Pod Insights The Clark Howard Podcast 12.30.24 BEST OF: The Magic Number For Retirement / Investing: A Cautionary Tale About this episode Happy Holidays! Please enjoy this Best Of episode. Clark returns January 3rd. How do we determine our “magic number” - the amount we need to retire? Clark weighs in on the debate about how much it takes to be financially secure, and how to start and keep making progress. Also today -private placements, hedge funds, limited partnerships, private equity - beware of this type of non-traditional investment “opportunity”. Even when they’re legit, there’s no liquidity, and extremely high expenses. It pays to know why you need to avoid investing with anyone who is not a fiduciary. How Much Do You Need To Retire: Segment 1 Ask Clark: Segment 2 Risky Investment Pitches: Segment 3 Ask Clark: Segment 4 Mentioned on the show: How Much Do You Need To Retire? How to Start Investing: 10 Steps (Clark.com) How To Save Money: Spend Less & Build Your Savings Warning: Here’s What Those Debt Settlement Companies Don’t Tell You Clark Howard's 2024 Credit Card Debt Elimination Strategy 6 Things To Know Before Contacting the National Foundation for Credit Counseling Best 529 College Savings Plans By State How To Open a Roth IRA The AJC: Atlanta hedge fund manager charged in $10M fraud scheme Best Financial Advisors in 2024 Should You Make Your Child an Authorized User on Your Credit Card? Best Credit Cards for Students: Top Picks for 2024 Travel Archives - Clark Howard 4 Ways To Get Your Free Credit Score Clark.com resources Episode transcripts Community. Clark.com 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 Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change. Your receipt did. The sausage McMuffin with egg extra value meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5. Only at McDonald's for a limited time.
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0:45 Speaker 03 Hope you're having a great holiday week. I am off on adventures, so this is a best of edition of the Clark Howard podcast. I hope you enjoy it and that you have an enjoyable holiday week.
1:05 Speaker 03 I'm so glad 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 make better financial decisions in your life. I want to remind you that our growing and dynamic community at Clark.com/community is there for you. It's a place for you to share information with your fellow Clarkies. And I've been reading a lot lately about what is involved in you making progress in your goals for retirement. And people have been talking about that in the community as well. And all the debate about how much money you need to be financially secure.
1:50 Speaker 03 I'm going to share my thoughts on this. And also later, a key caution for you. When somebody pitches you on an investment opportunity, what are the things I want you watching out for to protect your wallet? We'll talk about that. So money for retirement, the most recent survey was done by one of the big insurance companies, who was it? Northwestern Mutual says that the average American surveyed says they need just a whisker under 1.5 million dollars in order to be able to retire, where the average American
2:33 Speaker 03 has saved for retirement somewhere around $80,000 or so. Some people have none. Some people just owe money to everybody on earth. Other people have quite a bit of money, but you take it all and the average is 80 some odd thousand dollars. So that's really something you can use to depress yourself when you're thinking, wait a minute, you're telling me I need a million and a half dollars in order to someday not work? And then I'm looking and I got this many dollars, not very many, in 401K or Roth IRA or whatever. How am I going to get from here to there? Okay.
3:18 Speaker 03 So you can use this to discourage yourself, to depress yourself, but I want you to look at both sides of this equation. Most people who successfully retire don't have anywhere near a million and a half dollars. They're able to supplement what they get from social security and whatever else they might have, any little pension they have from somewhere, if they have one, whatever it is, they're able to supplement with some money every month, either by working a little part-time or by having a lot less money than the million and a half people are talking about and being able to retire.
4:03 Speaker 03 There's a guy you've heard on our podcast, Wes Moss, who says, based on his research, upper-middle-class couples can actually retire when they have somewhere around, oh, 750,000 or so. Used to be 500, but inflation has affected them. That's for upper-middle-class. So, rule number one, do not let somebody make you feel it's hopeless.
4:33 Speaker 03 When these headlines are reported, because that million and a half was reported widely in the general media, TV, radio, websites, whatever, all gravitated to that Northwestern Mutual million and a half. That may be true for somebody who lived an upper income lifestyle, that they're going to need that kind of money to maintain lifestyle. Most people don't make an upper income. And so the million and a half is not relevant for most people. So, no, it doesn't have to be a number like that. It does have to be meaningful money. And you're thinking, I don't have any meaningful money. How do you do it?
5:17 Speaker 03 You do it bite-sized pieces. You know how much I am all about incremental change. I'm all about is, we had a Clark Stinks explaining that I'm not a turtle, as I've described myself, I'm a tortoise, that I run so slowly that my daughter will come next to me, my middle child, and she'll be doing speedwalking, laughing at me, going past me while I'm jogging. And everything I do is force of habit. That's my thing. With money, habits can be good or bad, but good habits build on themselves and make a difference.
5:58 Speaker 03 So if you're sitting here right now and you're not close to where you need to be with saving for the future, I don't care what age you are, you're not close, today's the day you start and you build a habit. And you start putting a set amount of money, whatever it is, into a Roth IRA for yourself. Or if you've been ignoring a retirement plan at work, you start contributing a small amount of your paycheck every pay period to it. And you stay at that amount and realize, oh, I can still do what I need to do. And then you step it up. I like every six months, you step it up. You build that habit. You don't try to do too much at once. It's like somebody's been a couch potato and they suddenly get motivated.
6:42 Speaker 03 And they go to the gym and basically do too much and they're like, that was a bad idea. And they never go back to the gym. You build up, you build up habits and money is the same thing. So the goal is to create some amount of financial independence in the future. If it's a very specific time you have in mind, you work towards that. It's like trying to go somewhere without knowing the roads. You set a plan and you build towards it and you can make it happen. I promise I've seen it again and again, and I want you to make that difference in your own life.
7:27 Speaker 03 And ignore all those scare lines that say, well, you might as well just give up because it's never going to happen. That's not how it really works in life.
7:38 Speaker 04 And we do have an article on Clark.com called, How to Start Investing. There's 10 steps there. So I think that's a good one. If anyone wants a reference. Here are some questions. Don in Wisconsin said, you mentioned on a recent show how the US savings rate, 3% was awful, especially compared to some other countries that are as high as 20%.
7:57 Speaker 03 High as 30.
7:58 Speaker 04 My question is, how is that rate calculated? I get it if I put a hundred dollars in the bank after each paycheck, I saved X% of my salary. But what if I use it to prepay some of my mortgage? Is that considered savings? Also, would a rise in investments be considered savings?
8:14 Speaker 03 That's a great question, how it all comes out in the mix. You can have some statistical anomalies because the people who do different things still live on less than what they make. The aggregate, when you take everybody is you take a hundred dollars earned net of tax. And the average person consumes 97 of those dollars. So $3 is diverted into investment, savings, or other things not spent. So what you're looking at is the amount that people do not spend is the ultimate percent. And that's how it shakes out.
8:54 Speaker 03 An individual situation, if you are doing different things to live on less than what you make, then that's the amount of money that is your net effective savings rate. So if you take your net check and instead of spending, you're putting additional money towards principal on your mortgage, which you should only do if your mortgage rate's a high rate, by the way. Or you're putting money into a savings account, or you're putting money into a Roth IRA, like I was mentioning a minute ago. Different things you do that are savings, investment, non-consumptive activities. That is your personal savings rate, and that's the one that really matters.
9:37 Speaker 03 The truth is, in order to have financial security through your lifetime, I've always encouraged you to live on 90 cents of every dollar. You save a dime of every dollar you make. Now, mathematically, to have a clear path towards financial security through a full lifetime, including when you stop working and retirement, a lot of the economic models say to really, really, really ensure being on Easy Street, you need to save 15 cents over a working lifetime. But again, that would be a reach goal for you if you're saving a whole lot less.
10:20 Speaker 03 If you're saving that more, you know, I've always been an obsessive saver, and I don't dwell on that because I don't want to make it seem like, oh, well, that's the only way you end up. Great, because I historically have saved 50% or more of what I've made from when I was 21 years old. And that's just the way my mentality is, is I've always lived way below my means. 5-0%, that's extraordinarily extreme.
10:55 Speaker 03 And that's not an example that anybody needs to grab hold of.
10:59 Speaker 04 Karen in Georgia says, I signed up for debt consolidation with a legal company in September. My debt total was a little over $21,000. I was told it would be resolved in 60 to 90 days, and that was several months ago. Six months later, it is not resolved. I believe they sold the debt to another company, and my file was lost in the acquisition because now when I call, they answer the phone with the new company name. They were debiting my account every month for $380. I'm angry that I waited so long with no resolution, so I emailed to cancel the service. My money was returned, but I'm left with bad credit on bills that are unresolved. Is there something I can do about the unprofessional service and them
11:44 Speaker 04 not holding up their end of the contract?
11:46 Speaker 03 Karen, I am so frustrated this happened to you. And let me tell you, this is a common problem, especially right now with credit delinquencies and defaults rising, and the amount of debt that many people are carrying is at record-high levels right now. That's made people susceptible to these sleazy, fly-by-night, piece-of-junk debt consolidation outfits. They are not legitimate ways to deal with your debt. They promise all this stuff, and what usually happens is exactly what's happened to you. The specific details
12:30 Speaker 03 may vary, but what generally happens is your credit's ruined, and they haven't done anything about the debts you have. They promise this magic wand of removal of your debts eventually, and it's not real. At this point, you've got to pick up the pieces. You go back, there's nothing you can do about the crooks. They don't even exist anymore based on what you know. And they sold your account to who knows who. So I want you to go to the website NFCC.org, NFCC.org, National Foundation for Credit Counseling,
13:12 Speaker 03 and start dealing with a legitimate credit counselor who will work with you on your debts and help you come up with a legitimate plan to pay those debts. There are NFCC affiliates all over the United States that you can meet with a legitimate credit counselor in person, by video conference, or on the phone. And I want you to get their help to get back on track. And I'd love to hear back from you later how you're doing.
13:46 Speaker 04 This is from Jean in Georgia. My husband and I are not high-income earners. I'm a school librarian and he's a maintenance manager. Nor are we great savers, but I heard you talk about 529 accounts and opened one when my daughter started first grade, putting in $50 a month. We gradually increased when we could and were lucky to also receive gift contributions from relatives. I'm happy to report that she'll be starting at a public college in Georgia this fall with the Georgia Hope Scholarship and just over $40,000 in her 529. Thank you, thank you, thank you for all the valuable advice.
14:19 Speaker 03 Well, Jean, look in the mirror because the hero of this is you and your husband because you did exactly what I talk about. I mean, this goes full circle back to being the tortoise, popping that $50 in every month, building up that money in a tax-free, not tax-deferred, tax-free 529 college savings plan, building up that reserve. Having a child who has been industrious enough that they are hope eligible for people are not aware, it's the most copied college program in the United States where if a student
15:02 Speaker 03 achieves a certain academic level in high school, most of their college costs at a state school are paid by the state taxpayers rather than paid by you. As an incentive to get people in college and keep them in college, based on achievement, you get a highly reduced college education. And you putting that money in step by step in the 529, you said you're not great savers. You proved that you have that discipline. Now that your child is, your daughter's taken care of, now it's time for you to take that 50 a month and start putting
15:43 Speaker 03 it in your own Roth IRAs to build up money for your own future, your own retirement. And this is just absolutely wonderful. And if you have a young child, you're trying to figure out how in the world you're ever going to be able to pay for their college, know that the 529 plan is absolutely great. The whole structure of 529 plans with them growing tax-free, being able to spend the money tax-free on eligible college expenses is phenomenal. If you have a child who ends up deciding not to go to college, the money can be converted into a Roth IRA. Lots of rules with that. Tax-free for that child's benefit. Lot of
16:26 Speaker 03 really good stuff here. There are terrible, terrible, full-commission brokerage house sold 529 accounts. The only good 529 accounts are what are known as direct sold. No commission salesperson involved. If you don't know how to buy one of these, go to clark.com/529. We have a comprehensive guide to how you pick a 529 plan, which one is appropriate. For you and your child, what investments in the plan you should choose. We work really hard on this to get this right so that you make a great choice with
17:09 Speaker 03 your hard earned dollars, saving them for a child's college. And then the cool thing now that's new this year, that if a kid says, no college for me, the money stays tax free with the conversion to the kid's Roth. How great is that? Coming up ahead, I want to tell you the opposite of great in the investment world, how people get burned over and over and over again. There's one central theme you gotta know.
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17:52 Speaker 01 Pricing participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.
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19:24 Speaker 03 There's a continuous theme that runs through a problem I have seen happen to you over the decades. It's been really non-stop for 37 years. And there's a line of demarcation in when people do well and when they get taken advantage of. So there are exceptions to what I'm about to say, but in general terms, what I'm about to say is clear as could be. When somebody has pitched investments, they're pitched two ways. They're pitched investments
20:04 Speaker 03 that are publicly traded, like you hear me talk about exchange traded funds, index funds, mutual funds, or buying regular stocks. And then there are people being pitched how it's so much better and how much more money you're going to make and how much less risk you're going to face if you buy private placements of different kinds. Hedge funds, you buy into partnerships. We've heard it over and over again, all through the years, about how people are going to make so much more money, or have lower risk, or whatever, staying away
20:46 Speaker 03 from traditional stock type or bond type investments that you can buy and sell at will, that there's a clear published price every day, that you can buy commission free, that you can sell commission free, and the money is available as you need, versus people being pitched, "Hey, do I have an opportunity for you?" The problem in this area is not necessarily scams, although scams are very common. There are allegations right now against one, the perpetrator of this one fled the United States and is now a defendant back
21:26 Speaker 03 in the United States. The guy had something he called the cheater fund, which was supposedly a hedge fund. You were buying into and promoted and promised that the return on it would be 73%. You would earn a 73% return on your money. And people were like, I love this. I'm going in this. Company sounded like any other financial firm. And what did he do with the money allegedly? Well, took millions for himself directly and then used the money to travel allegedly
22:06 Speaker 03 all over the world and pay his credit card bills, everything. Were there investments? Apparently not. It was a classic Ponzi scheme. Apparently, the courts will ultimately decide if the defendant was running just a con game. Allegations look pretty serious and already 90% of the money seems to be gone, gone. This is a story with different wrinkles, different players that I have reported on in my TV work for 33 years. Over and over again, there will be these things that people are pitched.
22:46 Speaker 03 You know, this has low risk, no risk, but has this wonderful return, whatever. And it doesn't have to be as crazy as 73%. Bernie Madoff ran the biggest Ponzi scheme apparently in the history of capitalism, promising people a 10% return per year. What they called the Madoff 10 because the deal was he claimed to have come up with a financial formula where you'd never lose money, but you'd earn 10% on it. Well, people did lose a lot of money because it was all a con. And the problems almost always are in this private equity kind of pitch.
23:29 Speaker 03 And private equities, NNN, limited partnerships, NNN, being sold to individuals.
23:37 Speaker 03 Not directly involved in operating a business. Risky, risky, risky. You don't have liquidity, even when they're legit. You don't have liquidity, meaning there's not a daily published price that you can get in or get out. You're usually paying, and a legitimate one, you're paying extremely high expenses. It's not at all unusual that you're paying fees of 20% per year. 20%. I mean, when I talk about these low-cost funds with Fidelity and Vanguard, they're close to zero or are zero in cost.
24:17 Speaker 03 But private placements, you're paying these very, very large commissions and fees. So this is an area that is pitched as this is the real ticket to wealth. But know who the real wealth flows to are the promoters, the perpetrators of these private equities, these private placements. So again, they're not evil. They're not wrong. They're not bad by their nature. It's just not at all like they're sold as some kind of great, great way to greater wealth for you.
25:01 Speaker 03 You've got so many risks involved, so many expenses involved. It's not a game I'm gonna play. And if you're gonna play it, really be careful.
25:13 Speaker 04 Nick in Wisconsin has a question. He says, "My eldest son just turned 18 and will be going to college in the fall. I'd like to help him start building his credit. Is there a method you recommend, a card to get started perhaps?"
25:25 Speaker 03 Okay, so this is amazingly easy for someone going to college full-time because college students are the lowest-risk profile of any credit card users in the United States. Maybe anywhere in the world, college students are the lowest risk. So there are a lot of college student credit card programs. But in order for your son to qualify for these, what you do is add your son as an authorized user on one of your existing credit cards. And don't even give him the plastic. Just name him as an authorized user. It will establish a credit record for him with the credit bureaus. If the card is one of the big issuers, there'll probably be a record of him with all three
26:10 Speaker 03 major credit bureaus. And then when he gets to college, he'll be eligible to apply for a college student credit card. My favorite starter college student credit card is the Discover Student Card Series. They're well first in the college student market. They know how to serve it. And I like the Discover card because it's not accepted everywhere. So it's more limited in its applicability, but it will give your son Nick the ability to establish a credit identity. And he just needs to use it responsibly, pay that bill each month so he's not running up interest.
26:53 Speaker 03 And he will get that good credit score first from you establishing his credit identity and then by having that student card. All the big issuers have student cards and the larger credit unions also have student credit card programs. But he needs to be established first, which you make happen by making him an authorized user, piggybacking on your good credit.
27:20 Speaker 04 All right. Jennifer in Wisconsin says, I used to travel a lot with friends when I was college age, but now I'm 40 and married and my husband has no interest in traveling.
27:29 Speaker 03 He's not interested in traveling.
27:33 Speaker 04 Because of this, I've traveled very little in the last 15 years or so, and I'm not happy with that moving forward. Where would you advise a woman traveling alone to go in the U.S.? I don't want to rent any cars, so somewhere safe for a woman and with decent public transportation. I want to start traveling again, but I feel like I don't know where to start. Thanks.
27:51 Speaker 03 So I mean, what you just described to get you out there and doing things, big cities that are safer than the headlines would be where to go. It's funny about this thing. It's very easy. Anybody could end up married to someone who travel is just a big bother too. I was talking with a friend just the other day who hates, hates, hates travel and cannot understand at all why my wife and I love to travel so much. It's just not her thing. And so the fact, Jennifer, that your husband doesn't enjoy it means you can have the experience. I mean, you're in Wisconsin. I don't know how much you've gone to Chicago.
28:35 Speaker 03 Chicago with all the headlines about all the terrible crime problems and murders and all that, those are in very small concentrated areas of Chicago. Chicago is a great city to get around on public transit and enjoy the nicer areas of the city. You can even get around in Chicago in some of the beautiful suburbs because the commuter rail system is so extensive there. Boston, when the weather gets warmer, because it's not warm enough for me in early June, I need to hit like late June and July, and then Boston, August, I'm thrilled. September, September is kind of the end because I like that warm weather.
29:19 Speaker 03 Boston has fantastic food, fantastic history, wonderful tourist sites, great public transportation. And your daughter, you were in Boston long ago in your life. Your daughter's been there the last three years. Has she ever in the area she traveled felt unsafe in Boston?
29:39 Speaker 04 Not that I'm aware of. She's very, very careful about that stuff. And she always sends us, like she takes public transportation all the time. She takes the tea. And if she takes like an Uber or something, she sends us her ride. Like she's hyper aware and she'll go with the buddy. But it's a wonderful walking city. I mean, especially after the big dig, Boston's awesome. I also want to say there are a lot of solo women traveler groups out There that you could join, you can look online. I mean, there are tour groups as well that take women who want to travel alone on a group tour. So there are those opportunities too. And then I will go visit, like you said, you travel with friends in college, maybe go see one of those friends and have a reunion.
30:16 Speaker 03 That's a great idea. That's a great idea. What other cities? Cause I was thinking immediately, Washington DC.
30:22 Speaker 04 Yeah, DC is a good one.
30:23 Speaker 03 Is great, has so many wonderful areas, absolutely. Safe areas, great public transportation. And the one that people are surprised by is New York, uh, cause New York ends up in the headlines a lot with spectacular crimes that occur. The reality is if you look at the national crime statistics, New York is one of the safest metro areas in the United States, has a decrepit, but very extensive public transit system that I ride.
30:53 Speaker 04 It's very easy to use.
30:54 Speaker 03 Very easy to use and
30:56 Speaker 04 Just tap your phone.
30:57 Speaker 03 Great stuff to do all the time, great food. So there are lots of places you can go to. San Francisco right now, don't do. Uh, San Francisco is going through a bit of a crisis right now. Don't recommend going there at all, but there are lots of places in the United States. And since you're in Wisconsin, I should mention the Canadian big cities are wonderful to go to. Uh, there's so many that would be great to go to that are fine and safe and have a lot to do. And the eastern ones like Montreal, Toronto have great public transit.
31:36 Speaker 03 So there's a lot of places you can go that you will really be able to enjoy. But Krista's suggestion of the single women's groups is a great idea, too.
31:48 Speaker 04 Carolyn in Georgia says, I've paid one of the major credit bureaus for so long to keep me informed of my credit score and it just seems like a waste of money. Do I really need it?
31:57 Speaker 03 Yeah, that was theft without a gun. You know, when Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian say, "What a deal for you. Subscribe to this and you'll see your score whenever you want." What a ripoff, ripoff, ripoff, ripoff theft. Oh, so Carolyn, you can that. Get rid of that terrible membership and know that if you have credit cards routinely now, credit cards, if you sign into the website, go to their app, whatever, on your monthly statement, it's very common. This all started, it's full circle. I mentioned Discover earlier.
32:38 Speaker 03 This all started when Discover was looked at at Benedict Arnold in the banking industry when they were like, "Hey, we check every customer's credit score every month anyway. Let's make it a benefit." They started giving it to people for free. And now, pretty much, everybody does that in the credit card business. So you can see your score whenever you want. You could also sign up for a Credit Karma account. And at Credit Karma, you'll be able to have free credit monitoring and see two of your three credit bureau scores there. They're the FICO, they're not FICO scores. They're from the cartel of the three credit bureaus called Vantage.
33:18 Speaker 03 So lenders generally don't use Vantage scores, but they give you a good indication of your credit score. And Credit Karma is free. What they use is your information to try to pitch stuff to you at Credit Karma. I deal with that invasion of privacy because the up-to-the-minute information from Credit Karma, I find so useful. But if you don't want to do that, at least you'll have access to your credit scores whenever you want them at most any of your credit card accounts. And thank you so much for joining us today. We've got great stuff in store for you tomorrow because tomorrow-
33:58 Speaker 04 Clark stinks, baby.
33:59 Speaker 03 That's right. Where you get to hear how I messed up and advice, information, or guidance, in your opinion. And Krista will read those on the podcast tomorrow. And I learn from them, you learn from them. We all grow with knowledge from each other. Nobody's the last word. Nobody knows every answer in life. We are mere mortals. And I find that I grow as a person. From Clark Stinks, and it is my favorite podcast each week. So see you tomorrow. Remember what we're about. Save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off.
34:45 Speaker 00 Your sausage McMuffin with egg didn't change. Your receipt did. The Sausage McMuffin with Egg Extra Value Meal includes a hash brown and a small coffee for just $5. Only at McDonald's for a limited time.
34:57 Speaker 01 Price and participation may vary. Promotion pricing may be lower than meal pricing.
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