02.18.26 Relocating Overseas / Debt Trap Exit Strategies

Summary

The Clark Howard Podcast

Episode: 02.18.26 | Relocating Overseas / Debt Trap Exit Strategies
Date: February 18, 2026
Host: Clark Howard, with co-host Krista

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Episode Overview

In this episode, Clark Howard explores two major personal finance themes:

1. The new trend of Americans relocating overseas for work or lifestyle, and what you should consider before making such a move.
2. Practical strategies for escaping the "debt trap," specifically high-interest credit card debt, including actionable tips and listener stories.

Additionally, Clark and Krista answer listener questions on topics ranging from health savings accounts and "free dinner" sales pitches, to new financial scams and optimizing cell phone plans. The episode is laced with Clark’s travel stories, unmistakable frugality, and frank consumer advice.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Relocating Overseas: Trends and Considerations

• Growth in Americans Abroad

  • Approximately 4 million Americans now live overseas, marking a growing trend among both retirees and working-age individuals. (01:45)

• Beyond Retirees: The Working Set

  • While many retirees relocate to stretch Social Security dollars, increasingly, younger working professionals and remote workers are seeking opportunities abroad for adventure or cost of living benefits.

• Countries Offering Incentives

  • Various countries are actively recruiting Americans with skills, sometimes offering grants and cash incentives. Examples include:
    • Chile: Pays skilled professionals to relocate.
    • Ireland: Grants for investment in housing.
    • Italy: Cash incentives for skilled workers.
    • Japan: Rural relocation grants, particularly targeting depopulated regions outside the Tokyo-Osaka corridor.
  • Domestic parallels, like Tulsa, Oklahoma’s economic incentives, have proven successful for attracting tech and startup talent. (05:28)

• Critical Advice Before Moving

  • Clark warns that living somewhere is fundamentally different than vacationing there. Cost of living can sometimes be higher than in the U.S. (e.g., Australia) and strongly recommends test-driving a location before any long-term commitment or real estate purchase.
  • Quote:

    "Test ride a place way before you'd ever consider buying real estate there." – Clark Howard (06:51)

Quick Resource: Krista notes a handy list of international incentives is available on Clark.com. (06:53)

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2. Listener Questions & Consumer Advice

Forced Carry-On Bag Check at the Gate (Travel Frustrations)

• Airline baggage fees led to more gate-checked carry-ons.
• If forced to gate-check:
  • No bag fees are charged.
  • Risk of loss is minimal for non-stop flights, but increases on connections.
• Quote:

  "...by the time they finish boarding the third [group], whether the bins are empty or not, they're taking the bags away..." – Clark Howard (08:02)

HSA (Health Savings Account) Withdrawals After 62 (11:26)

• Clarification:
  • At 65, HSA funds can be withdrawn for any purpose without penalty (but are taxed as income if not for medical expenses prior to 65).
  • Withdrawals before 65 for non-medical expenses incur a 10% penalty plus ordinary income tax.

Free Dinner Sales Pitches (12:32)

• Most "free dinner" or "free vacation" offers are high-pressure sales events for overpriced financial products (annuities, timeshares, etc).
• Advice: Only attend if you're 100% certain you won't be swayed.
• Quote:

  "...the closers are really good at using guilt, using flattery, using pressure, being threatening, whatever to try to get you to buy whatever junk it is you got the free meal for." – Clark (13:12)
  "They know they're gonna convert a certain number of people there to an atrocious, hideous, awful annuity." (14:51)

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3. Exiting the Debt Trap: Strategies for Beating Credit Card Debt

Calling Card Issuers for Lower Rates (19:03)

• Clark reports a TV-test where almost 75% of callers requesting a lower interest rate on their credit card received one (at least for a limited time).
• Action Step:
  • Call your credit card company, state the burden of your current rate, and ask for a reduction. Success is higher than you might expect.

Balance Transfer Offers

• Alternative:
  • Transfer your balance to a credit card with an introductory 0% interest period (mind the 4% transfer fee).
  • Use the 12–18 month window to pay down principal aggressively.

Credit Unions Offer Lower Rates

• Switching to a credit union can halve your interest rate due to their cooperative structure.
• Mindset Shift Needed:
  • The goal is to use credit cards as a payment instrument, not a borrowing one. Pay off your balance in full each month to avoid interest.
  • Quote:

    "If you're paying interest on cards, you're subsidizing me and people like me who pay balances in full." – Clark Howard (22:54)

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4. Scams & Cautions

New Financial Scam Story (23:26)

• Listener CJ from Alaska shares a near-miss with an email and phone scam targeting his elderly mother, involving fraudulent Apple transactions and an attempt to remotely access her computer.
• Clark’s Reaction:

  "What a great job as a child." – Clark Howard (24:19)

• Advice:
  • Vigilance is essential, especially for protecting older family members from financial predators.

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5. Listener Money-Saving Wins & Frugal Fun

Reviewing and Upgrading Cell Phone Plans (25:20)

• Listener Charles saved $550 a year by switching to a new, better plan with the same carrier.
• Clark shares a story of helping a friend cut his solo cell bill from $140 to $20/month.
• Quote:

  "Lesson learned, even if you have no intention of switching carriers, it's worth periodically reviewing your existing plan." – Krista (25:40)

Clark’s Dog Naming Saga (26:39)

• Listeners respond with humorous suggestions for Clark’s next dog name, keeping with his tradition of naming pets after discount brands or baseball teams, including "Buck 50" (hotdog nod) and "Savannah Banana" (after the viral baseball team).
• Fun exchange full of self-deprecation and Clark’s signature thriftiness.

The Joy of Warehouse Shopping (27:27)

• Clark details a recent Hawaii trip packed with Costco visits, emphasizing savings on travel and souvenirs.
• Quote:

  "I'm like the kid from Kirkland because we booked our hotel packages on...Costco Travel." (29:12)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

| Timestamp | Quote (Speaker) | |-----------|----------------------------------------------------------| | 06:51 | "Test ride a place way before you'd ever consider buying real estate there." – Clark | | 13:12 | "...the closers are really good at using guilt, using flattery, using pressure, being threatening, whatever to try to get you to buy whatever junk it is you got the free meal for." – Clark | | 19:03 | "...we did that as a TV segment...and our success rate was almost 75%." – Clark | | 22:54 | "If you're paying interest on cards, you're subsidizing me and people like me who pay balances in full." – Clark | | 25:40 | "Lesson learned, even if you have no intention of switching carriers, it's worth periodically reviewing your existing plan." – Krista | | 24:19 | "What a great job as a child." – Clark (on scam vigilance)| | 29:12 | "I'm like the kid from Kirkland because we booked our hotel packages on...Costco Travel." – Clark |

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Relocating Overseas: Trends & Incentives – 01:37 – 06:53
• Airline Carry-On Questions & Consumer Travel Tips – 06:59 – 11:12
• HSA Withdrawals Clarified – 11:26 – 12:32
• Free Dinner/Annuity Sales Pitch Cautions – 12:32 – 15:19
• Credit Card Debt: Rate Negotiation & Balance Transfer Strategies – 18:52 – 23:26
• New Scam Story & Elder Fraud Protection – 23:26 – 25:20
• Saving on Cell Phone Plans – 25:20 – 26:39
• Clark’s Dog Naming and Discount Shopping Anecdotes – 26:39 – end

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Tone and Style

Clark’s tone remains informal, witty, and directly practical, often poking fun at himself and always keeping consumer empowerment at the forefront. Krista plays the foil, adding levity, listener perspectives, and questions. The episode is peppered with playful banter, especially around Clark’s legendary frugality, his love for travel, and his penchant for warehouse club bargains.

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Summary for New Listeners

This episode is a comprehensive guide for anyone considering relocating overseas, struggling with credit card debt, or simply looking to save on everyday expenses (from cell phone plans to travel). Clark and Krista provide actionable advice, real listener stories, and humorous takes on personal finance pitfalls. The show is perfect for those looking for straightforward, relatable guidance to save more, spend less, and avoid financial scams.

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For more money-saving tips or to ask Clark a question, visit www.clark.com/askclark.

Transcript

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[Clark Howard]

It's my pleasure to welcome you here to the Clark Howard Show. You know our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you can make better financial decisions in your life. Some of you listening right now may be living abroad right as I'm speaking. Could be temporarily or indefinitely abroad. And there's an increasing desire of Americans to experience life overseas. And there are some countries paving the way for us. I'm going to tell you what you need to know later. If you have credit card debt, there's a simple way to help you pay it off sooner. I'm going to remind you of that and then take your questions. So there's an interesting stat that I shared with you recently that roughly 4 million Americans are living overseas. More than 1% of our nation's population now lives elsewhere in the world. And there's been a lot more interest in living overseas. And something that I've addressed in the past with retirees, A meaningful percent of people hit retirement and all the money they got is what they're going to get from Social Security. And so people will move overseas to a place where that Social Security payment will be enough for them to live on. But I'm not talking about that. I'm talking about people that are in their work cycle of life and they're thinking, hey, you know, I'm kind of bored here, I want to go see what else is out there. And so people will go and work at least for some period of time overseas. There are places where really wanted and there are jobs. If you're in a job, you can work remotely. Why not, if there's someplace you'd enjoy living? And an example I gave years ago was about radiology, where radiology is read overwhelmingly online now. And there are now people who relocate halfway around the world and live elsewhere and do overnight readings of radiology so that radiologists don't have to work the graveyard shift. And the stuff's read overseas. Just a simple example. And there are countries, I saw an item in Kiplinger about countries that have programs that if you come down with a special skill, they'll pay you to move there. Chile is one of the countries. Ireland has these special grants for people that will invest in housing. Italy has special cash incentives if you have special skills. Japan has one that's so wild because Japan has not really been that open to foreigners staying. They love foreigners coming on vacation. But they have a rural grant that if you're willing to avoid the Tokyo Osaka corridor where so much of Japanese population is, and you go live in a economically depressed, extremely rural part of Japan, like western Japan or something like that, they have special subsidies for that and there's examples after examples about that that if you want to go do something in a foreign country, just like the incentives I've talked about from time to time in cities in the country like I've talked about, the one that's been ultra successful for the city of Tulsa, Oklahoma, it's gotten a lot of tech people and startup minded people to come there for the economic incentives they offer. So going overseas is certainly not for everybody. But I, I love the experiences of going everywhere around the globe. I mean, if you've listened or watch me for any period of time, you know how obsessed I am with travel. This is different. This is where you go plant roots somewhere else for a while. Or for maybe the rest of your working life. One thing though, your experiences as a traveler, as a vacationer, completely different than living somewhere. It's not at all like. And one other thing, even if a place calls to you and lures you, some places you can move are a lot more expensive than living in the United States. Like as an example, Australia that I mentioned a few minutes ago. Would I love to live in Australia? I think so. Would I want to spend how much it costs to live there? No way. So test ride a place way before you'd ever consider buying real estate there. Krista.

[Krista]

And by the way, we have a [e-mail] of the places offering the incentives. If you want to just check it out.

[Clark Howard]

Oh, the international ones. That's great.

[Krista]

Daniel and Georgia wrote into Clark saying, I've been listening to you to say to carry on a bag when flying. On my recent trip to Vegas for work, I did my best to fit everything I needed into a carry on. I was very proud of the sacrifices I made to get everything into my carry on for a five day trip. Much to my surprise, I didn't have a choice. I got to my gate for both flights and was forced to check my bag. I flew Delta out and Southwest back. I wasn't even close to the last boarding groups. Each time I thought of the horror stories of people not getting their bags for weeks. Unfortunately, that didn't happen. What do you do if these airlines misplace our bags in this situation? Do we have extra rights? I'm not a frequent flyer. Is this force checking bags common? Hopefully I don't have to fly for a while because I do not share your love for flying.

[Clark Howard]

I don't know what to do if I'm not in an airport. What are you supposed to do when you're not an airport? I. I do have an obsession with travel and you don't get it. I get that because a lot of people are like, can't the man just stay in one place? So yes, ever since airlines went to the steadily higher baggage check fees, more and more people who would have checked a bag are now carrying their bags on. And if an airline takes your bag away from you, you, you don't pay the fees. So it's this dance going on where the reason I do a carry on bag is I don't want to have an airline lose it. I don't want to pay for checking a bag and I want to be able to just walk right off the plane and keep going. Unfortunately, the airlines have created market incentives that everybody's bringing everything to the gate. And by the time you hit. If an airline uses eight boarding groups, by the time they finish boarding the third one, whether the bins are empty or not, they're taking the bags away because they don't want to have a delay in pushback from the gate, trying to find a place to put a bag or taking it at the last minute and stowing it underneath. So what you get now is an infrequent traveler without any status on anybody is you're not paying for the bag but it's likely not going to travel with you. Now the good news, if you're going on a non stop and they take the bag from you at the gate, the chances that it goes lost drop to near zero because they're taking it right down the stairs and they're putting it in the belly of the plane. If you're on a connecting flight and they take it on the first one, your odds of your bag going lost are, are just as bad as they are with everybody else.

[Krista]

Have you seen the movie meet the parents with Ben Stiller and they his.

[Clark Howard]

Bag won't fit in the bin.

[Krista]

Well, like first they're calling like all the people. Oh, I see the million groups.

[Clark Howard]

And then I've seen that on YouTube where there's nobody else at the gate. Have you seen the picture of that happening to me early in the era of dreaded basic economy?

[Krista]

No.

[Clark Howard]

Okay. I wonder, can we post a picture on our.

[Krista]

Yeah, okay.

[Clark Howard]

I'll see if I still have it. So I was out of town for a habitat for humanity built and I was flying home on. I can't believe I'm telling this wordy story. I'm flying back and I'm on one of those regional jets. It's just two seats on each side. So I figure I'll just go for basic because I. It was a last minute trip and it saved a lot of money. And they call all the boarding groups and I'm at this gate on this full flight and I'm the only one standing there and I'm worried they're going to close the door. So I go up there and I said, ma', am, I don't think you've called my boarding group. She said, yes, we've called all groups. I said, well, I'm in basic economy. She said, oh, I'm not used to that yet. I was the only one who was stupid enough to buy basic economy cattle.

[Krista]

It is time for cattle to come to the gate.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah. So she said, yes, you can go on board. And anyway, that would be a conversation for a different time why you have to really hate yourself to buy a basic economy ticket.

[Krista]

Okay, Jeff. And Georgia says if I get a health savings account, can I cash it in after the age of 62 without any tax liabilities or do I have to use it only for medical bills, etc? I heard that if I invest In a health HSA account, it goes in tax free and then after 62 I can withdraw all of it tax free.

[Clark Howard]

Unfortunately, I'm sorry to tell you Jeff, that's not a free lunch. If you 62 is not a key year at your 65th birthday or later, you can withdraw funds from an HSA, not use them for medical and you still pay tax, but you don't pay the 10% penalty. If you take money out of an HSA at any point before your 65th birthday and don't use it for medical, you get the double penalty of having to pay 10% right off the top plus ordinary income tax. If on the other hand, at any age it's used for legitimate medical expenses, you pay no tax.

[Krista]

Okay. And David in Ohio says, I know the free dinner or free vacation invitations in the mail are just trying to sell something that benefits the company offering it, not me. But as long as I can steadfastly say no to buying anything, what is the harm of getting a free meal.

[Clark Howard]

As long as you know your personality. This is like the one we had the other day about doing a no, no, no plan furniture. If you know yourself that there's nothing they could say, nothing that they can do that you're not going to buy the piece of annuity, timeshare, vacation club, whatever.

[Krista]

It's going to sound awesome, whatever it is, because they're good.

[Clark Howard]

And, and the, the closers are really good at using guilt, using flattery, using pressure, being threatening, whatever to try to get you to buy whatever junk it is you got the free meal for. And by the way, most of the meal ones for a really nice restaurant are going to be for hideous, awful, terrible, dirty, rotten, stinking annuities.

[Krista]

Even if they use that word, they may use a different word.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah, life protection plan, wealth planning. Yeah, any of that garbage that these sleaze balls push in these free dinner annuity presentations. If you know you will never fall for it and you want the free meal, go for it.

[Krista]

I mean, they would have to be paying me. That's the last thing I'd want to sit through. There is no way I'd feel nauseous. I wouldn't want to eat my dinner.

[Clark Howard]

Oh, see, I. I would love it if I could go surreptitiously to something like that so I could hear all the crooked, dirty, rotten, scoundrel, dishonest, ugly, hideous sales techniques that the insurance people without a conscience try to destroy people's future financial security by selling annuities.

[Krista]

I mean, unless you were in disguise, they would be like security, right? When they saw you, there's no way they would want you sitting there because you'd ask all the right questions.

[Clark Howard]

All you'd have to do is sit there and you hear the lies, the song, the dance. If somebody's taking you to ruse Chris and spending a hundred and fifty dollars on a meal for you, they're not doing it out of charity. They know they're gonna convert a certain number of people there to an atrocious, hideous, awful annuity. Annuity.

[Krista]

Not that there's anything wrong with Ruth's. Chris. They're wonderful.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah, but what, what that pitch is, is poison to your pocketbook. You know why I. I pound that so hard? Because the salesperson will try to convince somebody. Oh, that's not the stuff Clark was talking.

[Krista]

Right, right, right.

[Clark Howard]

This is really good. This is income protection plan.

[Krista]

Yeah.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, enough. We're gonna talk straight ahead about that credit card debt that has reached a new average high with people. Plus the interest rates being so high. I want to talk about strategies. I talked about strategies with credit card debt a while back. We talk about something else that we did a test of after I read an article. And let me tell you, I've got a money saving tip for you that should help. Straight ahead.

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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 or affiliated with a registered investment advisor. For disclosures, visit talking realmoney.com so I.

[Clark Howard]

Also work in television news and there was a story about how if people asked a credit card company that you owed money to for a lower interest rate that roughly two thirds of the time they would offer you something better for a period of time. And so we did that as a TV segment. We call it an investigation. Everything is investigation anyway, and our success rate was almost 75%. And what we did was we took people had to admit in the TV newsroom they owed money on a credit card and we just asked him call and ask and almost 75% got a lower rate. Are you going to have the same result as I had read about? As we experimented and found? Maybe not. But you Got a good shot that if you don't ask, you don't get. That if you or a family member or friend burdened by credit card debt, it does not hurt to ask. You call them up and you say, I see I'm paying 22.6% interest and the interest is really burdening me, can you cut my interest rate? And they'll say, well, we can do this for that period of time. And although balance transfer offers are not as common as they used to be, they're still out there. There's another tool you can use where you transfer the balance, usually in return for paying 4% of that balance up front. And you will have an interest payment holiday, typically of 12 to 18 months where you're able to move the balance and instead of having to service so much interest every month, you're able to have every dollar you pay go towards principal. Here's the thing, the calling up and trying to get a lower interest rate, transferring a balance, any of those things, they only have impact if you change your habits with credit. If you have been of a mindset that you use credit cards as a borrowing system, you accomplish basically nothing. If you go advocate for yourself and you negotiate a lower interest rate, or you balance transfer, or you're a brilliant person who instead of suffering bank abuse, you go and open an account at a credit union where the average interest rate on a credit card is half what it is for the average bank credit card interest rate. That's right. Simply by going to a co op to a credit union where you're an owner instead of a customer, you have the potential to cut your credit card interest rate in half. But the goal is not to find a way to pay less interest year after year after year. The purpose of getting to a lower interest rate is to change habits. And instead of paying interest once you pay the debt off, you don't then charge up again. That you transition in your mind from credit cards being a borrowing instrument to a payment instrument. What do I mean by that? About 40% of people use credit cards just as a way to pay for things. And when the bill comes in, they pay it in full. And let me tell you, if you're paying interest on cards, you're subsidizing me and people like me who pay balances in full, you're paying 20 to 30% interest to subsidize me getting an interest free loan every month from the credit card where they're giving me the payment holiday for usually a month where interest free, I just pay that balance in full. I want you to join me on that side of the ledger where you're not paying interest anymore.

[Krista]

Okay.

[Clark Howard]

Hello, Krista.

[Krista]

Hello Clark. CJ in Alaska says this is a story about a new scam I haven't yet heard about. I carefully monitor my 83 year old mother's emails and credit card.

[Clark Howard]

Good for you.

[Krista]

Yep. She recently had a 200 transaction from Apple that I immediately flashed flagged as fraudulent, credit card canceled. End of story. Right? Wrong. The scammers followed up with an email from quote, unquote, Apple to resolve this claim. I wasn't quick enough to see this. She called the number and the scammers sent an email with a link so they could take over her computer and quote, unquote, solve the problem. Luckily, I did see this email, deleted it immediately and FaceTimed her. She was on the phone with the scammers and I was frantic to get her to hang up on them. She finally did and so did so unfortunately they got nothing. I had a long talk with my mom and hopefully she understood how bad this could have been. Remain vigilant.

[Clark Howard]

I can't thank you enough for taking time to post this, for being the kind of adult child who's there taking care of your mom. C.J. because the crooks look for why did they attack elderly people so much? Because they may be lonely, they may be having slow cognitive decline and they're where the money is. So you got to be on your guard. And this thing with the phony charges appearing on a bill is something or other. This is common now and you were able to spot that that was not a legitimate charge for Apple and you stop criminals cold. They were doing what's known as a reload where they were trying to take over her computer and then get at all her personal information on it and you were able to stop that in time. What a great job as a child.

[Krista]

Charles in Texas says recent discussions on your show about cell phone plans prompted me to review our family's wireless plan. I was surprised to discover that with a few clicks online and without changing carriers, we were able to move off of a legacy plan and onto a strictly better plan and save about 550dol per year.

[Clark Howard]

That's awesome.

[Krista]

I had no idea it was even possible to be grandfathered into an inferior plan that costs more than the current offerings. But apparently it's common. Lesson learned, even if you have no intention of switching carriers, it's worth periodically reviewing your existing plan. You may be paying more than necessary simply because you hadn't checked okay, so.

[Clark Howard]

I'll share a personal story. I was with one of my bagel buddies, and he was complaining about his cell phone bill. And I said, well, how many lines you have? Was just him. He was paying $140 a month on a legacy plan he'd been on forever, and now he's on a.

[Krista]

Did you choke on your bagel?

[Clark Howard]

I did, but now what's he paying a month?

[Krista]

20.

[Clark Howard]

How did you know it was 20?

[Krista]

Because I did. I've done this as well for people who tell me that. And I'm immediately like, what?

[Clark Howard]

Say he's saving. One person he's saving was that I should be able to do the math that quickly. 120. So he's saving, like, 1400 bucks a year.

[Krista]

That's awesome. Okay, now two. You mentioned recently your dog naming thing with Lane, and so a couple of people wrote in about your dog names. You asked what your future dog's name should be. Aaron in Minnesota says, on a recent episode, you referenced your dogs being named Costco Wholesale and Kirkland Signature. You posed the question of what your next dog's name should be. I'd like to humbly suggest you go with buck 50 all beef, which continues to keep naming in line with your favorite wholesaler.

[Clark Howard]

Okay. Do I love that as a suggestion? So I should say Costco Wholesale died a long time ago. So our dogs now are Winston Churchill, one of my life heroes, and Kirkland.

[Krista]

Signature is a girl dog.

[Clark Howard]

And we used to have Maggie Thatcher.

[Krista]

Yes.

[Clark Howard]

Another of my life heroes. Anyway, but buck 50, I mean, that's just great.

[Krista]

And you had a dog named Quick Trip after the convenience store.

[Clark Howard]

That's right.

[Krista]

Okay. Jan and Georgia says, Clark, I have a suggestion for your next dog's name. What company puts their fans first? What company is genuinely all about customer experience from before you purchase to after you begin to walk out of their location. What company guarantees the lowest prices in their business arena? I know you're a football guy, but your next dog's name should be Savannah Banana. Would love to hear you read about and discuss how this organization is so totally customers, fans first, and is upending the MLB and filling their stadiums.

[Clark Howard]

Do you know about the Savannah?

[Krista]

Oh, I do. I very well.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah.

[Krista]

Oh, man, they're awesome.

[Clark Howard]

Their inspiration, I think, was the Harlem Globetrotters, and they have created an excitement among youth that has not existed around baseball in generations because night baseball basically killed off young people being interested in the sport because the games were too late at night. And the Savannah Bananas are a marketing behemoth and they're just so much fun people. Adults, kids. And in between, everybody loves the Savannah Bananas. And that would be a great name for a dog, except I met somebody in Florida who already named their dog Savannah.

[Krista]

Oh, okay.

[Clark Howard]

And I don't know anybody else who's named their dog. Kirkland Signature.

[Krista]

No, Kirk for short.

[Clark Howard]

Buck 50. Oh, man.

[Krista]

You could call it Buck.

[Clark Howard]

Love that.

[Krista]

Yeah.

[Clark Howard]

All Beef Hot dog. Kirkland Signature Hot Dog.

[Krista]

That'd be a lot to put on the Costco prescriptions, though. Buck 50. All beef Howard.

[Clark Howard]

That would be. We just make it buck 50.

[Krista]

Yeah. Just buck. Buck Howard. I like it. It's a strong name.

[Clark Howard]

Hey, by the way, I know. I love Costco. I love warehouse clubs. I love Sam's Club. I'm a member of Sam's. I'm a member of BJ's Wholesale. And I just love that, structurally, they sell things for so much less than you pay otherwise. And so when we were in Hawaii recently, this is so terrible. I mean, I'm like the kid from Kirkland because we booked our hotel packages on resort packages on Kauai and on Maui at Costco Travel. We went to Costco when we landed on Kauai and stocked up, you sent.

[Krista]

Me an immediate selfie at the food court.

[Clark Howard]

And we went to Costco when we landed on Maui. When it was time to return the rental cars, where did we buy gas? Costco wholesale. But I had to bring back souvenirs. Somebody specifically asked for a very specific University of Hawaii shirt. And so I went to a souvenir store. It was so much money. So what was the last stop I made in Maui before I flew back to the mainland?

[Krista]

Costco.

[Advertisement Voice]

Walmart.

[Clark Howard]

Oh, they had a huge array of University of Hawaii rainbow shirts.

[Krista]

Okay.

[Clark Howard]

And I. I got my friend a shirt.

[Krista]

Nice.

[Clark Howard]

$15. Is that too much for you?

[Krista]

That is shocking.

[Clark Howard]

It is too much for me. But I couldn't go to a used clothing store and bring somebody a gift of a used University of Hawaii T shirt, could I?

[Krista]

You could.

[Clark Howard]

That would be classless. Anyway. It would be. That would not be cool. All right, well, thank you so much for listening to my gibberish there at the end of Today's podcast and YouTube show. Hope you have the best rest of your day and that you do something kind for somebody else. It's said so often there's not enough kindness in the world. There's so many opportunities to make a difference for someone else. What about volunteering somewhere? Do something that improves your community. Do something to make things better. And our job is to make things better for your wallet, to give you ideas, to save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. And I'll see you on Friday.