
Your Relationship With Money / Self-Employed Retirement Planning
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Clark Howard
It's my pleasure to welcome you here to the Clark Howard show where our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life. And happy President's Day. By the way, I usually take today off from the podcast and YouTube show, but Krista said nope, no day off for you today.
Krista
Too bad. No, I'm kidding. Come on. You know if you really wanted to take it off, you could take it off.
Clark Howard
No, I do what you tell me. And you told me hey, we'd already sold ads for that day. Yeah, you gotta work. Isn't that what you told me? Okay, so I'm here the third party.
Krista
Company because we don't. The third party company we use to put the podcast online had sold ads we hadn't. Yeah, you don't sell Ads. Well, you yourself have no idea what ads are on any.
Clark Howard
I have no idea what ads are. Enough of my whining. All right? Let's talk about something about goals today, spending habits. I'm going to talk today about some of it. May feel a little touchy feely in some extent, but it comes to core about our relationship with money. Your mindset has such an impact, I believe not necessarily on happiness, but can lead you to unhappiness and later. Do you know that something that I started yapping about years ago caused nothing but Clark stinks post When I would talk about a way for business owners to save tax free for the future and then they'd go try to find a place to do it. They couldn't find one. Now all the financial firms have caught up. I'm going to tell you what you need to know is a great way for you to stash cash tax free for the future. So speaking of cash and money and all that, something I've said over the years because I mean, it's true, I am cheap and it's just the way I'm wired. You know, I feel terrible when I spend money I don't need to spend, when I pay more for something than I needed to, when I spend money on something that later is like an oops, I shouldn't have bought that. I hate that. But money is not a God. And a lot of times people get to a point where they deprive themselves beyond reasonableness. Usually you hear me talk about the other people who are spending money they don't have and creating real problems. And a lot of times, as I've said in the past, that happens because we're comparing ourselves to others and we see somebody with the new car or the, the new TV or the new boat or that they're moving to a new fancier house and we think, what's wrong with me? Look what's happening with them. Which you don't know is how did they get those things? Did they dig themselves into a huge debt load? I mean, trying to compare yourself to somebody else who bought the new whatever, that's a bad recipe because it can get you to spend money you shouldn't based on your finances and it doesn't make you happy. Things don't make people happy. Having anxiety from what you owe to this person, that person, the other person that will make you miserable at the same time. This is all a scale, like talking about somebody who unnecessarily deprives themselves of everything. One of my best friends through the last 50 years is somebody I'm always trying to get to loosen up with his spending because he's got, truth be told, he's loaded with money. And it's so hard to get him to ever part with a penny and deprive himself of experiences and things. And he's doing better now. His girlfriend has him opening up the wallet some, doing more experiences, doing more things, and he gets so much joy from them. So it's becoming positively reinforcing. But you don't want to be somebody who deprives yourself when you've worked so hard and you've lived on less than what you make and you've saved so much and you're never going to run out of money if you're lucky enough to be that person, like my friend. Enjoy little pleasures that you deferred earlier in life. Enjoy them. So this is all about the tricks our mind plays on ourselves. Not everything in life is about things. Not everything in life is about money. Not everything in life is about any one thing. It's getting that balance right. And if you're a listener of Viewer this podcast, the odds are you're really good at saving money or want to be. And at the same time, once you reach that point that you've really established good financial security, don't deprive yourself of little joys in your life either. And if you are somebody who's aspirational to not be stressed by money, what you owe this person, that person, the other person, meaning I'm saying person, I mean, oh, in this credit card, that bank loan, you get that balance in your life by sometimes you don't buy something just because you want it because then you're going to have to pay for it. So this is all about how money plays tricks in our head. And balance in life is important. And there are times in my life that I harmed other people by my cheapness. Like the story you told Krista about us on book tour when we were in a snowstorm in Wisconsin and I park for free on the street and you ruined a pair of shoes walking to the hotel. And then we get to the hotel and the person behind the desk says.
Krista
Well, first you told, you said, you said, you bragged to them, I found free parking like a mile away.
Clark Howard
It was not a mile.
Krista
Felt like it.
Clark Howard
Not a mile.
Krista
And they said, our parking's free at.
Clark Howard
The hotel right behind.
Krista
Yeah, you didn't hurt me. You didn't harm me. You harmed my shoes.
Clark Howard
Yeah, but that look you gave me, I can still See that look you gave me?
Krista
I really like shoes. But I. You know, that was silly. I should have just said drop me off, Clark. I don't want to ruin my shoes. Right. Or I should have worn appropriate footwear.
Clark Howard
If I were a decent human being, I would have dropped you off and gone and parked in the snowstorm.
Krista
It's a funny story. And you've never harmed anyone by being too cheap. I guarantee you no one in your life would say that you're incredibly generous.
Clark Howard
I don't know.
Krista
You are. All right, well, you've harmed yourself though. Because I'll say one thing that's harmed you. Parking your cars in bad parking areas to get free parking. And you've had numerous broken into and had a windshield shattered.
Clark Howard
I need two hands. Yeah, six times. Six times over the decades my car has been broken into because I was too cheap to pay for parking.
Krista
All right.
Clark Howard
It's true. Fact.
Krista
Joseph in Colorado wrote into you and said I get that one should have at least two bank accounts regarding a separate checking account. And for debit or other sketchy financial transactions with. Wouldn't a checking and savings account at the same financial institution be low risk if you disabled overdraft protection on the checking account rather than have it at a separate bank? I have checking and savings at USAA with no overdraft protection and keep less than $100 in there. But quickly transfer more into the account when paying bills. I get that this checking account money can be wiped out by the fraudsters. Thank you, President Clark. Has a great ring to it.
Clark Howard
President of what? Garden Club?
Krista
No.
Clark Howard
Okay. Yeah, you wouldn't. I mean, since I've had to ask.
Krista
The last thing I would guess you'd be the president of.
Clark Howard
Thank you for your faith and confidence in me, Joseph. And thank you if you're a USAA member for having served or obviously a relative has served our great nation in the US military. So I don't know the answer to USAA Federal Savings Bank. It's one of the largest banks in the country now and I don't know if they have in your service agreement with them. If they have a cross default clause which I've explained before, most financial institutions, if you have two accounts with them and one of them overdraws, let's say a criminal fraudulently gets into one of them and they're taking money, they automatically go to the other account and start seizing money. And so you can get wiped out even with two separate accounts. So you'd have to know if USAA does practice what's known as cross default.
Krista
All right, Paul in Florida says I wanted to know if Clark knows about the new day pass feature in Sling tv.
Clark Howard
I do.
Krista
Now you can buy a one day pass, three day pass or seven day pass. I think it's a great feature and curious to see if their revenue goes up. For anybody wanting to have access to different channels, but mainly ESPN Sports Programmin, it's a great alternative to just pay $5 for a 24 hour pass to watch a game.
Clark Howard
Yes, thank you for mentioning that. I have never mentioned the short term passes from slang. They do it to try to get people to subscribe to slang. It's like a sampler pack. Instead of having a free trial offer, you just buy it for a period of time. And people do it very heavily during college basketball season. There's a game they want to watch and they'll buy that one day pass or multi day pass for college basketball.
Krista
Mike in California says what is your opinion on zero percent interest financing? My thinking is it's the same if not better than paying cash. Not having to outlay large amounts of money all at once and reduce what you've saved seems like a smart idea. For example, if a furniture store offered 0% financing for three years on a new $5,000 sofa and loveseat, is it a worse idea in your opinion to spread out the $5,000 over 36 monthly payments than it would be paying the full amount on the spot at the time of purchase? I'm only talking about 0% financing deals once an interest charge is introduced. I no longer like the idea. Okay, no plans.
Clark Howard
Mike, Mike, you're killing me. You're killing me. Because it is the rarest of rare individuals that will take out what's known as a no no no plan in the trade that are all based on people not getting the final dollar of payment in before the payment. Zero percent payment holiday ends because almost 100% of these no no no plans do interest retroactive to day one, usually mid-30s percent. Like 35 36% on every last penny of it. Even if just $1 is left open when the payment holiday period ends. You would have to be the rarest of rare individuals that gets every payment done on a no no no plan before that period ends. Like you got to keep a really solid digital or paper calendar that you never mess up on it. If you are that individual, go for it. But it's. I don't know, it's maybe one in a thousand people.
Krista
I don't know. I bet on this podcast There, there are a lot more people that would handle it. Right. I have done this before. I don't do it now just because I don't want to deal with it. But I did it when I bought my peloton bike, I remember, and I was just like, why wouldn't I keep the money in a savings account, earn the interest there? And what I did was I just calculated how much it was to pay it off in less. I think it was a two year thing. So I made sure I paid it off in like a year and a month or something like that. So there was no question. So I just made the monthly payments that way and I liked it. But it is, you have to, you know, but I didn't have to keep like a record. I just divided it out and made sure it was paid off, you know.
Clark Howard
How often do you ride a peloton now?
Krista
All the time. I love my. I love the peloton bike. Even though I belong to a gym that has classes. I don't like the cycle classes. I love. Peloton has a lot of features that others don't. And so I love that thing because.
Clark Howard
You know, pelotons went from being like a Covid puppy in 20 and 21 and they were very hard to get. And then a lot of people who got them during that cycle, cycle that was such a bad. During that time then dumped them. And so used pelotons have been a real deal.
Krista
I'm in like peloton groups on Facebook. Yeah, you can buy used peloton bikes really inexpensively on Facebook Marketplace if you think you'll use it. And then I have a card that does give me credit card gives me $10 back a month on the membership. So if you got. If you're a peloton user out there, we can follow each other. My username is. It's Christa I T S C H R I S T A Great.
Clark Howard
Should we be on a peloton right now while we're talking? Anyway, coming up ahead, I want to talk about something. If you've got a side gig or you've got. There are millions and millions of people who have a one person entity. They do. There's a way for you to save money tax free and save up to big amounts of money every year. I want you to know about that I've talked about for years now. Widely available.
Krista
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.
Clark Howard
Ouch.
Krista
Coulda done better. Same goes for where you invest. Level up and invest smarter with Schwab. Get market insights, education and human help.
Clark Howard
When you need it.
Krista
Learn more@schwab.com.
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Don McDonald
You know what's funny about free financial advice? It's usually the most expensive kind. 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 talking realmoney.com all right.
Clark Howard
We'Ve had something that's been available officially but not practically and wide availability for so many years I can't remember. Called a self employed or solo 401k. It's referred to both ways and it's a tool that's available for you if you've got something you do. Maybe you used to work for a company, you retired and now you're a one person consulting firm. It's all key to be one one person. You're doing some side business, just you. Whatever it is, when it's just you. And I saw an estimate of how many people out there and it's forgot how many millions it is. It's a lot of people who do something either on the side is a self employed individual, just you, no employees. You can have ICs, you can have independent contractors doing stuff for you, but you've got to be the only employee to take advantage of a solo or self employed 401k. Which with the Roth version of it, you're able to shove massive amounts of money aside. Depending on how profitable what you do is, up to over $70,000 a year can be stashed, grow tax free and then spent tax free once you're eligible retirement age. It's phenomenal. If you are somebody who makes a huge amount of money from what you do and you're in a mega tax bracket, you can do a solo 401k. That's the traditional that reduces the amount of your income subject to tax in that year, grows tax free and then you pay tax on everything in it when you spend it. Here's the big change now. Like my three favorite children, Schwab, Vanguard and Fidelity, they all offer these. It's pretty much widespread everywhere in the investing world. If you just contact one of these firms, people who you reach on the customer no service line may not even be aware this exists. So it might require a little digging on a website of one of whatever investment house you use. But this is a great money saving benefit you get when you're working for yourself. A lot of things about working for yourself are great, some things not so great, you take vacation, you're not getting paid right. But the solo or self employed 401k is the most unknown underutilized tool out there for tax benefit for you when you run your own place and it's just you. So remember that if you're trying to build financial security long term and it's just you solo 401k, self employed 401k. Some firms call it one, some firms call it the other. It's the same thing. Go with a low cost firm, do not go with any bank based brokerage operation. They will rip you off with fees to the end of the earth. These accounts are so simple you can set them up with one of the discounters and your money's working for you, not for some high commission outfit. Krista.
Krista
All right, here are some questions for you. Bo and Rhode island wrote in with this one. Thank you so much for helping strangers. Roth investments are often described as tax free on withdrawal. Is this a simplified explanation of Roth assets or would I literally owe $0 in federal and state income taxes as I withdraw them?
Clark Howard
Yeah, I don't know of any state anywhere in these 50 that taxes Roth IRA withdrawals just as they're federally tax free, they are state Tax free, as long as you wait till your age eligible on that Roth ira.
Krista
Logan in California says after five years I fully funded my six month emergency fund.
Clark Howard
Fantastic.
Krista
However, now I'm wondering if my six month fully funded emergency fund should also include the potential cost of COBRA coverage in the event I lose my job, which would be about another $1,000 a month for me.
Clark Howard
Yuck.
Krista
And I know those with families would pay way more should the cost of COBRA be included in your fund calculation.
Clark Howard
Okay, so Logan, you want to prepare for every possible eventuality. And you've saved what six months of living expenses are for you if you want to get as close to perfection as possible. Yeah, you could add an additional six grand into yours to cover potential COBRA costs that you would face. But here's my thing. On emergency funds, it's hard for me. You know, there's those studies that come out every year that say how few Americans could even handle emergency expense of $400. That's the number most often used. Probably needs to be inflation adjusted to 500. So what you've done is extraordinary and rare to have a emergency fund equal to six months of living expenses so you could keep looking for things. Well, I should save for that. I should. What if this happened? What if that happened? You're good. You save six months living expenses. You should be proud, relax and be happy. If it make you happier to put another 6k in it, go for it. But I wouldn't say of financial goals in your life. It's a high priority.
Krista
Okay, Sven in Pennsylvania wrote in with this. For the third time in as many months, I paid for a restaurant tab with cash due to the 3% upcharge for using a credit card. And every time the restaurant rounded up the bill to the nearest dollar and only furnished change on the rounded up amount. It's not about the 42 cents extra.
Clark Howard
Wait, wait, wait. Let me get this right. So if you're saving the 3% and the bill is 850, they're only giving you from a 10. They're only giving you back a buck, not a buck fifty.
Krista
I'm guessing they don't keep any coins.
Clark Howard
Oh wow. I've not heard that before either.
Krista
They only furnish change on the rounded up amount. It's not about the 42 cents extra I paid. It's the principle that restaurants are rounding without advising patrons beforehand. They notify patrons on the bill that there is an additional fee for using credit cards. Should they not be required to notify on bills about the rounding up when Paying cash. When I inquired about this to the server after being shortchanged after my last meal, she shrugged her shoulders and said, we don't give coins and change. What are your thoughts?
Clark Howard
Okay, so that's so weird, to be precise. And say you pay with a credit card, we're going to charge you 3% extra. But if you pay with cash, we're going to charge you extra for whatever the amount would be beyond just a solid dollar. Oh, my goodness. That is not a way. If people are cheap enough, because very, you know, restaurants know very few people are going to pull out cash. And if you're thrifty enough, I said cheap, but this is really thrifty that you're wanting to save that 3%, then they turn around and they don't really honor you saving 3%. That's uncool.
Krista
Maybe if they rounded down.
Clark Howard
Yeah, if it was up to 49 cents, they round down and then above that, they round up, then everybody would be square. Everybody would be fine. But it doesn't sound like from your post that that's the way it plays.
Krista
So and so many places. I just went to a restaurant the other night, that big sign on the door, we no longer accept cash.
Clark Howard
Well, I mean, that's happened in a lot of places because of crime. They don't want to be tempting for an armed robber. And, you know, I. I don't know if you remember I talked about how armed robberies are down so much because so few people have cash anymore. So 3%, though, seems to be becoming so common for so many different businesses now. And it's really the fault of the Congress that they allowed the dirty money from the banks to allow the establishment of this Visa MasterCard Cartel. We have where we have the highest merchant processing fees in the world. It's just not fair to businesses. So if I want to use a reward card and they tell me I'm going to have to pay 2% extra, 3% or whatever, I then have to make that decision and I'd have to start carrying cash again. Do you carry cash at all anymore?
Krista
I always have some.
Clark Howard
I only have money for tips for people in hotels or shuttle drivers or something like that. That's the only cash I. I always.
Krista
Like having a couple of twenties on me just in case something happens.
Clark Howard
Really?
Krista
I don't know. Yeah.
Clark Howard
Oh, can I borrow 20?
Krista
Of course you can, Clark.
Clark Howard
Oh, we're done for today. Aren't you glad? So have a wonderful rest of your day. Know what we're about. This is all about you. It's all about your wallet and giving you knowledge in a life where so much feels like we're not in control of. I want you to have the knowledge that gives you power for more control and that you can use that so you can save more and spend less. And never, never, not ever let somebody rip you off. And we'll see you on.
This episode delves into two intertwined financial themes: our emotional relationship with money—striking a healthy balance between saving and spending—and essential retirement planning tools for self-employed individuals, particularly the often-misunderstood Solo 401(k)/Self-Employed 401(k). Clark and Krista respond to a wide range of listener questions, offering pragmatic advice that spans everyday spending habits, using financial products wisely, and maximizing tax-advantaged savings for solo entrepreneurs.
[02:32 - 09:55]
Clark stresses the importance of mindset and balance:
Quote:
"Money is not a God.…Trying to compare yourself to somebody else who bought the new whatever, that's a bad recipe. Things don't make people happy. Having anxiety from what you owe…that will make you miserable."
— Clark ([03:11])
Storytime & Self-Reflection:
Moral:
[09:56 - 27:47]
"It is the rarest of rare individuals that will take out... a no-no-no plan… and get every payment done before that period ends. Like, maybe one in a thousand people."
— Clark ([13:14])
[18:18 - 21:52]
“This is a great money-saving benefit... the most unknown, underutilized tool out there for tax benefit for you when you run your own place and it’s just you.”
— Clark ([20:23])
Clark (on comparing yourself to others)
"Trying to compare yourself to somebody else… That's a bad recipe because it can get you to spend money you shouldn't based on your finances and it doesn't make you happy." ([03:37])
Krista (on extreme thrift backfiring):
“You’ve harmed yourself though. Parking your cars in bad parking areas to get free parking. And you’ve had numerous broken into and had a windshield shattered.” ([09:28])
Clark (on self-employed 401k):
“It’s the most unknown underutilized tool out there for tax benefit for you when you run your own place and it’s just you.” ([20:28])
Clark (encouraging healthy balance):
"Enjoy little pleasures that you deferred earlier in life. Enjoy them." ([06:37])
Clark maintains his trademark blend of practical, direct, and often self-deprecating advice, with light-hearted banter from Krista. Listeners are encouraged to look honestly at their financial habits, seek balance, and use the financial system to their advantage—always with a vigilant eye for rip-offs and pitfalls.
In a Nutshell:
This episode is a guide to financial balance: master your spending emotional triggers, avoid the traps of consumer credit, and—if you work for yourself—seize the tax-advantaged opportunities now broadly available. And yes, sometimes it’s okay to pay for parking.