03.05.25 Most Affordable States / What To Know About Tariffs

Summary

The Clark Howard Podcast - Episode Summary
Title: Most Affordable States / What To Know About Tariffs
Host: Clark Howard
Release Date: March 5, 2025

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1. Introduction: Understanding Cost of Living Across the United States

In this episode, Clark Howard delves into the varying cost of living across different states in the U.S., utilizing data from Visual Capitalist to illustrate how far one's money can stretch depending on their location.

• Key Insights:

  • Hawaii: Recognized as the most expensive state due to high costs of importing goods, limited land, and expensive housing. Clark states, “[...] Hawaii is the most expensive place in the United States to live. But a lot of the things are not so obvious.”
  • West Virginia: Identified as the most affordable state, where money goes the furthest, in stark contrast to its neighbor, Virginia, which is comparably expensive.
  • Florida: Once an affordable haven with no state income tax, Florida has seen rising living costs, leading to an exodus of residents seeking more affordable states like the Carolinas, Tennessee, and Georgia. Clark notes, “Florida used to be not only the Sunshine State, but it was an affordable state to live in. [...] your money doesn't go very far anymore.”
  • Other Affordable States: Mississippi, Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, and Kentucky are highlighted as bargain states, although lifestyle preferences may influence relocation decisions.

• Notable Quotes:

  • [00:50] Clark Howard: “If you're somebody who has itchy feet and you're trying to figure out where's the most affordable place to live, I got the data for you.”
  • [05:20] Clark Howard: “Some of these that are more affordable, I would not have expected Michigan and Ohio. I would have assumed. That's why you never want to assume.”

2. Impact of Tariffs on the Economy and Personal Finances

Clark transitions to an in-depth discussion about tariffs, their definition, and their broader economic implications.

• Key Insights:

  • Definition of Tariffs: Clark explains tariffs as taxes added to goods, leading to increased consumer prices. “[...] A tariff is a tax added on to goods that you and I buy and then in turn leads not to a dollar for dollar increase in the item because the tax is only part of the equation, but does lead to an increase in prices.”
  • Economic Consequences: Tariffs can induce inflation, slow down economic growth, and potentially lead to stagflation—a predicament where the economy slows while prices rise. Clark emphasizes, “Tariffs can be really disruptive to an economy.”
  • Sector-Specific Effects: While some prices, like oil and natural gas, may decrease due to reduced demand, other sectors could experience price hikes.
  • Job Market Impact: Contrary to the protectionist intent, tariffs often result in job losses as businesses become uncertain about investment decisions.
  • Long-Term Uncertainty: Clark expresses unease about the widespread application of tariffs, highlighting unpredictability in their long-term effects.

• Notable Quotes:

  • [16:28] Clark Howard: “A tariff is a tax added on to goods that you and I buy... it leads to an increase in prices.”
  • [19:00] Clark Howard: “The thing about tariffs is the idea of tariffs is that they protect and increase jobs. In a country that imposes tariffs on others, ironically enough, often the effect is the opposite and a lot of jobs evaporate because of the effects of tariffs.”
  • [20:00] Clark Howard: “I've never liked tariffs. I find they eliminate having the most productive way to produce goods. It's just something that from raw economics is an unhealthy thing to do for long term economic growth.”

3. Listener Questions and Financial Advice

Clark addresses several listener inquiries, providing practical financial advice based on their unique situations.

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a. Credit Freezing and Student Loans

• Listener: Jacob from Pennsylvania

• Question: Should he freeze his credit while managing federal student loans for his undergraduate and upcoming graduate studies?

• Clark’s Advice:

  • Manage Student Debt Wisely: Clark urges Jacob to be cautious about accumulating excessive student loan debt, suggesting he pursue graduate studies while working to mitigate borrowing needs.
  • Credit Freezing Recommendation: He advises freezing credit to protect against identity theft, especially important when managing multiple loans. “[...] it's better all the rest of the year other than that minimal period of time that you'd need to thaw for applying for the student loan renewals.”

• Notable Quotes:

  • [08:01] Clark Howard: “Your daughter already has these two student credit cards so long as she behaves with them, she's going to have a great credit score.”
  • [11:14] Clark Howard: “It is so easy to freeze and thaw that I recommend that you have your credit frozen.”

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b. Car Rental Reservations and Third-Party Bookings

• Listener: Ross from Virginia

• Question: Are third-party car rental bookings through platforms like Kayak reliable, given horror stories on Reddit about lost reservations?

• Clark’s Advice:

  • High-Low Pricing Strategy: Clark explains that many traditional car rental agencies use a high-low pricing model, which can sometimes lead to overbooking issues.
  • Booking Strategy: He recommends booking through trusted third-party services like Costco Travel and then immediately confirming the reservation directly with the rental company’s system. This double-confirmation method can mitigate the risk of lost reservations.
  • Membership Benefits: Joining a frequent renter program can provide priority during high-demand periods, reducing the likelihood of issues.

• Notable Quotes:

  • [26:55] Clark Howard: “When you book third party, whether it's Costco or wherever, you'll see two different ways they're booked. [...] Then I go front of the queue with most rental agencies ahead of people when they're short of vehicles.”
  • [30:57] Clark Howard: “It is very important that people know even if you travel very infrequently, whatever car rental agency you end up booked with join their frequent renter program.”

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c. High-Yield Savings Accounts and Barclays Bank

• Listener: Elizabeth from Connecticut

• Question: Should she continue using Barclays for her high-yield savings account or switch to another bank offering higher rates?

• Clark’s Advice:

  • Legitimacy of Barclays: Clark confirms that Barclays is a reputable institution and has been added to their list of high-yield savings accounts.
  • Comparative Rates: While Barclays offers decent rates (over 4%), he encourages seeking out online banks that may offer even higher yields (4-5%) to maximize savings.
  • FDIC Insurance: Emphasizes the importance of FDIC insurance and not exceeding $250,000 in a single institution to avoid potential losses.

• Notable Quotes:

  • [31:37] Clark Howard: “With your idle cash, you're committing financial malpractice for your own wallet. When you leave the money sitting in a traditional bank getting nothing on your savings, don't do it.”
  • [31:42] Clark Howard: “Barclays is absolutely fine, is a place to have your money.”

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4. Conclusion and Upcoming Topics

Clark wraps up the episode by reiterating the importance of informed financial decisions. He invites listeners to participate in upcoming segments such as "Clark Stinks," where he addresses feedback and areas for improvement. Additionally, he promotes the Team Clark Consumer Action Center, offering free one-on-one financial advice.

• Notable Quotes:
  • [34:21] Clark Howard: “See you Friday.”
  • [34:35] Clark Howard: Final sign-off emphasizing commitment to helping listeners save more and spend less.

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5. Additional Resources

Listeners are encouraged to visit www.clark.com/askclark to submit their questions and access resources like Clark.com and ClarkDeals.com for further financial advice and deals.

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This episode of The Clark Howard Podcast offers valuable insights into choosing affordable states for relocation and understanding the complex impacts of tariffs on the economy and personal finances. Through expert advice and practical solutions, Clark empowers listeners to make informed financial decisions amidst changing economic landscapes.

Transcript

[Clark Howard]

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[Clark Howard]

It's great to have you here on 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. In today's episode, I saw a map of how far your money goes in different states depending on where you choose to live in the country. And some of it would be obvious to you. Hawaii is the most expensive place in the United States to live. But a lot of the things are not so obvious. I want to share some of this data to you. If you're somebody who has itchy feet and you're trying to figure out where's the most affordable place to live, I got the data for you. Also, I want to hit you with the latest on tariffs, what kind of things you need to be aware of because people are so confused about what tariffs are going to mean to our economy as we move through the year and more important, to your own wallet and the security of your own job. And I'll talk about that later. So I don't know if you've ever looked@visual capitalist.com they do wonderful research about various economics things and then distill them down into very simple charts or in this case a map of the United States. And they have taken data on and specifically they were looking at like how long would your money last in retirement? And so it's a scale that shows in this case they took a theoretical amount of money and said how long your money, including Social Security would allow you to live a typical lifestyle in that state. How many years could you. And as I told you in the lead that Hawaii is where your money goes the least far of any state. Everything's got to be brought in their islands, limited land, everything, housing, food, supplies, are all so expensive. But when you look at the rest of the United States, the mainland United States, there are such stark differences from place to place. Like, the most affordable place in the United States, where your money goes the furthest is in the state of West Virginia, which the reason that's interesting is that right next door in Virginia, it's a really expensive state to live in. I mean, Virginia is as expensive as living in Florida, which, by the way, is to me an interesting thing. Florida, your money doesn't go very far anymore. Florida used to be not only the Sunshine State, but it was an affordable state to live in. A lot of people who moved to Florida are now leaving Florida because the cost of living in Florida, even though there's no income tax, has gone up so much that people are leaving the state of Florida, and a lot of them are becoming what are known as halfbacks. What's a halfback? Halfbacks are referred to as people who moved to the Carolinas or Tennessee or Georgia, who maybe came from the Midwest or the Northeast and they went to Florida, and then they're like, well, can't quite dig this, but don't want to go back to where it was really cold. And money goes much further in the Carolinas and Tennessee and Georgia. And by the way, Tennessee has no state income tax like Florida. And by comparison, Texas, which has no state income tax, your money goes much further than it does in Florida. But when you look at the mainland U.S. you want to see where your money doesn't go anywhere. California and Massachusetts, Very, very, very, very expensive to live in. Why? Interestingly enough, not because of taxes, which you'd assume, but from my digging, even though taxes are high in Taxachusetts and they're moderately high in California, unless you're really rich and then they're really, really high in California, it's housing costs. And you look state after state. The big thing that makes a state unaffordable, Oregon, Washington, less expensive in California, but very expensive again because of housing costs. New York, crazy expensive because of housing costs and to a lesser extent, taxes. Affordable places to live. How about moving to, in addition to West Virginia and Mississippi, which are by far the cheapest. Arkansas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kentucky, those are the real, real bargain states, although you may not want to live in them because part of life is about lifestyle, part is about cost. But this chart that you'll be able to link to from our notes and see the map of the 50 states and where it's more affordable to live, where it's more expensive to live I mean, some of these that are more affordable, I would not have expected Michigan and Ohio. I would have assumed. That's why you never want to assume. Right. That they would be more expensive places to live, but they're more affordable. So within a region of the country, there are big differences in cost of living from one state to another in the same region. Where would you move if you could move anywhere in the United States and it was not involving cost?

[Listener]

Oh, I don't. That's a hard one. I would say Hawaii because I love Hawaii, but it is really far from everyone that I love. So I don't know. But yeah, that's the most expensive place for a reason because it's paradise and you have to import everything. Like you said, I love Hawaii.

[Clark Howard]

It's the best.

[Listener]

How about you? What? Where would you move?

[Clark Howard]

Oh, it's Hawaii.

[Listener]

Okay.

[Clark Howard]

As cheap guy as I am. But you know, I can still go to Costco and have lunch for a buck.

[Listener]

Oh yeah. Oh yeah. The line is just super long.

[Clark Howard]

It is super long for that $50. Although, you know, I'm not allowed to eat the hot dog anymore.

[Listener]

Oh, man.

[Clark Howard]

Now what do you do? Okay, my heart requires that I not eat hot dogs, but my wallet requires that I eat the hot dog. What do I do? Wallet or heart?

[Listener]

I would say heart.

[Clark Howard]

Yes, you're right.

[Listener]

Sure.

[Clark Howard]

Even cheap guy knows that.

[Listener]

Okay, Carl in Georgia wrote this to you. Clark, I have my 18 year old daughter as an authorized user on several credit cards and she's starting to build up some credit. She's a freshman in college and now has gotten two of your recommended college student credit cards.

[Clark Howard]

Good for her.

[Listener]

Next year she'll move into an apartment that is offering to report her on time monthly rent payments to the credit bureaus for a $5 fee. Is this worth doing to show more lines of credit to help her credit score?

[Clark Howard]

Nope. Nope. This is a trend where I've noticed with my son being in college like your daughter, that the student housing he's in, they almost virtually have off campus. Only although your son goes to the same school and was able to get on campus housing I just signed a.

[Listener]

Lease off campus for.

[Clark Howard]

Oh, he's going off campus. So you'll be offered the same thing. They'll say, hey, you can pay extra for rent every month and have on time rent payments reported. It's not a mainstream part of credit scoring models. It's not recognized by most lenders yet. And besides, your daughter already has these two student credit cards so long as she behaves with Them, she's going to have a great credit score. She won't need the potential benefit of the reporting. And I say only potential. Paying rent on time. That's really more for people who've had bad credit in the past or no credit in the past, using these alternative means like paying extra so that they pay a fee so the rent payments are reported.

[Listener]

All right. Rob in North Carolina says a co worker and I are having a discussion about BOGO items at grocery stores.

[Clark Howard]

For people who aren't aware, that's buy one, get one free.

[Listener]

He claims the grocery stores are raising the prices on the items they offer Bogo each week just before offering them two for one or half price. Publix, Food lion and Harris Teeter here in North Carolina are our local stores. I buy the same items every week. I know retail store prices pretty well for the items I buy on a regular basis. However, is there any truth to his claim?

[Clark Howard]

So, Rob, I'm going to answer a different way. No. First let me say straight out, no. You're not going to find that supermarkets are going to raise prices just before the items go on bogo. But the supermarket chains you talked about, Publix, Food lion and Harris Teeter, are all what are known as high lows. High low. If you're not familiar with that concept in retail, a high low retailer charges very high prices regularly and then lures you in with sale items. Buy one, get one free, buy to get one free, that kind of thing. So that there's a perception of value, but the everyday prices have a pretty significant markup. So that's the difference between doing your grocery shopping. North Carolina, you've got the competition of Walmart, which is the largest grocer in the country. They don't do high, low pricing. Aldi, which is big in North Carolina, doesn't do high, low pricing. Costco and Sam's don't do high, low pricing. So it is a strategy that the traditional mainstream supermarkets use, which is high low. So there's no reason for them to mark up before they mark down with the bogos because everything else you buy in the store is so expensive, relatively speaking.

[Listener]

Jacob of Pennsylvania says you always advise your listeners to freeze their credit. And there's only one reason I have not yet done so in the two years of listening to you. I'm a senior in college and have taken out federal student loans over the course of my college career. If I continue to take out those loans as I finish my degree and move on to my master's, is it better for me to keep my credit unfrozen to avoid difficulties with securing this financing? Or am I overthinking this? Thanks for all your advice over the years. I love listening to your podcast and being able to learn from you and share the information you're sharing with all of us on the podcast.

[Clark Howard]

Well, Jacob, thank you very much. And first thing, before I even answer your question, you've taken on student loans in undergraduate, you're looking at taking on student loans for graduate school. Be really mindful of the overall student loan debt that you incur from undergraduate and graduate school. You don't want the amount of loans that you develop to be larger than what your likely earning power is the first year on a job. If you're getting into the danger zone with what you or accumulating in undergraduate school for graduate school, I'm going to ask you to take on a big personal time burden. I would like you to go to grad school simultaneously with working so that you can reduce the amount of money you have to borrow and that you would finish your Master's with work experience. Hopefully in the field in which you're pursuing your master's. It gives you a big leg up in the job market when you have relevant work experience and the postgraduate degree. As far as the thing with freezing your credit, it's so easy to freeze and thaw that I recommend that you have your credit frozen. When it comes time that you're applying for a new cycle of student loans, you temporarily thaw through the loan process. I mean, it is so quick and simple to do the thaw that it's better all the rest of the year other than that minimal period of time that you'd need at thawed for applying for the student loan renewals that I would rather see you do that instead of remaining in a vulnerable mode where somebody could steal your credit. And then you may not be able to get loans for grad school because somebody's taken out loans in your name and you got to clean up all that mess and all the rest. So that would be my recommendation is freeze until you need it. Thought Coming up ahead, I want to talk about tariffs and what kind of things tariffs do to an economy that you and I need to be prepared for as consumers and as workers.

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[Clark Howard]

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[Clark Howard]

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[Clark Howard]

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[Clark Howard]

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Americans are generally nervous right now because we've got changes going on that are disruptive and hard to understand. And I generally talk in absolutes. It's one of my flaws is That I don't see gray. A lot of times I see things as one or the other. It's just a character flaw of mine that I try to be mindful of. But talking about tariffs becomes a really, really difficult thing to do because we've never seen in any of our lifetimes where there's been such widespread application of tariffs. And talking about tariffs, what's a tariff? A tariff is a tax. It's a tax added on to goods that you and I buy and then in turn leads not to a dollar for dollar increase in the item because the tax is only part of the equation, but does lead to an increase in prices. And that's why now Americans tell pollsters that they expect a lot more inflation coming forward and tariffs could initially cause more inflation. Long term effect of that, not necessarily how it will play, but what tariffs do. And all the talk about tariffs is that they slow down business activity. And in the worst possible scenario with tariffs you end up with what's known as something that economists coined stagflation, where you end up with the economy slowing at the same time prices rise. Is that going to happen to us again? Normally a man who talks in absolutes, I can't say absolutely with certainty that widespread tariffs would necessarily lead to stagflation. But they do lead to slower economic growth. And that's just a fact. It makes it harder for companies to figure out is it a good idea to build a new facility, is a good idea to start a new assembly line because they just don't know it creates too many questions is policy changes. And that's why tariffs can be really disruptive to an economy. Now I need to tell you, I don't like tariffs. I've never liked tariffs. I find they eliminate having the most productive way to produce goods. It's just something that from raw economics is an unhealthy thing to do for long term economic growth. That again, that's an absolute from me. But as to the effects we're going to see from tariffs on different goods from different countries, the jury's out how that's going to play over the longer term. There will be price disruptions from tariffs and price disruptions and some things will be up, others down. One of the marketplaces that seeing downward movement is the price of oil and in turn what you and I may pay for gasoline. Why is that? Because financial markets believe collectively that tariffs will slow economic activity in various countries in the world and will reduce demand for oil. Meaning that even though something else you buy may go up the cost of gasoline may well go down. The cost of natural gas that we run a lot of our electricity from and a lot of people heat their homes with it and that kind of thing, that the cost of natural gas may in fact go down because of tariffs on other goods. So nothing is everything and there's a lot of impacts that will occur. The thing about tariffs is the idea of tariffs is that they protect and increase jobs. In a country that imposes tariffs on others, ironically enough, often the effect is the opposite and a lot of jobs evaporate because of the effects of tariffs. So we're in early innings. Also, as I said when I talked about tariffs last month, over time it will become clearer only in the rearview mirror if President Trump uses tariffs only as a negotiating tool or as a permanent economic play from using as a negotiating tool has shorter term effects on the economy and consumer confidence. But actually implementing them widely long term will have, in my opinion, severe effects on, on the US Economy. But not every sector, as I said.

[Listener]

All right, we'll go to questions. Jeremy in South Carolina says, my wife and I own a home in Charleston, South Carolina but recently moved to the Philippines to work with a child trafficking organization.

[Clark Howard]

What a wonderful thing that you're doing.

[Listener]

Seriously, trying to manage that home remotely has quickly become more than we can handle given the rigors of our job here. We have made the tough decision to sell and are looking for the safest investment for about $300,000. We have veterans disability income at 90% for me and will eventually have a small pension from my 21 plus years in the Army Reserves.

[Clark Howard]

Thank you for your service to our great nation.

[Listener]

We only have about 100k in a tsp and 403 for retirement savings. The rest of our current funding is from individuals and churches, but we shouldn't need any of the proceeds from our home in the near 5 to 10 years future. Any suggestions?

[Clark Howard]

Well, Jeremy, I mean you, you spend your life in service to others and that's wonderful and sorry that you have a disability from your service in the military. Glad you have a pension at a level that that and other things means you won't need to tap any of this money. This is money for your future. So there are a number of strategies you can employ with the money. The default safest thing to do is to put it in a money market fund. That would be a US treasury money market fund. It will have a predictable return. The safest, best place to do that is with the financial house Vanguard. They have the lowest fees and you'll earn the best rate you possibly could on that. But that is a very, very conservative choice. It might trend pretty closely with inflation, maybe a little more than inflation. Your money would be completely safe as an obligation indirectly of the federal government in a treasury money market fund. When you finish your time in the Philippines and you're talking five or ten years from now, all that money would be there plus what it earned. And that would be the most conservative choice. But because you don't need the money for five or 10 years, you might want to step out a little bit in something that over the long haul would have more benefit to you financially, potentially. And that would be dollar cost averaging into a variety of investments that would require that you establish a relationship with a fee only fiduciary financial advisor who could recommend a strategy of doing a mixture of money being in, as an example, having enough money of that 300,000 in a federal money market fund where you could have money that you knew was there, that if the stock market tanks, you still have that portion of it that's completely a okay. And then the rest over time you put into a series of widespread investments. My favorite would be a mix of index funds, but you need a fee only fiduciary advisor. Now I mentioned Vanguard for having the money market. Vanguard also has the personal advisory service that is extremely cheap to use. They are fiduciaries. They are very qualified financial advisors. You have enough money, I think you have to have minimum 50 grand to be in that. You have enough money to be in that. And you'd be with an organization that's owned by its account holders, completely trustworthy as an alternative way of doing things. It is so important that this money be handled well and be as secure as you require it to be. By secure I mean that the money is not put in a position where you could lose a substantial amount and be very wary because a lot of salespeople will try to con you into a piece of trash annuity with the money from this house and that would be a tax disaster and potential financial disaster for you.

[Listener]

Ross in Virginia says, hi Clark, appreciate all you do. I have a question about car rentals. If you look around, there are a lot of horror stories on Reddit and so forth about people whose rental car reservations were lost when they booked them using a third party portal as opposed to direct with the company. In these horror stories, they arrived at the rental counter only to be told the rental car company had no record of the reservation, leaving them scrambling at the last minute. Usually these stories end with a firm piece of advice to never book a rental car using a third party service.

[Clark Howard]

Right.

[Listener]

I have no doubt this sometimes happens to people, but how likely are these horror stories to really transpire? The prices when booking through something like kayak are consistently lower than booking direct with the company, in my experience. So it would have to be reasonably common to not be worth the risk, in my opinion. What do you say?

[Clark Howard]

So, Ross, what you're getting the tip of the iceberg from, from the Reddit post is that car rental companies have become notorious for overbooking. And when you book through a third party and they've overbooked, they fall back on this excuse. Oh, well, you booked with a third party, we don't show that you exist. And usually that's malarkey because then they've got the other people who did book direct and they don't have a car for them either. I mean, I travel roughly 30 weeks a year. I thought I had cut back, but I'm still traveling about 30 weeks a year. And I see it over and over again when I go to the rental car plazas that people are standing there in huge lines or sitting with their suitcases because there's no cars available at the particular car rental agency they booked. And it's because now almost all car rentals in the United States are controlled by three companies, even though there are many other names you'll see at the car rental plazas or when you go to book. Now, what I recommend is I do book third party. I'm gonna sound like a broken record. I book most of my car rentals through Costco Travel. And when you book third party, whether it's Costco or wherever, you'll see two different ways they're booked. Sometimes you're only given a confirmation number from whatever third party booking source you booked through. Then other times you'll get two confirmation numbers. I only want you booking third party. When they do the double, the double, they will show you their own internal confirmation number for whatever third party you booked through. Then the second number will be the reservation number in the system of whatever car rental agency they have booked you with. What I do is I then immediately go to the car rental site of whatever car rental company I've been booked with, punch in that number that's for them, claim the reservation in the car rental system, and then I have the double backup. I know I'm booked, I know what price I'm going to pay, and I know that I am live and active in that car rental agency system. And Krista, I know that I'm spending a lot of time on this question. I need to add something else. It's very important that people know even if you travel very infrequently, whatever car rental agency you end up booked with join their frequent renter program. The base level frequent renter program is free. I have found. My experience is that when car rental agencies are short of vehicles, people who have a booking that appends with it, their membership may have an express thing where you just go to the rental lot. Whatever it is, you go front of the queue with most rental agencies ahead of people when they're short of vehicles who were just independent showing up that are not members of that program. So whoever you end up being assigned to, if you use a third party booking app, you want to join the program, claim the record and then you should have less problems than other people when the car rental agency is overbooked. You didn't hear me say no problems, right?

[Listener]

I did have an issue. I booked through Costco Travel, my car rental recently and when I got to and I called them and asked them to attach my number to it and I got there and they said, sorry, we just don't do that because your third party booking, we won't let you use your membership at this one car rental counter.

[Clark Howard]

I have never had that problem before. So I never call. I always do it. I go.

[Listener]

I tried online but it couldn't pull it up like it was. And even though I had the reservation.

[Clark Howard]

Number, that is really weird. So you had a problem I've never experienced.

[Listener]

Hopefully no one else. Well, maybe it was just me. Elizabeth in Connecticut.

[Clark Howard]

I don't know why you booked with Larry's car Rental.

[Listener]

You recently talked about high yield savings accounts and I've noticed online that I never seem to see you mentioned Barclays. I've had an account since it was ING and now Barclays and while it's not the highest interest rate out there, the rate seems decent. Is there something to be aware of with Barclays? Perhaps I should switch to a bank that is higher from your online list. I currently have $65,000 in the savings account.

[Clark Howard]

So Barclays is completely legit and I think they are on our list.

[Listener]

They are now. After this question came in, Sally, our managing editor, talked to Christopher on our team, our writer who maintains that list and he took a look and did add them and we'll track them as we track all these other banks and their online savings rates. We update the rates every single week.

[Clark Howard]

On there so they're not the highest on our list, but they are certainly decent at over, I think over 4% these days. And you compare that to what's available from the big banks, which is, gosh, the biggest banks, 1/100th of 1%. If you're a high tier customer, they may be paying you 0.30 of 1%. And then these online banks pay 4 to 5%, some even above 5% on savings. And they're the same FDIC insurance. So with your idle cash, you're committing financial malpractice for your own wallet. When you leave the money sitting in a traditional bank getting nothing on your savings, don't do it. And yes, Elizabeth Barclays is absolutely fine, is a place to have your money. And remember, with any financial institution, don't put in there more than a quarter million bucks because if the financial institution seizes up, you could be left with a loss of whatever you had above a quarter million. It's a really great position to be in in life to have more than a quarter million. You don't want to put that money at risk that you have beyond that, that you worked hard for. And with that having been said, hope you have a great, great day. I want to tell you what's coming up on Friday. Clark stinks. You get to hear where I'm stinking it up, where I've let you down, where you feel I gave incomplete information, whatever. And speaking of information, you have access to free one on one advice from the Team Clark Consumer Action center which we've been doing since 1993. It's a long time, right? Open 30 hours each week. You can see how to get that free one on one advice by going to clark.com cac it's just another part of what we're about, giving you ways to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. See you Friday.

Get the Angel Reese Special at McDonald's. Now let's break it down. My favorite barbecue sauce, American cheese, crispy bacon, pickles, onions and a sesame seed bun of course. And don't forget the fries and a drink. Sound good?

[McAfee]

I participate in restaurants for a limited time.