05.09.25 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / How Restaurants Survive

Summary

The Clark Howard Podcast – Episode Released on May 9, 2025
Title: Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / How Restaurants Survive
Host: Clark Howard

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Introduction

In this engaging episode of The Clark Howard Podcast, host Clark Howard delves into two significant segments: addressing critiques from his "Clark Stinks" segment and exploring the resilience of restaurants in a challenging economic landscape. Clark seamlessly blends listener feedback with expert advice, providing valuable insights into personal finance and business adaptability.

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Clark Stinks: Addressing Listener Criticisms

Clark dedicates a substantial portion of the episode to the "Clark Stinks" segment, where he responds to listener feedback and critiques concerning his past advice. This segment underscores Clark's commitment to transparency and continuous improvement.

1. Gold Investing Concerns

Listener: John
Timestamp: [04:01]
John criticized Clark's advice on gold investment, highlighting the significant tax implications associated with precious metals.

Clark's Response:
Clark acknowledges the oversight, explaining that gold is taxed as a collectible at a higher rate (28%) compared to stocks (generally capped at 20%, and sometimes lower). He emphasizes the importance of limiting gold and precious metals to 3-5% of one's investment portfolio to avoid unfavorable tax burdens.

“Gold and precious metals have a discriminatory tax placed on them… you will have a discriminatory tax rate of 28% on your gain.” – [04:15]

2. Credit Card Rewards vs. Cashback

Listeners: Christina and Patrick
Timestamp: [06:17]

Christina and Patrick criticized Clark's stance favoring cashback rewards over travel rewards, pointing out the higher redemption values available through certain credit card programs.

Clark's Response:
Clark concedes that his initial recommendation may have lacked nuance. He acknowledges the benefits of premium travel cards like Chase Sapphire Reserve and American Express Platinum, which offer enhanced redemption options and additional perks. Clark underscores the value of transferable points for maximizing travel savings.

“These three cards all have annual fees… but these allow you to leverage different offerings where you can transfer points to particular vendors.” – [08:25]

3. NORDVPN Scam Response

Listener: Eric
Timestamp: [10:01]

Eric pointed out that Clark's explanation of a NORDVPN scam lacked critical details about how scammers gain account access.

Clark's Response:
Clark agrees that his initial explanation was incomplete, acknowledging the importance of highlighting how scammers exploit overpayment tactics to gain full account access. He emphasizes the need for comprehensive information to prevent such scams.

“They just felt like you left that part out, like what was actually going on… like their overpayment scam.” – [10:37]

4. Home Remodel and Rental Income Advice

Listener: Mark
Timestamp: [10:37]

Mark suggested that Clark overlooked the potential benefits of hiring professionals for home remodels to maximize rental income.

Clark's Response:
Clark praises Mark's approach to converting home space for rental purposes, sharing his own experiences as a landlord. He advocates for cost-effective strategies, whether DIY or professional, to enhance property value and income potential.

“It is really great… adaptation is a great use of money to build income into your life.” – [12:31]

5. Retirement Planning and Social Security

Listener: Sean
Timestamp: [12:31]

Sean proposed that Social Security should be managed by individuals rather than the government, advocating for forced investing similar to the Thrift Savings Plan (TSP).

Clark's Response:
Clark acknowledges the merit in Sean's suggestion, referencing President George W. Bush's past proposals for Social Security reform. He emphasizes the need for universal, simple, and portable retirement solutions that transcend political opposition.

“We need simplicity and universality… We need to clean sheet how we think about retirement.” – [13:09]

6. United Airlines Overbooking Incident

Listener: Robert
Timestamp: [14:45]

Robert criticized Clark for blaming United Airlines for an incident where a doctor was forcibly removed from a flight, suggesting the passenger should have complied.

Clark's Response:
Clark defends his stance, arguing that United Airlines mishandled the situation and that airlines have a responsibility to protect their paying customers. He highlights the power dynamics between airlines and passengers, asserting that United's actions were unjustifiable.

“United blew it. They're not a better airline because of all the negative publicity.” – [15:23]

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How Restaurants Survive: Adaptation in a Tough Market

Transitioning from critiques to broader economic discussions, Clark explores the survival strategies of restaurants amidst rising costs and changing consumer behaviors.

Timestamp: [20:05] – [25:23]

Clark outlines the formidable challenges faced by the restaurant industry, including escalating food and labor costs, increased rent, and burdensome fees from food delivery services. He underscores that adaptation is crucial for survival in a free-market economy.

Key Adaptation Strategies Discussed:

1. Space Optimization:
   Restaurants are redesigning their spaces to be smaller and more efficient, reducing overhead costs.

2. Variable Pricing:
   Implementing dynamic pricing models to better align with demand and operational costs.

3. Automation and Productivity Tools:
   Leveraging technology to enhance efficiency, such as touchscreen ordering systems to reduce labor reliance.

4. Menu Innovation:
   Simplifying menus to focus on high-margin items and streamline kitchen operations.

5. Enhanced Customer Experience:
   Utilizing digital tools for ordering and payment to improve service speed and accuracy.

Quote:

“The thing about business and about life is adapting. Not sitting there with your blinders on and continuing doing things as you were.” – [20:05]

Clark draws parallels between the restaurant industry's resilience and broader economic principles, illustrating how businesses must evolve to thrive.

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Listener Questions and Answers

The latter part of the episode features Clark addressing specific listener questions, offering tailored advice on insurance and consumer experiences.

1. Insurance Coverage: Umbrella Policies

Listener: Sharon from Missouri
Timestamp: [25:23]

Sharon and Georgia inquired about appropriate levels of umbrella insurance coverage given their substantial net worth and asset base.

Clark's Response:
Clark advises that with a net worth of $4-5 million, a $1 million umbrella policy is insufficient. He recommends increasing coverage by an additional $3 million to adequately protect their assets from potential lawsuits or hefty jury verdicts.

“With assets of 4 million… If there was something where a lawyer convinced a jury that you did something absolutely horrendous… This would probably cost like $432 a year.” – [30:28]

2. Online Glasses Purchase Issue

Listener: Elizabeth from Missouri
Timestamp: [26:53]

Elizabeth shared a disappointing experience with Zenni Optical, receiving incorrectly sized lenses despite positive past reviews.

Clark's Response:
Clark critiques Zenni's handling of the issue, pointing out the flaw in encouraging customers to overlook problems based on product reviews. He references Consumer Reports' lower rankings for Zenni compared to competitors like Costco Optical and Warby Parker, advocating for more reliable online eyewear providers.

“Clark... Consumer Reports in its last review said the best place to get glasses… Costco and Warby Parker.” – [27:31]

3. Personal Anecdote and Additional Listener Feedback

Listener: Sally from Ohio
Timestamp: [29:16]

Sally shared her success story, indicating that Clark's advice helped her and her husband achieve a substantial net worth and attain financial stability.

Clark's Response:
Clark congratulates Sally and emphasizes the importance of adequate insurance coverage to protect their assets. He reiterates the necessity of umbrella policies in safeguarding against unforeseen liabilities.

“I don't want it taken away in one instant from a jury verdict.” – [30:28]

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Conclusion

Clark wraps up the episode by reaffirming the importance of adaptability both in personal finance and business operations. He encourages listeners to continue seeking financial wisdom and utilizing resources like Clark.com and ClarkDeals.com to enhance their financial well-being. Clark also expresses gratitude for listener feedback, highlighting the collaborative nature of the podcast community.

“We all are in this together. We all learn together.” – [30:05]

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Key Takeaways

• Adaptation is Crucial: Whether managing personal finances or running a business, the ability to adapt to changing circumstances is essential for survival and growth.

• Comprehensive Financial Protection: Higher net worth individuals should consider increasing umbrella insurance coverage to protect their assets adequately.

• Informed Consumer Choices: When purchasing products online, thorough research and consideration of reputable sources can prevent disappointing experiences.

• Strategic Investment Allocation: Limiting investments in high-tax assets like gold can optimize overall portfolio performance.

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Notable Quotes with Timestamps

• On Gold Taxation:
  “Gold and precious metals have a discriminatory tax placed on them… you will have a discriminatory tax rate of 28% on your gain.” – [04:15]

• On Credit Card Rewards:
  “These three cards all have annual fees… but these allow you to leverage different offerings where you can transfer points to particular vendors.” – [08:25]

• On Business Adaptation:
  “The thing about business and about life is adapting. Not sitting there with your blinders on and continuing doing things as you were.” – [20:05]

• On Insurance Coverage:
  “With assets of 4 million… If there was something where a lawyer convinced a jury that you did something absolutely horrendous… This would probably cost like $432 a year.” – [30:28]

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This episode of The Clark Howard Podcast offers a blend of introspective critique and practical financial advice, making it a valuable listen for anyone looking to enhance their financial knowledge and understand the dynamics of business resilience.

Transcript

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[Clark Howard]

It's my pleasure to welcome you here to the Clark Howard show where our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you to make better financial decisions in your life. You know, it's Friday and that means I get to hear where I may have gotten things wrong or worse in our Clark steak segment. And also coming up later, one of my favorite topics drives you crazy, Krista. You know, my oldest brother when I was young called me the carry out kid. Fast food restaurants, you didn't know what.

[Chris]

Food was unless it was in a.

[Clark Howard]

Bag, brown paper bag or a TV dinner.

[Chris]

Oh yeah.

[Clark Howard]

Do you know what a TV dinner was?

[Chris]

Yes, I used to. My mom pre microwave. Yeah, Salisbury steak. I remember TV dinners.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, so if you're under 40, you don't know what this was because you grew up your entire life in the era of microwaves. And there used to be these things that were in aluminum and they were TV dinners. And you'd preheat the oven to whatever temperature and they'd be in the oven for 30, 40 minutes. And then you'd have little compartments so.

[Chris]

You'D have like your, your protein. And then it even had like a dessert, usually like a brownie.

[Clark Howard]

Nobody used the term protein back then, Chris.

[Chris]

Oh, yeah, whatever.

[Clark Howard]

You got your meat, your starch and your vegetable. That's what they had.

[Chris]

And then your dessert. You had a dessert?

[Clark Howard]

Sometimes.

[Chris]

Sometimes. Yeah.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah. So there was a huge section, a frozen food section in the supermarket back in those days for these TV dinners and people Would families tended. I'm going way back. Machine families tended to have one TV in the living room and they'd have these TV trays that you'd pop up when you were eating and you sit in the chair and you'd watch TV eating your TV dinner. Yeah, that's why they were called TV dinners. Okay, who needed to hear all that?

[Chris]

That's okay, let's.

[Clark Howard]

That is about that.

[Chris]

I know.

[Clark Howard]

Anyway, I digress. Can you imagine what I was like in school?

[Chris]

Squirrel.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah. Staring out the window all the time, man.

[Chris]

So anyway, back to the reason you were saying that is because you loved fast food. And that is you're talking about fast food restaurants later on.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah.

[Chris]

After we get to Clark Stinks, where.

[Clark Howard]

You get to hear where I gave bad advice, incomplete information, or I was just plain dumb. I should have never encouraged you to speak. You almost think I'm pretty stupid. You should be ashamed of yourself. Well, maybe I'm wrong. Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe you're right, pal.

[Chris]

Lark discussed buying and selling gold and emphasized the gap between purchase and sales price. However, I believe his discussion of the tax on gold as a collectible with appreciated value would be helpful. Helpful. John.

[Clark Howard]

John, thank you very much. Gold and precious metals have a discriminatory tax placed on them under the tax code. Under the wisdom of the tax writers in the house where they originally wrote this with the discriminatory tax on collectibles, gold is considered to be a collectible because it doesn't create. Other than a small amount of gold being used for jewelry is not used in creating productive capacity, which is the whole reason we have capital gains tax is a lower tax than what you pay on money you earn at a job. Gold does not just kind of sits there. It doesn't create greater wealth for society and it is a hedge against other things. So most often gold, whether it's held as physical gold or held in an ETF or an ETN exchange traded note exchange trader fund, you will have a discriminatory tax rate of 28% on your gain. That's the ceiling on it typically where on stock holdings generally the cap is around 20% and for many people it will be 10 or even 0 on gains on a stock potentially. But that is a point I should have made, John. And I apologize for forgetting to talk about the much higher tax you have on it. While we're on the gold thing, there are a lot of people, we talked about it on the show recently that are buying too much gold as a percent of their assets because the Value of gold has gone up so much. Really, you want to have a cap on how much of your investments are in gold or precious metals somewhere 3 to 5% is what most financial experts would say.

[Chris]

Clark, you stink like a truck driven by a current Southwest Airlines executive carrying the Atlanta Falcons football team parked at the headquarters of Zell.

[Clark Howard]

This is definitely a regular listener or viewer. This is awesome.

[Chris]

Not really. I just wanted to be elaborate. You were telling a listener that cashback rewards cards are almost always preferable to travel rewards cards. What you forgot to mention is that if you have cards with Chase or City, you can redeem your points for cash back at $0.01 per point and or transfer them to partner airlines and hotels at rates often higher than a cent per point. Of course, this is contingent on having either company's $95 annual fee travel card. This way they can get the benefits of a travel card like trip interruption and baggage delay insurance while still retaining the ability to get cash back. And there's another one about this same thing that you said, Mr. Clark. You smell like my old sneakers after I rainstorm left out to dry on the porch. A listener asked you about whether rewards or cash back cards would be better and you incorrectly stated points are worth at most 7/10 of a dollar. While this can be true for some redemptions, looking at you Hilton and Marriott, there are lots of great points and miles sweet spots that can give an average spender outsize value. I'm talking 3 to 4 cents per credit card point. While the points and miles game isn't for everyone, this can be a great way to minimize out of pocket travel costs for someone willing to do a little legwork to find the deals. There are lots of free tools and guides out there. My husband and I have saved thousands of dollars by leveraging credit card points, essentially using our everyday spending or significantly subsidize our trips. I've even gotten my retired parents into the game. You should look into it, Clark. It's a great way to spend less and stretch your dollar without compromising the quality of your travel. Christina.

[Clark Howard]

Christina, thank you very much. So when I was talking about the seven tenths of a cent, I was specifically referring to who you did to Marriott.

[Chris]

That was the previous. She said that? Yes, I'm sorry, it was Christina. And then Patrick sent the other one in. Yep.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah. Oh, okay. The seven tenths of a cent per dollar.

[Mint Mobile Representative]

So.

[Clark Howard]

All right, you're both on to something that I actually covered on a podcast YouTube show months ago. And that is why going independent on travel Cards is where the sweet spot is now with the Chase Sapphire Reserve or Preferred, the Capital One Venture X or the American Express Platinum. These three cards all have. There's three providers have annual fees from 95 bucks to the American Express, which is around 700, I think for annual fee. So you got to be a very heavy traveler to go the Amex route. But these allow you to leverage different offerings where you can transfer points to particular vendors. I mentioned how I had used this as a way to transfer points for Hyatt stays because Hyatt stays tend to be much more rewarding generally. Although they're making changes with their program than you're going to have with Hyatt or Marriott or International Hotel Group. That transferring points makes you that free agent. And I've used it many times with international airlines to do really great mileage redemptions by transferring from one of these free agent kind of cards that I greatly prefer to captive cards where you're captive of a particular airline or hotel chain.

[Chris]

I think you missed some key points on the NORDVPN scam response. For starters, she noted that the scammer said they can fix the charge by linking to the account for a refund. This means that they gave the scammer software full access to their account. In addition, the quote unquote overpayment scam is a popular one, Eric. They were trying to get in touch with their vpn, but really it wasn't their vpn like the person was calling them or contacting them and wanted full access to their account. So this person actually had to. They signed into their account and gave them access to their account. And that is a popular scam. Like you, you overpaid too much money.

[Clark Howard]

So we need to refund it to you.

[Chris]

Yeah, we need to refund it to you. So they just felt like you left that part out, like what was actually going on. There is more than one reason to do a home remodel. I ran an Airbnb for many years and I found it a nice way to supplement income. I've rented both the whole home and also a single room at different times depending on whether I would reside at the home or find an excuse to take off somewhere and rent the whole house. I'm currently converting the upstairs single room space to a full mini apartment and plan on either staying there while I rent out the rest of the home, or rent both the home and the apartment separately, or rent both spaces together as a single stay. I'm a contractor, so this is all diy. I understand Your point that hiring out this work could get quite pricey. But if one is so inclined, creative, ambitious and handy, it can be done. Mark, Mark.

[Clark Howard]

Thank you. And you know, I've had an obsession my whole adult life with having rental income from property and I became a landlord the first time in gosh when I was in my 20s and I love having rental units. A lot of places you can't do Airbnb anymore, but you can have a longer term rental. Doing a conversion like you did and the payback, taking existing square footage, even if it's not DIY like you can do, is really great. When you're going to have a nice return on investment from renting a space out is much cheaper to adapt a space that already exists into an income producing property at your property than it is to build or buy a full rental property from, you know, just buying something from the get go. That conversion is a great use of money to build income into your life just like you're doing Mr. Howard.

[Chris]

Oh man, you really missed the mark. When discussing American's retirement and how you would fix 401ks, we need to discuss how Social Security should be controlled by us and not the government. I am all for forced investing. And we could set it up like the tsp for options. If someone only makes 50k per year from 20 to 65 and never makes above that, they would have $4.5 million in retirement with the 12 1/2% from Social Security making an average of 10% return. That's real money and people could pass that down from generation to generation. Right now if you die at 61, well, sorry family, we keep your money. Sean.

[Clark Howard]

Sean, thank you very much for this. And I direct you back in the wayback machine. About 20 years ago, President Bush, George W. Came up with a plan to do almost exactly what you're referring to, that there would be two components to Social Security. There would be one that was the current Social Security type check and the second would be investing through an account like the TSP under the administration of Social Security. So it have very, very low administrative costs and it went nowhere. Elected officials of both political parties were just totally opposed to it. But we need simplicity and universality so that people, regardless of where they work, what they do, have access to easy to understand affordable investment options that stay portable with them instead of this crazy haphazard system we have where roughly half of Americans have no access to a retirement plan where they work. And simplicity is key and that it's available to everybody, not just the privileged is what we need to be doing. And your idea is just fine. It's the kind of thinking we need to do. We need to clean sheet how we think about retirement.

[Chris]

Couple people wrote in about this one. You made reference to United Airlines, quote, unquote, beating up that doctor when he would not leave the plane. It is alleged that the airline asked for volunteers for additional compensation and the doctor agreed. But when he found out no more flights were going that day, he ran back on the plane and resisted when being removed. Had he not resisted, he would not have gotten hurt. It's not his plane, Clark. And he should have deplaned when he was asked and take them to court if he felt like they were in the wrong. When he refused to vacate, United should have deplaned the flight. And if he still refused to leave, they could have had him arrested. Still, he should have deplaned on his own when asked and then he wouldn't have gotten hurt. Robert.

[Clark Howard]

Robert. Okay, the versions. I keep hearing about this when we've all seen video of what happened to the doctor. United changed its entire procedures about how they handle an overbook. And the rule's pretty clear. When somebody's already on a plane in their seat, unless they're a non rev passenger, an airline employee flying for free, or a family member of an airline employee flying for free, then they've got to get off the plane if a paying passenger with a reservation needs to be accommodated. What happened in this case was bad, ugly. And to blame the victim in this case is just flat out wrong. United blew it. They're a better airline because of all the negative publicity. They change their procedures. And every other airline also has very clear procedures. They never end up in a position like this where they're beating up a passenger, dragging them off an airplane, injuring that person. So, yeah, you wrote Clark stinks about me complaining about United beating up that passenger, that doctor. And let me tell you, they did. Airlines have a lot of latitude in who sits in their seats, who flies on their airline. They have, you know, permanent no fly list and all that where they decide a passenger is a problem and in many cases justified and ban them permanently. Airlines have so much power, but physically beating somebody up and removing off an airplane. Just watch the video. Not okay. Not okay. Coming up ahead, we'll tell you something a lot of people don't think is okay, that I consume so much fast food. What am I doing? Well, actually, this pod is not about that. It's about something else we're going to talk about straight ahead.

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[Clark Howard]

We're all guilty of something economists call static analysis. We see things as they are in our lives or in society or whatever. And all our frame of reference for how we think about them is based on how they are at that moment. But that's not how the free market works. And restaurants, from fast food to quick serve to traditional sit down restaurants, are all having to adapt to terribly difficult market conditions. Why have so many restaurant chains and individually owned restaurants failed in the last two years? Because it's been brutal to be a restaurant owner and to be a restaurant customer. Because the cost of food as we know when we go to the supermarket has gone up so much. The cost of labor for restaurants gone through the roof. And then the cost of leases, the rent that restaurants have to pay, so gross ugly. Then you add on top of it, food delivery, which became such a thing during COVID has, even though it's declined in market share, it's still a thing. And if I own a restaurant and I'm doing cooperation with the food delivery services, they're killing me with a big chunk I've got to pay them. That may make that a losing proposition for me. In other words, being a restaurant owner is really, really hard right now. So I look at what restaurateurs are doing from every level as a great example that all of us understand because we've all eaten out, that the thing about business and about life is adapting. Not sitting there with your blinders on and continuing doing things as you were. And what do I mean adapting? Restaurants are building smaller spaces, they're going to variable pricing, they're using all kinds of new labor enhancing tools, in other words, automation, productivity at all different kinds of restaurants. Look at how restaurants have become more efficient. It even something as simple in a sit down restaurant is how they present the bill. Think about more moderately priced sit down restaurants that have had to modify how they do table service. You may have experienced this where somebody used to come and take your order. Instead you place your order either on your phone at the table or you go up to a counter and place your order. And then a runner brings your drinks, brings your food, brings refills, whatever. I mean, this is the thing that we adapt, we change, we morph how we do things and that's how business operates. And if you don't, if you don't adapt, think about retail. How many retailers have closed in the last year? A lot, right? And restaurants, oh, oh, you know, you turn right where so and so used to be. How many of us do something like that? It was A restaurant that was there a long, long time. And they didn't change as times required. They didn't adapt and they ceased to exist. You know, I think about the controversies involving California adopting the minimum wage for fast food workers. Think it's 20 an hour. And there were all these predictions about how fast food restaurants would cease to exist in California. It would be impossible for them to stay in business. How did they adapt? Well, last time I visited my daughter in Los Angeles and we went to a regional fast food place near her home, her apartment. We walked in and it used to be a place you went up to a counter to order food. Now you order it from a computer terminal, you know, with a screen. You go into any McDonald's has been renovated recently. When you order, it's almost impossible to order from a human. You order from a touchscreen. Labor saving, innovation. And in the kitchen, that's where so much innovation is taking place. I just use this as an example because this is how all free market works is adaptation. Why is it that the United States manufactures more goods than it ever has? Because of automation. 9% of Americans work in manufacturing and that 9% produce more goods than we did when roughly 40% of Americans worked in manufacturing. Technology adaptation. Automation is what makes things improve over time. Quality, the price, the rest. I'm ready for the Clark stinks on that. Krista.

[Chris]

Okay, Sharon. And Georgia says when is it okay to let go of comprehensive and or collision coverage with your car insurance?

[Clark Howard]

So I love what you're asking, Sharon, because you're talking about the other things other than liability. I found that most people have excessive coverage potentially for collision comprehensive, particularly with an older vehicle, but don't have enough liability coverage to protect the assets they have. So my general rule, and it's just mine, or different formulas, when the value of your vehicle has dropped to the point where the annual cost of collision comprehensive exceeds 10% of the remaining value of the vehicle, you dump that coverage and you become your own insurance company for damage that occurs to your car. And why do I say that? Because. All right, think back, Sharon. In your driving lifetime, how many accidents have you been in? So if you're like most people, not that many. So the 10% rule kind of works. Is like 1 in 10 chance you're going to be in a wreck and you know a period of time. And if on the other hand, you drop your collision comprehensive because you have a much older vehicle and then you have a wreck the next week, who you hating?

[Mint Mobile Representative]

Me.

[Chris]

All right. And we do have an article A very extensive article about [e-mail] Elizabeth of Missouri says, I gave Zenny a fantastic review several years ago. My RX had changed, so I wanted to get a regular and sunglasses and I went to Zenny since I had such a good experience. I ordered my glasses as usual and received lenses too small for the frames, giving a gap in the outside of each lens. I contacted Zenni and they said this is common for some of the styles of frames, which is noted in the product reviews. I was so disappointed as I did not want a refund. I wanted the glasses. I took the time to pick out and methodically entered in all the information. I guess I will go into a store from now on.

[Clark Howard]

Ok. So one thing I can't tell from Elizabeth what you said is did Zenny offer a refund? Or they say, well, you should have read the reviews.

[Chris]

Oh, no, I definitely think they did. She said I didn't want a refund.

[Clark Howard]

Okay.

[Chris]

But I mean, that's crazy to say. Like the reviews say it. Like you should say it in your products description.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah, that's. That's dumb. And Consumer Reports survey of where to get glasses. Zinni has actually fallen down the rankings a little bit. Zinni was way up high, is one of the best places in America to get glasses. We don't get a lot of complaints about them. They certainly are just about the cheapest anywhere to get glasses. But Consumer Reports in its last review said the best place to get glasses.

[Chris]

Is, I'm sure Costco Optical, because that's what clark.com says. We have an article that's the best places to buy glasses online. And Costco and Warby Parker and Sam's Club are all above Senny.

[Clark Howard]

Okay.

[Chris]

And then we have some other online sites as well.

[Clark Howard]

Do you have any Zinnies?

[Chris]

I don't. I used. I got Lasik a while ago. So I just use like really, really cheap readers now because I have a million of them.

[Clark Howard]

Clark. I don't need to know about that because I have perfect vision.

[Chris]

Well, I don't now I need readers, but I have to have them in every room because I lose them all the time and I need them all the time now, unfortunately. So a great place to buy readers, by the way, I think is like, you know, the chain that's owned HomeGoods and Marshalls and TJ Maxx are at least three of their. So Marshalls and TJ Maxx. I often find like three packs of readers that are really stylish in my opinion for like $10 so I feel like that's a pretty good deal. So.

[Clark Howard]

I don't know. I don't know if you know the Lasik story about my wife, but when Lane and I met, we've been married just short of 30 years. She was legally blind and she. She needed.

[Chris]

You used to always say she married me because she was legally blind.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah. And then she got Lasik and she said, I married you.

[Chris]

Okay, Sally, you ruined the whole job. I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

[Clark Howard]

It's okay.

[Chris]

I didn't realize you were going for that. Sally in Ohio says, due to, in part to your advice, my husband and I currently have a net worth of between three and a half and five, four million dollars. We are in our low.

[Clark Howard]

Congratulations.

[Chris]

Yeah. We pay our credit cards monthly and have no debt. Our house is worth $325,000 while our 2025 truck and 2021 SUV are paid for. My husband likes his job and will probably work until he's between 65 and 70. Our house and car are insured with USAA and we have a million dollar umbrella and policy which costs $287 per year. Each additional million costs $144 per year. So my question is, how much insurance, umbrella insurance, should we carry?

[Clark Howard]

Okay, this is a great question because, Sally, you and your husband have a bullseye target on you if you end up being in a position where you end up potentially liable and somebody's hired one of those lawyers from the billboards and they come after you for everything you got. So the danger is that Here you got 4 million bucks in assets that you've built up over the years. Congratulations to the two of you. $1 million umbrella is not enough. What an umbrella is, if you're not familiar, it's an excess liability policy that sits on top of the liability coverage of your homeowners and auto. It's crazy cheap per million dollars because it's excessive and odds are that it will never, ever be needed. But if it is, you're really happy you have it. So having just $1 million with assets of 4 million is inadequate because you're in too much danger. If there was something where a lawyer convinced a jury that you did something absolutely horrendous and they should issue this giant verdict. I mean, these happen. You see on the billboards. My lawyer got me $5 million, all that kind of thing you want to, in my opinion, and USAA may have a different one, and they do this every day. I don't. I would say you want to add another 3 million on what you have so that you cover all your assets with liability coverage, with your umbrella policy. For you, with the asset base you have paying, that would be like $432 a year. To add another $3 million in coverage, I think it's well worth it. And that's just my opinion because you work too hard, you sacrifice so much. You lived on less than what you made for all those years to build up that much money as a net worth. I don't want it taken away in one instant from a jury verdict. I want to thank you so much for joining us this week. And I hope that you learned something this week on our podcast or YouTube show that really made a difference in your life. And you know, today being Clark stinks. You know why I love Clark Stinks so much? Because I'm just a guy. I'm one person. And I'll develop habits I'll have blinders on from time to time like anybody else. And so having people bring in a different perspective that I may or may not agree with, but also bring information forward that I didn't know or miss the big picture of. I really appreciate it so very much is we all are in this together. We all learn together. And so this weekend, hope you have an absolutely great, great time, whatever it is you're going to do this weekend. And know that I'll be back at your service on the podcast and YouTube show on Monday and this weekend, you got a question? Whatever you want to try to answer. We may have that answer about your wallet for [e-mail] you may find a deal on Clark deals that you didn't know was out there that could save you money on something you're buying. So have a great one. Know everything we're about is you learning ways to save more, spend less and avoid getting ripped off. See you next week.