02.13.26 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / Job Market Update

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Clark Howard Podcast

Episode: 02.13.26 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / Job Market Update
Date: February 13, 2026
Host: Clark Howard
Co-host: Krista

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Clark Howard Podcast centers around two main themes:

1. Clark Stinks: Regular listeners submit critical feedback to Clark and his team, prompting honest discussion and clarifications on previously given advice.
2. Job Market Update: Clark discusses the current state of the American job market, focusing on recent layoffs, economic shifts, and practical job-hunting strategies during times of uncertainty.

The tone remains approachable, practical, and occasionally self-deprecating, sticking to Clark's philosophy of empowering listeners to “save more, spend less, and avoid ripoffs.”

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Clark Stinks – Listener Criticism & Clark’s Responses

(Starts at 01:37)

Social Security Timing Advice

• Listener Sandra (WI): Criticizes Clark for always recommending people delay Social Security to age 70 without considering personal situations where that’s not possible or desirable.
  • Clark acknowledges not everyone follows or can follow his advice, but reiterates, "The math shows—especially if you're married—there’s a huge advantage waiting till 70." (03:19)
  • He concedes people's health, job situation, and age discrimination are valid reasons not to delay.

Real Estate Investment

• Listener Michael (NC): Points out that Clark's “doom and gloom” take on real estate doesn’t fit every situation; some, like him, are “making out like a bandit” with favorable pre-existing mortgages.
  • Clark clarifies, “It’s not that being an owner of investment real estate is a bad idea…It’s just right now it’s really hard to acquire properties and make the math work.” (04:44)
  • He emphasizes market timing: owning from previous years is different from trying to buy now.

Confusion about Child Credit Freezes

• Listener Dale (MN): Calls out Clark for inconsistent advice on freezing children’s credit.
  • Clark clarifies: Freezing a child’s credit is always a good idea, but it’s a bureaucratic hassle because credit bureaus make the process difficult. Nonetheless, “Child identity theft is a real thing…criminals know there’s a blank slate there and they can do so much harm.” (06:22)

Overseas Hotel Booking Advice

• Listener Greg (FL): Advises caution using third-party sites for booking hotels in Europe or small towns; recommends direct booking to avoid issues.
  • Clark agrees: “You can contact them directly and just say, ‘Hey, I found this rate elsewhere—can you match?’…It’s a great idea for you and for them.” (08:50)

ABLE Accounts and Medicaid Clawback

• Listener Andrea (TX): Reminds Clark to mention the Medicaid payback provision for ABLE accounts—most states allow Medicaid to take the account balance upon the beneficiary's death.
  • Clark admits, “It’s a pretty mean-spirited provision of the law in many states, and I should have pointed that out.” (10:15)

Independent Insurance Agents vs. DIY Shopping

• Listener Pete (VA): Prefers using an independent insurance agent to shop auto/home insurance, which saves time and hassle.
  • Clark praises the approach: “I love independent insurance agents…they can potentially find a placement that is better for your situation or cheaper.” (12:06)
• Listener Jay: Compares Costco’s insurance marketplace to a lead generator, which brings unwanted calls.
  • Clark says, “You should not be getting spammed...Costco is not selling off your information to what are known as lead generators.” (12:06)

Recognizing Positive Customer Service

• Listener David (NJ): Suggests Clark balance his “customer no service” talk by acknowledging workers who provide “customer yes service.”
  • Clark agrees: “It’s often not the fault of the people you’re talking to...they are not given the authority or tools to solve somebody's problem.” (13:56)
  • Clark shares his own tactic for avoiding unhelpful service reps: “If I can tell the person is hostile, uncaring—oh yeah, I do something really dishonest. I say, ‘I'm sorry, I can't hear you. I’m gonna have to call back.’ And I hang up and call back and hope for a better experience.” (13:56)

Solar Panel Payoff Criticism

• Listener Alex (GA): Frustrated that Clark keeps hyping solar, but the cost/benefit "doesn’t work" for him; the payoff is “unacceptable.”
  • Clark sympathizes: “There’s a math problem right now with professionally installed solar for the home.” (16:12)
  • He’s optimistic about the potential for “balcony solar”—self-installed, plug-in panels—but laments utility and regulatory opposition in most states.

Single-Use/Virtual Credit Cards

• Listener Micah (ME): Challenges Clark to clarify how consumers can get single-use credit card numbers, since they're not universally available.
  • Clark responds: “More and more card companies do offer one time use cards...but Apple and Google have really lapped the banking business. Using Apple Pay or Google Wallet is a safe way to process payments by credit card.” (18:47-20:35)

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2. Job Market Update – Layoffs, Economic Outlook, and Practical Advice

(Starts at 23:57)

Commentary on Corporate Layoffs

• Clark expresses frustration over the celebratory tone some companies take when announcing layoffs, noting that layoffs are incentivized by Wall Street.
  • “What happened to humanity in corporate America?…Better than new and improved detergent—hey, we're gonna lay off 15,000 people. Isn't that exciting?” (23:57)

Market Outlook & Advice

• Clark explains that “companies are kind of frozen…that’s why the job market has stalled out.”
• He identifies reasons for business insecurity: shifting trade policies, tariffs, AI, and general economic uncertainty.
• Clark is cautiously optimistic:
  • “My guess is that we'll see more economic activity and more hiring as we look in late spring… the job market will become not such a negative as it is now.” (23:57)

Long-Term Job Security

• Clark highlights enduring shortages in certain job categories, using his own daughter as an example:
  • “My middle child is going back to school to work in occupational therapy…there’s a need with an aging population…she found something she's really interested in and loves doing and there’s a need for.” (23:57)
• He encourages listeners to look for in-demand fields, many of which are listed on clark.com.

Job Searching Tactics

• Clark discourages relying exclusively on online applications, which often lead to demoralizing automated rejections.
  • “People hire people and people who know you…you've got to market yourself to people, not to a laptop.” (29:17)

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3. Listener Q&A

(Starts at 30:01)

Disputing Phantom Debt Emails

• Question: Mark (CA) receives a debt collection email about an account he doesn’t recognize.
  • Clark: It's a legit collector; he recommends immediately disputing the debt electronically to prevent it from appearing as valid on credit reports.
  • “If you do not dispute the validity of a debt, it's considered to be valid. It can go on your credit report, trash your credit for years to come.” (30:25)

Managing Toll Payments When Renting a Car in California

• Question: Will (SC) is renting a car in California and asks how to handle tolls.
  • Clark: Warns about rental company markups. Advises buying CA’s ‘Fast Track’ portable toll device and adding/removing your rental car’s plate number to avoid surprise fees.
  • "You have to put in the tag or plate number of the rental car...and then remove that plate or tag number when you're done." (31:58)

Appliance Warranty Exclusions

• Question: Sue (WI) has a stove with peeling paint; the manufacturer calls it “cosmetic wear,” not covered under a 10-year warranty.
  • Clark: Confirms industry-wide exclusion of exterior finishes from appliance warranties—"That is standard operating procedure. Wish I had a better answer." (34:49)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Social Security Timing:

  • “Not everybody…wants to wait till age 70 or they can’t wait till age 70. But if it’s a choice you can make, the math shows—especially if you're married—there is a huge advantage waiting till 70.” (03:19, Clark)

• On Real Estate Timing:

  • “Right now...the math doesn’t work like it used to for people to be a landlord buying properties to rent out. Except in rare circumstances having acquired properties long ago.” (04:44, Clark)

• On Credit Freezes for Children:

  • “Child identity theft is a real thing... criminals know there’s a blank slate there and can do so much harm.” (06:22, Clark)

• On Customer Service & Calling Back:

  • “If I can tell the person on the other end of the phone is hostile, uncaring…oh yeah, I do something really dishonest. I say, ‘I’m sorry, I can’t hear you...I’m gonna have to call back.’ And I hang up and call back.” (13:56, Clark)

• On Job Applications:

  • “All those companies do is reject you, either with a human, but more often some kind of automated tool…Your time is much better spent working your contacts.” (29:17, Clark)

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Timestamps for Important Segments

• Clark Stinks Listener Feedback – 01:37
• Real Estate Investment Critique & Response – 03:58
• Credit Freezes for Kids Explained – 05:44
• ABLE Account Medicaid Clawback – 09:49
• Solar Panel Economic Realities – 15:37
• Virtual Credit Card Number Discussion – 18:10
• Job Market Update – 23:57
• Listener Q&A: Phantom Debt Collection Email – 30:01
• California Rental Car Toll Advice – 31:45
• Appliance Warranty Realities – 34:23

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Tone & Takeaways

The episode is educational and conversational, mixing Clark’s trademark practical advice with humility and a sense of humor about his own flaws ("that can be a Clark Stinks that I run too much at the mouth" (20:41)). There’s a consistent focus on empowering listeners with actionable consumer and financial guidance, while candidly addressing past missteps and listener concerns.

For those who want to be smart consumers, especially regarding job searching and protecting personal finances, this episode is dense with wisdom and real-world tips direct from both Clark and his critical yet engaged fanbase.

Transcript

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[Clark Howard]

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. It's Friday the 13th. That means it's time for me to hear how extra scary wrong I've been in today's Clark Stinks. Something else that's making Americans uneasy. No joking matter here. The steady parade drumbeat of layoff announcements from big companies that pound their chest that they're laying people off and their stocks go up after they announce they're laying people off. It's a tough moment in the job market. We're going to talk about that later. But right now it's time to hear where I have failed to serve you. Well. Speak. You almost think I'm pretty stupid.

[Krista]

You should be ashamed of yourself.

[Clark Howard]

Well, maybe I'm wrong.

[Krista]

Maybe I'm wrong.

[Clark Howard]

Maybe you're right, pal. What are you starting with today, Krista?

[Krista]

Let's start with Sandra in Wisconsin. You don't stink, but your Social Security mindset only calculates raw dollars and cents. Following a single path, could you also address the cost of drawing down assets for that income? The fact that you cannot leave Social Security to your heirs, or the benefits of having that extra money to enjoy during your healthier years? Even those are privileged situations. Age discrimination is real and not everyone can work until 67 or 70. That's my only Social Security one I'm.

[Clark Howard]

Putting in today out of the hundreds and hundreds. So yes, and not everybody. In fact, clearly almost nobody follows what I've said like a broken record for decades about waiting till age 70. And people have different circumstances and they don't want to wait till age 70 or they can't wait till age 70. But if it's a choice you can make, the math shows especially. We had a post recently pointing out if you're married, there's a huge Advantage waiting till 70.

[Krista]

Michael in North Carolina says Clark, you keep telling us that investing in real estate is not a good idea. In fact, you stated that you've purged many of your rental properties from your portfolio. However, I purchased some rental property about 12 years ago. Since then, I refinanced the property when rates were really low and obtained a rate of about 3%. The mortgage on the property is around $450 and the house rents for $1,800 a month. With the excellent positive cash flow, I'm able to hire a property company to handle the tenants and day to day issues. In addition to the positive cash flow, each month the property has gone up in value. Oh, I haven't even mentioned the tax benefits I'm receiving. It really stinks that you keep telling us about the doom and gloom concerning real estate investments when I am making out like a bandit.

[Clark Howard]

So Michael, this is fantastic and maybe I've not expressed myself well. What I've said is that right now is not a good time for people. Is not the math doesn't work like it used to for people to be a landlord buying properties to rent out. Except in rare circumstances having acquired properties long ago, you have very low carry costs. You're making great returns on it. That's great. That's why I still have two rental properties. Because those properties, the math is compelling. It works for so it's not that being an owner of investment real Estate is a bad idea. It's just right now. It's really hard to acquire properties now and make the math work.

[Krista]

Dale in Minnesota says Clark has a double stink.

[Clark Howard]

Whoa.

[Krista]

He smells like two skunks on a hot, humid summer day that did not make it across the road. Recently, Clark told an emailer that they should freeze their very young child's credit. But months earlier, he told another person not to worry about freezing their kids credit unless they had a credit card or some type of credit. What gives? Which one is correct? The second stink is because you've never visited, I believe, north or South Dakota. Out of all the states. How about a staycation in the USA for the 250th anniversary of our great country? Go see some national or state parks in those states. You can slap a solar panel on the roof of your electric vehicle. Should help between charges.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, so let me set the record straight. I've been to South Dakota a number of times and I've been to Manitoba at the northern border several times, have never been to North Dakota even though once I was nine minutes away and I thought, well, should I do it just to pick up what would have been my 50th state? And so it's just making fun of me that I've not been. So I've looked again and again about flying up to, as an example, Fargo and the airlines hate anybody who wants to go to or from North Dakota because it costs more money to fly to North Dakota than it costs to fly to Europe and about the same as flying from the U. S to Japan. So when there is a deal, I'm gonna go because it gripes at me because western North Dakota is just as beautiful as western South Dakota. I just only know it from pictures and what people have told me because I haven't been yet. So let's go back to the child credit freeze. I don't know what circumstance I said, don't do it. What I have said is it's a great idea to freeze a child's credit. But what I've talked about is what a hassle it is to do it because the credit bureaus just don't, in a practical sense, don't want to comply with the law. They put up so many roadblocks to try to prevent parents of minor children from setting up a credit freeze because the amount of documentation they require is ridiculous and the process is a manual one. So it is worth doing because child identity theft is a real thing because criminals know there's a blank slate there and they can do so much harm that your kids don't find out about till they become adults.

[Krista]

Okay. Greg in Florida says Clark, you talk about using third party sites for booking hotels, but should include a caveat for overseas bookings. I always book direct in Europe, especially for stays in small towns. The last thing anyone wants is to get to an accommodation and find out there's a problem with the reservation. You'll be immediately told to contact the third party and it can be frustrating. Instead, shop around and ask the direct hotelier to match the deal. Love your positivity.

[Clark Howard]

Hey, thank you for that post. And that is a real problem you stated and not just in Europe, but a number of places outside the United States. There will be small family run guest houses and very small hotels, less than 20 room hotels. And the technology they're using to connect to big booking sites is often haphazard and people can have problems. And you just as you stated, once you've identified a place you want to stay, you can contact them directly and you can just say hey, I found this rate of so many euros elsewhere. Is that a rate you can provide? And they avoid a lot of expenses and fees through the third parties and then you're booking direct with that family and that's a great idea for you and for them.

[Krista]

Andrea in Texas says love the show and that you're creating awareness for Able accounts. You missed one major detail. The Medicaid payback provision requires that if the beneficiary dies, the government gets the money first. So if you put money in, the government may snatch it upon death. A handful of states do not do this, but most do. Many disabled kids and adults use Medicaid. So this payback provision is an important consideration and several people did write into us about that.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah, thank you for pointing that out. Explaining something like able accounts is not the simplest journey I can ever go on. This has come up with all these Clark stinks posts because I talked about the new provisions that have made Able accounts much more available to people with disabilities who first become disabled up to I think it's age 45 now. So yes, the Medicaid clawback provision is real and true. And so what it means is that if you sacrifice to put money in an Able account and a child is also or an adult with a disabilities also qualifying for Medicaid that the state Medicaid program can choose if state statute permits to come and claw money out that you have put into the able account, which the whole purpose of the Able account is to allow people to provide for the needs of a disabled person. So it's a pretty mean spirited provision of the law in many states and I should have pointed that out.

[Krista]

Pete in Virginia says Clark, one of us is substantially malodorously enhanced. Is it you or is it me? You often advise us to shop around for auto and home insurance, which is very time consuming pain in the posterior. I avoid this hassle by engaging a local independent agent of high repute. He does all the comparison shopping for me across many more companies than I would consider and proactively reviews my policies. I'm saving both money and time. Are you a stinker or am I? And then I also want to note Jay wrote in to say that Costco does not have its own auto and home insurance. It refers you to a partner and then you get a lot of phone calls from different insurers trying to get your business and that stinks to him.

[Clark Howard]

Thank you both for those posts. All right, let's first deal with Pete's post. I love independent insurance agents. They are not as common anymore, but they are people who are very knowledgeable and experienced about auto and homeowners insurance in particular. And they know who the good companies typically are and who the ones that just run a lot of ads are. And they can potentially find a placement for you that is better for your situation or cheaper for your situation. And so yes, independent agents are fantastic. They have a specialized logo that's like a flame of a candle or something, I think, and I really like them. On the Costco thing, you should not be getting spammed with phone calls and hassled for auto and homeowners insurance. If you go through the Costco providers, it should only be from them. It should not be people from who knows who insurance company suddenly having a sales lead generated from Costco. And that may be a weird coincidence because Costco is not selling off your information to what are known as lead generators.

[Krista]

David in New Jersey, I'm going to basically summarize this says you one thing that distinguishes you is the careful way you use language and you don't like to offend people and you use the phrase customers no service quite a bit. And then David says that just like in any field in customer service there are superstars, duds and the vast majority of people who try really hard every day to do their job well. Please consider recognizing those workers once in a while who, despite the odds, sometimes actually manage to provide customer yes service.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, I love that. And yes, talking about customer no service is painting with a broad brush. It is A plague that many of us experience. And it's not the fault of the people you're talking to. At what I call customer no service, it is often that they are not given the authority or tools to solve somebody's problem. And it is a rare company that gives people and I'll call it customer yes service. Gives people the ability to provide customer yes service. And again, what you said is true too. There's a certain variable depending on the individual who you're lucky or unlucky enough to get on the phone. Okay, so I have something I do, okay, If I call a company and I can tell from the get go that, that even if I'm angry about something, I keep a pleasant disposition. You get much more with honey than with vinegar. But if I can tell the person on the other end of the phone is hostile, uncaring, whatever. Oh yeah, I do something really dishonest. I say, I'm sorry, I can't hear you. I'm sorry, I can't hear you. I'm gonna have to call back. And I hang up and I call back and hope for a better experience the next time. Good one happened to me recently with an airline where I got somebody on the phone who just absolutely was hostile. So I pulled that I can't hear you thing, called back and got a wonderful person the second time.

[Krista]

All right. Alex in Georgia says, clark, I can't take it anymore. You and your solar, it doesn't work. I've been trying to make the numbers work since you started raving about it, and the payoff time is unacceptable. We live in the same state. I can choose a rate plan that gives me electricity at 2.4 cents per kilowatt hour from 11pm to 7am I can charge a backup battery for less than a dollar a day to power my home without even the cost of solar panels, which are not cheap to install, by the way. And even cutting out the solar, the payback time is not a no brainer. The batteries and installation are still really expensive.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, thank you for that post. And we do have a clear problem with utility scale. Solar has never been cheaper and unfortunately, you and I don't own it. Professionally installed solar at your home, in spite of the fact that panels have dropped by an enormous amount in cost and the efficiency of panels has gone up at the same time, we're not getting the payback benefit that big corporate installations of solar are getting because it's been a tough business for people to do individually installed solar. That's why I'm so Excited about something I talked about last summer, which is something that's happening elsewhere in the world by the millions and millions and millions of panels was referred to informally as balcony solar. Utilities are fighting balcony solar tooth and nail. Only Utah has had the courage to stand up to industry lobbyists from the power industry and approve a law allowing balcony solar. Balcony solar is a back of the envelope term for self installed solar panels that you just plug in. It's amazing. And so all you're paying is the cost of the panel and you're able to benefit from solar. The math payback is extraordinary. What we need because of the power of utility companies at the state level, it's so corrupt. We need a federal law like Germany has and other countries have that's modeled after what Utah did and allow for self installed solar panels. The technology so sophisticated now that it absolutely works. But you're right, there's a math problem right now with professionally installed solar for the home.

[Krista]

Micah from Maine wrote in I'm going to summarize this one too. But the beginning says perhaps you need to use a better soap than what you're getting at $25 tree and you've for years talked about use numbers for for online purchases with credit cards. And Micah has a lot of credit cards that he uses responsibly and when he calls them only Capital One offers a single use credit card number and it's only available through their app. And the other car companies say that you really need to use Apple Pay or Google Wallet to get. It's often actually called virtual credit card numbers.

[Apple Card Advertiser]

Right.

[Krista]

And so if you're going to talk about this, please explain how to do so in great detail.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah, so more and more card companies do offer one time use cards. Obviously in the math lottery yours aren't coming up. You mentioned Discover. You didn't read that?

[Krista]

I didn't read the list, but I.

[Clark Howard]

Saw this because I look at the post and Discover ironically enough is owned by Capital One. So I didn't know that Discover wasn't offering the one time use but for regular transactions. I'm an Android guy. I use Google Wallet 100% of the time. And then every transaction is sent with a method that prevents even if the merchant's credit card terminal has been compromised, there's no risk using Apple Pay or Google Wallet. So I really strongly recommend because it's such a hassle to have to go to the credit card company's app and get the one time use code and all that it's much better when you do that now on my computer I use a Chromebook. I can't speak for how it works on Apple, but on my Chromebook my Google Wallet gives me the option if I'm paying for something online to generate a one time use card for any of the cards I have. It appears. So this is something where Apple and Google have really lapped the banking business. Banks tend to be a little slow and moving forward with things, but we're pretty much all universally using either Apple's world or Google's world and both of them offer us a safe way to process payments by credit card.

[Krista]

All right, I think that's it for today's Clark's day.

[Clark Howard]

That's it. I talked too much.

[Krista]

It's okay. We've got more next week.

[Clark Howard]

Too much. Okay, that can be a Clark stinks that run too much at the mouth. Coming up ahead, I want to talk about the job picture in the United States and there's some trouble right now. Obviously if you're listening or you're watching and you've lost your job, you know the job market is troubled right now and talk about how this is going to play out.

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[Schwab Advertiser]

We all have moments when we could have done better. Like cutting your own hair. Yikes. Or forgetting sunscreen so now you look like a tomato.

[Krista]

Ouch.

[Schwab Advertiser]

Could have done better. Same goes for where you invest. Level up and invest smarter with Schwab. Get market insights, education and human help when you need it. Learn [e-mail] we all have moments when we could have done better. Like cutting your own hair. Yikes. Or forgetting sunscreen so now you look like a tomato.

[Krista]

Ouch.

[Schwab Advertiser]

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[Apple Card Advertiser]

This message is brought to you by Apple Card. It's a great time to apply for an Apple Card. You'll love earning unlimited daily cash on every purchase. That includes 3% daily cash when you buy the latest iPhone, AirPods and Apple Watch at Apple through this special referral offer. When you get a new Apple Card, you can earn bonus daily cash. To qualify, you must apply at Apple Co getdailycash Apple Card issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA Salt Lake City. Branch offer may not be available elsewhere. Terms and limitations apply.

[Don McDonald]

You know what's funny about free financial advice? It's usually the most expensive kind of I'm Don McDonald from the Talking Real Money podcast. For over three decades, my co host Tom and I have been the antidote to the financial nonsense that fills the airwaves. We don't sell products, we don't have sponsors paying us to recommend their funds. We just tell you what has actually worked. Backed by decades of academic research, not some guru's gut feeling. Our listeners tell us we're like car talk for your money. Minus the car problems with maybe even more bad jokes. You're already listening to a podcast right now, so finding us couldn't be easier. Just search for Talking Real Money or visit talkingrealmoney.com give us a few minutes. The worst that happens, you're mildly entertained. The best? You stop making your broker richer and start building actual wealth.

[Clark Howard]

Just search for Talking Real Money.

[Don McDonald]

Talking Real Money is an educational podcast. Hosts are affiliated with a registered investment advisor. For disclosures, visit talkingrealmoney.com I mentioned at.

[Clark Howard]

The top of this podcast how annoyed I am by the way companies operate now that they make it seem like the most exciting announcement they could ever make. Better than new and improved detergent. Hey, we're gonna lay off 15,000 people. Isn't that exciting? I mean, my goodness, what happened to humanity in corporate America? That they make it a big, big exciting deal, that they're laying off tens of thousands of people. And then they do this because investors think, oh wow, Amazon's laying off so many tens of thousands of people, or ups laying off 30,000 people, and company after company laying off so many tens of thousands of people. What Wall street does is they think, oh well, that's going to accrue to earnings and it's going to lead to so many more cents profit per share, the shares are now worth more and the stock goes up. And so that's the game that publicly traded corporate America plays. And it's brutal for those workers. Obviously. Most layoffs, though, happen quietly. They may be at smaller publicly traded companies or at privately held. And we make no mistake about it, we've been in a cycle of economic uncertainty over the last year. Companies are kind of Frozen. They're afraid of a lot of initiatives right now. And that's why the job market has stalled out, because companies can't really gauge what's happening with the rules of owning a business. And what's going to happen with trade, what's going to happen with tariffs, what's going to happen from AI, which is not a political factor, but all these things. What happens is that business leaders lose confidence and what their economic projections are for their company looking forward. So they become afraid to hire or do something worse. They start laying off significant numbers of people. So this is a rough cycle. But because of something I talked about the other day, the extreme deficit spending in the United States and the tax cuts that are going to make refunds larger, companies are going to feel the economy going up at least half a gear. And my guess, and this is only a guess, is that we'll see more economic activity and more hiring as we look in late spring, that the job market will become not such a negative as it is now and will become more positive. The other thing let's forget immediately and let's look longer term. The job market never stops rotating, it never stops changing. But something that I've beaten a dead horse about several times is that there are so many job categories right now that we're way short of workers, that there is job security out there for the taking. If you can find something that interests you that you think is going to be a good prospect. My middle child is going back to school to work in occupational therapy, a field that there's a need with an aging population and any of a number of things. She's very interested in it, having worked for years with people with autism and she wants to do OT with autistic individuals. So she found something that she's really interested in and she loves doing and there's a need for, but it required her to both work and go back to school. And there are many, many fields like that. We've got different lists on clark.com of jobs that are in demand. And I'm going to repeat something. People are really beating themselves up doing online applications for jobs where you don't know anybody at those companies. I mean, all those companies do is reject you, either with a human, but more often some kind of automated tool sending you a rejection letter, never really looking at your submission for application. And that is so debilitating for your self confidence, your self esteem, even maintaining the ability to not get depressed, to maintain a positive outlook becomes so hard when you get one rejection after another. After Another, know that your time is much better spent working your contacts, friends, family, former work colleagues, people at your church, anything you do, your kids go to school, activities, whatever the people you know, people hire people and people who know you to be the kind of person they think, hey, that would be a great person to do, blah, blah, blah. You've got to market yourself to people, not to a laptop. And yes, I don't know, I'm going to be right about late spring with a little bit of thawing in the job market. But looking at economic factors, I believe it to be true.

[Krista]

All right, we'll go to questions. This is from Mark in California. The other day, out of the blue, I got an email from a company who apparently is a debt collector. The information about the debt with them for $160 is not an account or debt that I've ever had with them. Do I need to dispute this debt or just ignore and delete this email? I've never received a physical piece of mail about this debt either.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, so they have to. If they contact you by phone, they have to send you a written statement of the debt within five days. They've only just sent an email. This collector is one I'm familiar with because what they promote to people at organizations owed money is that they have a cheaper way to collect debts using email rather than having humans on the phone. So yes, you do need to respond in that email. And they're a legitimate collector. There will be, it'll state on there, if you dispute the validity of this debt, do blah blah, blah, do it. Because if you fail, you know, a lie on challenge becomes the truth in 24 hours. There's no political expression. The reality is that if you do not dispute the validity of a debt, it's considered to be valid. It can go on your credit report, trash your credit for years to come. That's why you need to dispute it. You say it is not your debt and send that back. They probably want it electronically since that's how they contacted you and keep a record that you did in fact dispute on a timely basis.

[Krista]

Will in South Carolina says we'll be traveling to California in April and some of the roads have toll charges. We will have a rental car. What's the best way to deal with the toll charges when we are not frequent toll road users and don't have transponders.

[Clark Howard]

Okay. What a pain this is. And car rental agencies, as we've had complaint after complaint for how many years? 10 are using this as a big profit center where they rip you off on the tolls and charge you a daily fee and then they charge you more than the tolls would be and all that. And you can end up with these huge surprise bills that just show up on your credit card. So we don't have one national toll reader yet. California being the seventh largest economy in the world or whatever, so many people there has its own toll thing called Fast Track and they even on their website. I go to California a lot since my middle child lives there. And Fast Track sells a portable toll reader that is designed for people who drive different cars. They want to move it car to car or has a rental car. Now it's really important. Just as I've talked about before with the one for the 18 states in the Midwest, in the east that you can buy, you have to put in the tag or plate number of the rental car when you get in it and then it will address to that Fast Track device. And then when the rental's over, you have to remember to remove that plate or tag number. Or when other people rent that vehicle, you're the one who's going to be billed for their use. But that's how you avoid the ripoff charges from the car rental agency. One trip in April to California. You don't normally go to California. Gosh, I guess you could figure out if you just pay the rip off fee to the car rental agency for the tolls. Or is it worth the hassle because it doesn't cost really any meaningful amount of money to get one of the Fast Track portable devices from the state toll authority in California. And you just have it in any future trips. You already have it. But again, don't forget to add that plate number and then remove that plate number when you're done.

[Krista]

Sue in Wisconsin says, I purchased an electric range in July of 2020. Now the metal on the range's door is peeling. I contacted the customer service and they stated this is cosmetic wear and tear. They did say I could buy some paint and paint it. Of course this is not covered under the 10 year warranty. To me this is a defect. Is there anything that I can do or is it just a case of too bad? So sad. Thanks Clark. You and your team are the best.

[Clark Howard]

Well, this is not best. Thank you for the compliment. But this is something that is as best I know, universal with manufacturers of kitchen and washers and dryers and all that. The warranty you have does not cover the exterior surface of the appliance. If there's any appliance company that does cover the exterior surface, I've never heard of it. This is one that I've had complaints about for decades. And so that impressive 10 year warranty you have will almost certainly say in the language of it that any exterior finish problems, or however they would word it, are considered to be wear and tear and are not covered by this warranty. I wish I had a better answer. And if anybody has had this experience before and figured out a way to get the manufacturer to cover a failure of the exterior finish, I hope you'll share that with us. But as best I know, sue, that is standard operating procedure. Wish I had a better answer. And I want to thank you so much for joining us on this Friday the 13th. I hope today turns out to be, on balance, a very lucky day for you. Or at least not unlucky. I am not a superstitious kind of person. I'm actually someone who would be happy to live on a 13th floor. Although you can't find one. But 14th floor is the 13th floor. But anyway, I hope that today is great and I look forward to being able to serve you on our podcast on Monday and that you do enjoy this holiday weekend for President's Day and that you do something really fun over the course this weekend, especially if you have Monday off. We will have.

[Krista]

It's Valentine's Day.

[Apple Card Advertiser]

Oh.

[Clark Howard]

Oh my goodness. I am so much trouble. So I bought four gifts for Lane for Valentine's Day a month ago.

[Krista]

Of course you did.

[Clark Howard]

And you know what's so funny? I can't remember where I hid them.

[Krista]

Oh my gosh.

[Clark Howard]

It's so typical of me. I am so flaky. Happy Valentine's Day too. Remember my rule. Go. If you're gonna go to eat dinner somewhere, go tonight or go Sunday night. Don't go tomorrow night because that's when they have those special menus for Valentine's Day with much higher prices and I don't want you to pay those. And service usually isn't as good because restaurants are so busy on Valentine's Day night. Is that unromantic to say that?

[Krista]

Have a nice home cooked meal together. Spend time together on Valentine's Day.

[Clark Howard]

Okay. So I'm trying once a week to cook our dinner.

[Krista]

Nice.

[Clark Howard]

I am the worst cook ever. But I was, you know, during, when we were locked down, that first initial period in Covid, I was doing a fair amount of cooking. I never got to where I could cook well. And I think it's because it's just something I'm not that interested.

[Krista]

There you go. You don't. I mean, you know, wait.

[Clark Howard]

Don't give me a hall pass.

[Krista]

Well, you go and pick up food to save money on delivery. So you could do that.

[Clark Howard]

Okay. All right. We'll see. Enough, enough, enough. But anyway, I hope that something this week you heard or saw from us empowered you. One of our websites, our newsletters, our social media. If you watch me in a TV market I'm on or radio market. You hear me? I hope that something empowered you so that you can do what we're all about. Learn ways to save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. And I'll see you on President's Day.

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[Clark Howard]

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