you over the loss of your beloved husband. I'm really, really sorry. I hope you're getting the support you need, the comfort you need from family and friends because I'm sure it's still raw.
27:32 Speaker 02 Oh, gosh, yeah.
27:33 Speaker 01 At this moment, so few months have passed. So that you took the time at this moment to be of help to your fellow listener and viewer is just incredible. And you're right, even if, even if...
27:49 Speaker 01 Couples have had conversations, and you've got to make sure if you've got a responsible adult child, that they are aware as well, in the event something happened, that happened to both of you at the same time. Where key papers are, what sign-ins for accounts are, things like that, need to be in an organized fashion, and that they are discussed. And, my wife is very analog. She writes everything down. She still uses a paper calendar, it's so funny, it's all color-coded, it's really, it's really cute.
28:29 Speaker 01 But anyway, she has records set up, where she knows how to get in all of my accounts, how to sign into this, that, and other account. This is important stuff, that we ignore in our peril. And by the way, if you're doing a will, updating a will, one of the things you want to cover in it, is if you have, let's say, you travel a lot, and you have a lot of points in a hotel program, or airline program, or one of the credit card programs, you want to put in there, and most software now, or if you go to a lawyer, they'll be prepared to do this, that
29:12 Speaker 01 it designates who's to inherit these various points, and miles, and whatever. And, the thing is, not every travel supplier honors those wishes, but generally, they will, if it has force of law, in a will. But, the thing is, do you know, that the frequent flyer programs, the point programs and all that, say the actual owner of all that, is the program itself, not you as the traveler, but as a general situation, they honor the wishes that are stated in a will. But, just talking about all the things, like how to get in a spouse's
30:01 Speaker 01 Email. Mm-hmm. I mean, that's so something you might not think about, but it's important. In your phone, making sure that your spouse knows how to get in your phone, or if you're living with someone, that you know how to do that stuff, in case something, you're temporarily incapacitated, or whatever. So the other has access to those things. And Kim, in a time of such serious grief, I want to thank you for bringing this up, because it's the kind of topic people put off, don't talk about, don't want to think about.
30:44 Speaker 01 But life happens, and you have to be prepared. So, thank you so much for joining us today, and I hope that this weekend, you've got really great stuff in front of you. And know what we're all about here. It's about you being empowered with knowledge, so you can save more, spend less, and don't let anyone ever rip you off. See you Monday.
Previous 09.24.25 The Geography Of Retirement / Fast Food Value Wars Next 09.29.25 This Open Enrollment Is Different / A Good Climb: CD Ladders Page updated November 6, 2026 · transcript and summary are machine-generated
