03.07.25 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / A Daylight Savings Time Assignment

Summary

The Clark Howard Podcast – Episode Summary: March 7, 2025

In this engaging episode of The Clark Howard Podcast, host Clark Howard dives deep into his “Clark Stinks” segment, addressing critiques from listeners on various financial topics. Additionally, Clark introduces a practical assignment related to Daylight Savings Time, aiming to help listeners safeguard their possessions against insurance disputes. This comprehensive summary captures the key discussions, insights, and conclusions from the episode, enriched with notable quotes and organized into clear sections for easy navigation.

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1. Introduction to Clark Stinks

Clark Howard opens the episode by expressing his enthusiasm for the “Clark Stinks” segment, which embodies his commitment to continuous improvement and encourages listeners to challenge his advice constructively.

Clark Howard [00:16]:

“I love Clark Stinks because it makes me think about things in ways I might not have otherwise.”

He introduces the day's topics, highlighting the controversial nature of Daylight Savings Time and teasing a special assignment for listeners to engage with.

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2. Addressing Criticisms in the Clark Stinks Segment

a. IRS Free Fillable Forms and Annuities

A listener named Adam criticizes Clark’s previous advice on IRS free fillable forms and annuities. Clark acknowledges the oversight and provides a more nuanced perspective.

Adam [03:03]:

“The insurance coverage that is available on annuities is vastly inferior to the FDIC... The annuity industry has become a dirty industry because... they are pushing high-commission products that distort what would be best for the consumer.”

Clark Howard [03:22]:

“I can't say you stink because I fully understand where you're coming from, but I think some clarification here would be helpful.”

Clark elaborates on the benefits of certain annuity products, emphasizing their role in ensuring a steady income in retirement, while acknowledging the industry's flaws.

b. Cruise Ship Industry Critique

Another listener, Anonymous, harshly criticizes the cruise ship industry’s environmental practices and its impact on local communities.

Anonymous [06:47]:

“Clark, your continuous promotion of the cruise ship industry stinks as much as the sewage they illegally dump... 27 new ships are coming online... they are burning ultra cheap bunker oil when they should be burning much cleaner, low sulfur clean oil.”

Clark responds by sharing his firsthand observations of cruise ships disrupting local life and highlights the industry's unsustainable growth.

Anonymous [07:44]:

“The cruise ships are getting very large, 6,000, 7,000 passengers... They are very disruptive. We don't go on cruises anymore because it's not my wife or my choice of what we would normally do on a vacation.”

c. Planet Fitness Amenities Misconception

A listener named Kenneth challenges Clark’s dismissive remarks about Planet Fitness, prompting Clark to clarify the gym’s offerings.

Clark Howard [09:17]:

“Clark smells worse than used gym socks when he dismissively describes the amenities available at his gym, Planet Fitness...”

Anonymous [09:39]:

“They offer candy. They offer, I think, Tootsie Rolls often.”

Clark acknowledges the oversight and details the additional services Planet Fitness provides, such as free weights, group classes, and massage tables for black card members.

d. Car Buying Through Carvana and CarMax

Frank criticizes Clark’s endorsement of Carvana and CarMax, highlighting hidden transfer fees that can significantly inflate the cost of purchasing a vehicle.

Clark Howard [10:32]:

“On a previous show Clark talked about how wonderful Carvana and CarMax are because you have seven or 30 days to return the car...”

Frank [11:15]:

“Carvana's non-refundable shipping charges can range from $200 to over $1,000... Why would you do that to poor Krista?”

Clark concedes the oversight and explains the circumstances under which transfer fees may apply, advising listeners to be cautious when opting for out-of-market vehicles.

e. Google Fi Service Issues

Andy shares his negative experience with Google Fi during international travel, pointing out the lackluster customer service and unreliable connectivity.

Clark Howard [12:30]:

“Google Fi techno service was absolutely useless... we had to get local sims to get access.”

Andy [13:19]:

“Customer no service at Google Fi is terrible... It took so much wasted time to get the problem solved.”

Clark warns listeners about potential issues with Google Fi’s international services, suggesting alternative carriers for travel.

f. Spending Habits: Gender and Types of Spending

Jennifer critiques Clark’s reference to latte spending as predominantly a female behavior, prompting a discussion on broader spending habits impacting financial health.

Clark Howard [15:01]:

“Clark smells like old durian fruit for referring to latte spending to imply women predominantly overspend...”

Jennifer [15:36]:

“Your point is accurate that it's not just money you spend on a lunch out...”

They explore how unnecessary expenditures, regardless of who spends them, can hinder financial goals like saving for retirement or buying a home.

g. Lab-Grown Diamonds

A listener named Colin seeks advice on purchasing lab-grown diamonds, referencing Clark’s wedding anecdote.

Clark Howard [17:04]:

“I didn't share where he found his wife's three and a half carat earrings for $1,000...”

Colin [17:25]:

“I got those at Lightbox Jewelry during a flash sale... They offer lab diamonds at a fraction of the price compared to traditional diamonds.”

Clark highlights the value of lab-grown diamonds and encourages listeners to lookout for opportunistic sales.

h. Credit Score Building Strategies

Dean questions why Clark didn’t recommend adding as an authorized user on his wife’s credit cards to build his credit score.

Clark Howard [18:21]:

“Recently you had a question from a teacher about how to build up his credit score...”

Dean [18:49]:

“There is an enormous benefit to the person added and there's risk to the person adding them...”

Clark underscores the importance of cautious financial strategies and the benefits of building credit through trust-based methods.

i. Citibank Electronic Payment Problems

Carla shares her frustration with Citibank’s abrupt shift from electronic payments to paper checks, exacerbated by postal service delays.

Clark Howard [30:31]:

“Carla in California says... Citibank suggested issuing a stop payment request on the check...”

Anonymous [31:21]:

“Navy Federal no longer accepts electronic bill pay... Payments aren't getting there because of the chaos going on at the Postal Service.”

Clark advises listeners to directly pay creditors through their official websites to avoid delays and emphasizes the current challenges facing the U.S. Postal Service.

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3. Daylight Savings Time Assignment: Protect Your Possessions

Clark leverages the onset of Daylight Savings Time to introduce a practical assignment designed to help listeners protect their possessions in case of emergencies.

Clark Howard [26:29]:

“I want you to use this weekend to take your phone and do a walk and talk of your possessions... It’s like an insurance policy for your insurance policy.”

He emphasizes the importance of documenting valuable items to ensure fair compensation from insurers during disasters, advocating for proactive financial safeguarding.

Notable Instruction:

“Walk around your house and say, 'We got this new laptop... We bought this TV on Black Friday...'”

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4. Conclusion and Final Thoughts

Clark wraps up the episode by reiterating the importance of financial vigilance and proactive measures to protect one’s assets. He encourages listeners to utilize resources like Clarks.com and ClarkDeals.com for ongoing financial advice and savings opportunities.

Clark Howard [31:21]:

“Remember, you go video your stuff, do your walk and talk this weekend. And I hope that you when you get that extra hour of daylight that you find pleasure in it like I do.”

He signs off with a reminder of the valuable resources available to listeners and a call to action to stay informed and financially empowered.

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5. Key Takeaways

• Continuous Improvement: Embracing criticism as a means to refine and enhance financial advice.
• Proactive Financial Safeguards: Conducting a yearly inventory walk-and-talk to protect against insurance disputes.
• Cautious Consumerism: Being aware of hidden fees and deceptive practices in industries like automotive sales and telecommunications.
• Balanced Spending: Recognizing and managing unnecessary expenditures to achieve financial goals.
• Reliable Financial Services: Choosing trustworthy financial products and services, and understanding their limitations.

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This episode of The Clark Howard Podcast serves as a testament to Clark’s dedication to providing honest, actionable financial advice while remaining open to listener feedback. Whether addressing industry criticisms or offering practical financial assignments, Clark ensures his audience is well-equipped to make informed decisions and achieve financial well-being.

Transcript

[Clark Howard]

Get the Angel REEF 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 the drinks. Sound good?

[Anonymous]

I participate in restaurants for a limited time. This podcast is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. I'm so excited to have you here because on this edition of the Clark Howard show, where our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you to so you make better financial decisions in your life. It is our Friday Clark Stinks edition. Why do I love that so much? Because I am such a believer in Kayson continuous improvement. You know, we as human beings, companies, whatever, we get stuck in a rut the way we do things. And I love Clark Stinks because it makes me think about things in ways I might not have otherwise. So we get to have Clark sinks and later. It's funny that this is controversial with some people. Daylight saving time. I love Daylight Saving Time. And I've got a Daylight saving time assignment for you because it's coming up this weekend. Got something for you to do this weekend for yourself. But without further ado, it is time for the Steakathon.

[Clark Howard]

I should have never encouraged you to speak.

[Anonymous]

You almost think I'm pretty stupid. You should be ashamed of yourself.

[Clark Howard]

Well, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong.

[Anonymous]

Maybe you're right, pal.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, breaking news. The car keys have spoken. I'm gonna do another Clark Stinks next week. We're gonna try it and see if we have enough to keep doing it every week. Wow, people really love it.

[Anonymous]

And yeah, people think you stink because we've been doing Clark Stinks every.

[Clark Howard]

Every other.

[Anonymous]

Every other week instead of every week.

[Clark Howard]

We'll see how we do. Okay, here we go. You smell worse than the garbage can at a fish cleaning station. The benefit of irs.

[Anonymous]

Bad.

[Clark Howard]

And by the way, this was a very popular topic. Lots of people wrote in about this. The benefit of the IRS free fillable forms is that it is paperless. You manually complete the forms online and submit it online. It's not necessary to print and mail the forms into the irs. The forms will do some basic math, but won't guide you through your tax return at all. This is good. For people like me who enjoy going through documents and forms and manually doing taxes, but has the added benefit of avoiding the US Mail theft problem. Supposedly it's secure, has two factor authentication, and all data is purged each October. You have to create a new account each tax year.

[Anonymous]

Adam Adam, thank you and I appreciate the additional feedback because I gave an incomplete answer on free fillable forms with the irs. I appreciate you and the others who have now corrected what I said before.

[Clark Howard]

I can't say you stink because I fully understand where you're coming from, but I think some clarification here would be helpful. I work at an annuity company and I know you dislike annuities.

[Anonymous]

From the often you've already cussed twice.

[Clark Howard]

Krista from the often low rate of return to the long term locking up of funds. I fully understand that approach. But you also frequently mentioned that multiple streams of income are key for a financially healthy retirement. Many of my company's products are terrible if viewed as an investment where the goal is a high rate of return, but excellent to ensure you never run out of money. My favorite product, if utilized properly, can turn 500k into roughly 100k every year for life guaranteed. If you put the money in and let it sit for 10 years, you can get almost 20% of whatever you put in back each year, even if you live to 120. Additionally, a government department similar to the FDIC insures these funds up to 250k per person. Some of our products are just not that good and many clients end up unhappy because the agent who got them into them was only in it for the commission. But as is true as most financial products, annuities are a tool that can be used poorly but can also be used very well. I work in our customer service team so I've seen all the good and the bad. I just wanted to inform you that the good very much exists.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous Anonymous thank you very much and I appreciate so much. You obviously have a really good heart and you give a different perspective on annuities. I want to point out something. There are multiple things you said and I need to address them individually. The insurance coverage that is available on annuities is vastly inferior to to fdic. They are what are known as state guarantee funds and state guarantee funds are not at all the equivalent of fdic. Different states have different levels of security on how the funds work. Some states 100 grand, some 200, 250 but it's still not the same. Even then is what you have with fdic. The big problem with the insurance industry is that everything is skewed by the commissions paid. The biggest problem in the insurance industry is the salespeople will sell you in most cases what earns them the most money, the most commissions that may or may not work to your benefit. And so the industry has unclean hands and it starts with the insurer themselves. Why did they push with high commissions? Annuities they know are junk. The concept of an annuity at its base by itself doesn't have to be a bad thing. What's happened unfortunately is the annuity industry has become a dirty industry because of how it's worked out for consumers. And I could tell story after story about the problems with annuities that are at the core, repeatedly, because of the corruption in the insurance industry, with what is pushed and what is highly commissionable, distorting what would be best for the consumer, for the customer.

[Clark Howard]

Clark, your continuous promotion of the cruise ship industry stinks as much as the sewage they illegally dump. It's a horrible, corrupt industry destroying many places and lifestyles. There are far too many ships with not enough places to go. They are bribing, bullying and coercing their way into smaller and smaller ports of call, places where locals don't want them but get no say. 27 new ships are coming online in the next few years and they will stampede over local ways of life. The ship's captains get bonuses on how cheaply they can operate the ships so they violate every pollution and dumping rule they can. Nothing like being roadtown Tortola with two cruise ships in port burning ultra cheap bunker oil when they should be burning much cleaner, low sulfur clean oil that costs much more? So what if the people living there can't breathe on a low wind day? Why would they even have dual oil tank systems if they cared even a tiny bit about pollution? And they go on. And that is from Anonymous.

[Anonymous]

First of all, I, I have come in on a cruise ship to road town Tortola. I've seen exactly what you talk about, about how when we come in on one of those massive ships, we disrupt life. And locals who earn their living from the ships are glad the ships are there. Nobody else is glad the ships are there because they are very disruptive. The cruise industry is growing by leaps and bounds. A lot of it is because of increasing wealth in other countries, particularly in China, India and other countries are feeding this enormous demand for cruise ships. And the cruise ships are getting, many of them, getting very, very large, 6,000, 7,000 passengers now because per passenger they can run those ships Cheaper. I don't know about the stuff you're talking about with using disgusting high polluting fuel. I'm not familiar with that. But there's no doubt that the cruise ships are a disruptive thing. We went on all those cruises over the years because of one reason. Our son who is obsessed with cruises now that he's an emerging adult. We don't go on cruises anymore and I don't know when we will go on another cruise because it's not my wife or my choice of what we would normally do on a vacation.

[Clark Howard]

Clark smells worse than used gym socks. When he dismissively describes the amenities available at his gym, Planet Fitness, he stated that they only offer machines that you can use. Not so. They also offer no additional charge. Free weights daily, small group fitness classes led by personal trainers, lockers and bathrooms. And if you time your visit right, free food and candy.

[Anonymous]

And I've never seen free food. They do offer candy. They offer, I think Tootsie Rolls often.

[Clark Howard]

And the black card level of membership offers a few spa like services. I know Clark tries to be economical with his words but truth demands that you not omit services that Clark personally does not focus on when he visits Kenneth.

[Anonymous]

Kenneth. Thank you. And I now have access to a free gym. So I'm no longer a member of of Planet Fitness. But when I was a member I was a black card holder which meant I could always bring somebody with me free. And I always went in and used the free massage table. Do you know about these?

[Clark Howard]

No.

[Anonymous]

So you got 10 free minutes every time you went on this robotic like massage thing. That was awesome. So it was my reward at the end of my workout in the years that I was a Planet Fitness member.

[Clark Howard]

A few years back I bought a big bag of chicken breasts from Sam's club. It was mid summer and I live in Florida. The next day my wife asked about the chicken. That's when I realized it was in my trunk for 24 hours. That was a pretty pungent stank but not quite as bad as Clark stunk on this one. On a previous show Clark talked about how wonderful Carvana and Carmax are because you have seven or 30 days to return the car. He used an example of how Krista went through three vehicles before she landed on a fourth and and spent $400 for mechanic inspections. Well, Carvana's non refundable shipping charges can range from $200 to over $1,000. That could have cost Krista 4K to find the right car. Why would you do that to poor Krista? Come on, man. Frank.

[Anonymous]

Frank. Thank you. All right, so transfer fees. If one of the things you have with an online database provider like CarMax or Carvana is you can have them ship an out of market car to you, you're going to pay for that. You also have that if you buy a used vehicle from Tesla or potentially a new vehicle from Tesla, if you find one in inventory you want from somewhere out of your geographical region, you will pay a transfer fee for that vehicle coming in. That is the the downside of the upside of having the nationwide databases to search vehicles. So if the car turns out to be one you don't want, then you get stuck with that relocation fee. And that is a cost that I didn't even mention because most people don't buy an out of market vehicle. There's got to be a really good reason that you would buy one that has a transit fee or transfer fee into your market. But thank you for pointing that out because I have not mentioned that.

[Clark Howard]

Clark, your advice has really put a stinker on my last two recent trips abroad. I trusted your advice on the Google Fi flexible plan for international travel. In the past two trips to Australia, SIM cards on two Google Fi lines failed about a week into our trip down under.

[Anonymous]

Really?

[Clark Howard]

Google Fi techno service was absolutely useless with many seeming AI generated responses from quote unquote engineers and no follow up. I tried everything including moving to a new esim, updating settings correctly, but zero success. Issues with both Android and Apple phones. They would not agree to any bill credits either. Not sure if it was an Australia specific problem, but it was a headache and we had to get local sims to get access. Please make sure your listeners are aware of the horrible customer service experience with Google Fi and that they may wish to consider other carriers when traveling internationally. Andy.

[Anonymous]

Andy, thank you. So customer no service at Google Fi. It's true. I'm Google Fi. I love being on Google Fi because I travel internationally so much. And when you do need to talk to Google Fi, the customer no service experience could be in the hall of shame of customer no service. It is terrible. Ironically enough, I just returned from two weeks in Australia and my Google Fi worked perfectly the whole time. It's a weird kind of thing when you're outside the country and you have an international calling plan and you have problems, there you are. What in the world are you to do? And you did exactly the right thing. You bought a local sim, which in Australia as many other places is dirt cheap for the time that you needed it. That Google Fi let you down. The fact that Google Fi isn't even giving you a credit for what you had to pay for an alternative SIM is ridiculous. And I have not cracked the code on how you actually get Google Fi to give you customer service when you have a problem, because it is we did have a technical problem with Google 5 very early with them. You're on Google 5. You had any problems? No, but I did. And it was it took so much wasted time to get the problem solved. And that is obviously an area that Google is failing on.

[Clark Howard]

Clark smells like old durian fruit for referring to latte spending to imply women predominantly overspend. What about sports ticket or $60,000 trucks? Men overspend on sports and sports tickets, trucks, gambling, electronics, watches, beer and liquor, prepare food, et cetera. So the next time you want to reference frivolous or unnecessary spending, use those examples for reference. These are real wealth killers. How much money would you have if you invested all the money you spent on NFL ticket packages, large screen TVs, comfortable seating and sound, plus beverages and snacks to watch a game over the past 40 years?

[Anonymous]

Jennifer, Jennifer, I can't disagree with it. And you know, it's just, it's an easy thing to slam.

[Clark Howard]

Now when you said latte spending, did.

[Anonymous]

You were I didn't think it wasn't a female reference.

[Clark Howard]

Right.

[Anonymous]

And the Starbucks near me for whatever reason is more men in there than there are women. But your point is accurate that it's not just, you know, money you spend on a lunch out or not just money you spend on a latte or whatever spending you have that money vanishes with, whether it's going to concerts or sports events or me with my NFL Sunday ticket, which I took off the renewal for for this fall. We'll see if I can stay strong on that or if I'm too addicted to give that up. But you're right that whatever it is, where if you're short of money each month or you're not building up reserves for the future or whatever it is your goals are, whether it's down payment on a house, saving for retirement, or whatever you want to look for where it is, you can have impact with changing the spending you do. And I appreciate that post and gambling that you mentioned. I should say we've talked about the serious problem going on, particularly with young men who are losing a lot of money gambling.

[Clark Howard]

Clark doesn't stink. In fact, he got a shout out in my father in law's speech at my wedding seven years ago, but he didn't share where he found his wife's three and a half carat earrings for $1,000. I've tried searching the seven sites listed on clark.com for the best places to find lab grow diamonds, but no L. Can someone there that knows please share? Colin and a lot of people asked us about this.

[Anonymous]

Okay, so I got those at Lightbox Jewelry. And it was a flash sale on Lightbox. Lightbox is owned by De Beers, which is the big diamond cartel. And they're playing both sides of the street because the market is so heavily moving in the United States and some other developed countries to lab diamonds from traditional dug out of the earth diamonds. They're chemically identical, but the lab diamonds are a fraction of the price. And I didn't say Lightbox Jewelry because it was a flash sale and I didn't want people to go there expecting they were going to find these diamonds for a grand. But I can tell you they do deals routinely as other lab diamond sellers do. So you just want to keep watching and when you see an opportunistic sale, grab them. I think the equivalent diamonds now from them are like three times that price.

[Clark Howard]

Oh, baby. Clark or Mr. Howard, should I say, I really don't think you stink that much. But you perhaps did buy some cheap deodorant that has long expired. My comment or question is recently you had a question from a teacher about how to build up his credit score. He mentioned getting a credit card and buying a used car, etc. His wife already had three credit cards with low or no balances. Why didn't you recommend that she add him as an authorized user to all three? Dean.

[Anonymous]

Okay, Dean, so here's how I would answer that. Yes, it would be very much to his advantage to be added on as authorized user on his wife's credit cards. But then she becomes responsible for his spending. I don't know what's going on in the dynamics in their marriage, but there is an enormous benefit to the person added and there's risk to the person adding them. Now, the compromise, if in a couple, one of the two is really good with money and the other not so much and they need to boost that credit score for the spouse to add the other as an authorized user. But if they don't trust their spending habits, don't give them the plastic, they still benefit from a big improvement in credit score and Sadine. I should have mentioned that and I should have explained it just like I did there. And I want to tell you it's clear. You know, I said at the beginning why Clark Stinks is so important from the very first question about I think the first one was about the IRS fillable forms and I gave a poor answer on that or explanation of that before and I was able then to have your information to give a better updated, corrected answer on that to this one about the question of adding an authorized user. This is what Clark Stinks is for and that's why I love it so much because I learn more and you're sir, better as you should be and then there are going to be times you're going to hear me say, well yeah, thank you for this, but I disagree for this reason because we're all in this together and I appreciate each of you taking the time with your Clark Stinks post. Speaking of time coming straight ahead, we're going to talk about one of my favorite events every year. My favorite holidays, the fourth of July. But one of my favorite days is when we switch to Daylight Saving Time, which a lot of people don't agree with. I'll tell you what I want you to do with Daylight Saving Time this weekend.

[Clark Howard]

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? Ba da ba ba ba.

[Anonymous]

I participate in restaurants for a limited time.

[Clark Howard]

My dad works in B2B marketing. He came by my school for Career Day and said he was a big ro ass man. Then he told everyone how much he loved calculating his return on ad spend. My friends still laugh at me to this day.

[Anonymous]

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[Clark Howard]

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[Anonymous]

Daylight saving time. I love having the extra daylight. The poor people of Arizona not getting that extra hour. Oh, anyway, love daylight time. I know there are people who hate moving the clock an hour and all that, but there's something I talked to you about that I want you to do. When we switch our clocks every year, it doesn't have to be now. It's just a good time because it's a set time each year when we switch. Or it could be your birthday or something like that. But I want you to, if you've never done so, I want you to use this weekend to take your phone and do a walk and talk of your possessions. Because I can tell you one of the things that's come up with the hurricanes in Florida, the wildfires in California, is how much money people are losing where the insurer is short paying them on their possessions. It's enough having to deal with your house damaged or destroyed or the apartment you live in becoming unlivable, but your destroyed possessions, where the insurer is like, hey, how do we know you're not pulling one on us? So once a year you do the walk and talk with your iPhone or Android and walk around your house and say, oh yeah, we got this new laptop and here it is and we paid this much for it and I think we bought it last December and, and we got this TV on Black Friday and it was this much money and the picture's great. And I mean, you just walk around all your stuff, your closet, your clothes, you're not going to remember every item of clothing you have, the things that you have, your furniture, all the accessories, what you've got in your kitchen, you know, in terms of pots and pans and dishes and silverware and all that go around. Won't take you long to do the walk and talk. And that's like an insurance policy for your insurance policy. So you don't get cheated by your insurer as a renter with renter's insurance or an owner with homeowners insurance. You pay those premiums. You deserve to be paid fairly. And you don't want to be the cause of making it easy for an insurer to cheat you by not having the video. You know, our relationship with insurance companies has morphed in The United States insurance companies may run all those cute ads on tv, but they treat us in an adversarial way when the chips are down at most insurers, you're treated as a liar and a cheat and a thief by many of the adjusters. Not all. And not all insurance companies remember. I'm painting here with a broad brush, but I mean it's obvious they're insurers but that play dirty. And I have privy to a story I cannot share about internal conversations at an insurer that leaked that I cannot talk about but blew my mind at how they were cheating claimants as a result of a fire claim. I learned from it that what I've said for how many years, I don't even know how many years I've talked about doing the walk and talk. I now know that it's even more critical and urgent than I ever said before.

[Clark Howard]

Christa Patton, California says I occasionally transfer money between bank number one and bank number two. I only use bank number one to make payments through Zelle. Bank number two is not allowed access to Zelle. If my Zelle account linked to bank one is hacked, could a thief potentially gain access to the cash in bank number two? Both accounts have different passwords and two factor authentication is used for both.

[Anonymous]

Pat, the short answer is you're doing a great protection. It would take a lot. A criminal would have to successfully hack both accounts to move that money, steal money from bank two, put it in bank one and use Zelle as a method of moving that money out. Pretty much untraceable and unrecoverable. So I think what you're doing is similar to the procedure I Recommend with Cash App or Venmo as well. PayPal would be another of you putting good guardrails in place to protect your key money that you need to live on every month or that you have worked to save. I like what you're doing.

[Clark Howard]

Brian in Connecticut says, I'm wondering if Clark thinks I should go to a CFP and pay their standard 1% fee for advice and retirement planning. I consider myself well educated about finance, but find the overall planning process confusing and overwhelming. All of my retirement money is traditional IRA account with a variety of funds. I want to make the right decisions to maximize income in retirement over the long term.

[Anonymous]

Brian, you know this is the stage that people go to financial planner very heavily is after you've accumulated a lot of money and you're starting to look down at the next phase of your life, how you're going to preserve money and have an income is going to last as long as you do that, you're not going to outlive your money. And so it's very, very common that even if you've been able to handle your own investing for years and years and years, this is the stage at which you want to get financial advice. All your money in a traditional Iraq means that everything you have is going to be subject to ordinary income tax. This is a very important time for you to get advice and be very, very careful and cautious. And read our [e-mail] on picking a fee only financial advisor. By the way, although 1% is standard, there are people who charge more and now there are more and more that charge less. But you've got to make sure that they are signing a fiduciary agreement with you, meaning that they are required and putting themselves under law, that they are doing what is right for you and not what might line their pockets with more money.

[Clark Howard]

And I would add, ask them if they sell insurance separately, because that's a no. No.

[Anonymous]

Yeah. So thank you. I should emphasize that because there are what are called the two hats now. And I am not happy at all about the two hats. That's where somebody pretends to be a fee only fiduciary and then suddenly they put on another hat. They're over here and they're selling you a horrendous insurance based commission product not operating as a fiduciary. And anybody who starts pitching some kind of contract to you, they may use some kind of fancy language, but not say the word annuity. And they'll have a contract of 150 to 200 pages they want you to sign. Uh, that's not a fiduciary. That's somebody who's one step away from ripping off all that money you've worked hard to save over the years in those IRAs.

[Clark Howard]

Carla in California says, I have a Citibank double cash card. I pay electronically every month via my checking account. This month my payment wasn't applied. I called my bank and they said Citibank informed them they are not accepting electronic payments. So my bank set a paper check that has yet to be received. Citibank suggested issuing a stop payment request on the check and giving them the bank routing number info over the phone to complete the payment immediately. In desperation, I did. What in the world is going on? How can a creditor as large as Citibank revert to paper checks? They told me to allow at least 20 days for payment processing in the future. I don't even receive the bill 20 days before it's due. And when I pointed this out, they suggested that I check the balance due online. It seems many people must be experiencing similar issues. And I bet late fees and interest are piling up.

[Anonymous]

Yeah. You know, Carla, this just happened to me with the largest credit union in the world, Navy Federal. Navy Federal no longer accepts electronic bill pay, at least from my provider of electronic bill pay. And the only way I can make sure that my payment is credited on time is to go in the Navy Federal app and pay from an account I have at Navy Federal to my Navy Federal credit card. This is important because I did send a payment to Navy Federal a couple months ago. It didn't go electronically. It went paper check, just like you're talking about with Citibank with the double cash. And guess what? The check never arrived. The hassle of that is just incredible. So know that for whatever reason, there's a breakdown in cooperation from one financial institution to another on accepting electronic bill pay from one to another. And the greatest risk is with mortgage and with credit cards. So what we're left with now is when you go to pay your bills, you have to go to the source that you owe the money to. In the case of Citibank, you go on your Citibank account and you pay electronically there for your double cash card instead of paying through your bank. That's taking four weeks, saying allow four weeks. And then as you saw and I experienced, the payments aren't getting there because of the chaos going on at the Postal Service which the Postmaster General has been forced out because of all the problems. The mail delivery problems have been spreading. It's almost like a virus going on around the country. I want to emphasize again, this is not the fault of the hard working Postal Service employees that you see that are trying the best they can, working, many of them working double shifts. But the Postal Service is so administratively messed up right now from the years of our recent now departed Postmaster General that this is going to take a good while to fix. Be very, very cautious and careful using the U.S. mail. Right now, U.S. postal Service is losing so many billions of dollars because of the decline in first class mail that they're going into a death spiral by raising shipping costs a whole lot. So it's becoming harder and harder as a customer to be able to pay the fees and to deal with the service problems that I hope will in fact be worked out. But you need to know, and I want to thank you so much for joining us this week, know that all weekend long. We are there for you. The sun never sets on consumer advice from us with clark.com being available to you with new information every day. Clark deals bargains for you posted every day. Our Free newsletters from Clark.com and ClarkDeals.com available every day. And they are what price? Well, they're priceless, but they're also free. So have a great weekend. Remember, remember, you go video your stuff, do your walk and talk this weekend. And I hope that you when you get that extra hour of daylight that you find pleasure in it like I do. You know, one of the other things I should give you an assignment to do if you've been too sedentary over the four months that we've been stuck with standard time. Use the extra hour of daylight, get out and walk, go to a park, be active, make yourself more physically fit as well as every day here helping you become more physically fit. And I'll see you Monday.

[Clark Howard]

Get the Angel REEF 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 the drinks. Sound good, but I participate in restaurants.

[Anonymous]

For a limited time.