05.18.26 Saving: Take It Up A Notch / Furniture Sales Traps

Summary

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The Clark Howard Podcast – Episode Summary

Episode: "05.18.26 Saving: Take It Up A Notch / Furniture Sales Traps"

Date: May 18, 2026
Host: Clark Howard
Guest/Co-host: Krista

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Overview

This episode of The Clark Howard Podcast focuses on two major topics:

1. How to meaningfully increase your saving rate and achieve financial freedom through small, manageable steps.
2. Consumer traps in the furniture industry, with a special warning on payment methods amid the wave of 'perma-sales.'

The episode is packed with practical financial advice, answers to listener questions, and candid conversation between Clark and Krista, blending Clark’s straight-shooting financial wisdom with relatable anecdotes.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

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1. The Reality of American Savings Rates (01:05)

• Clark opens with a sobering statistic: the average American saves just 4 cents of every dollar earned.
  • “For every dollar, the average American spends 96 cents, keeps 4.” (Clark, 01:11)
• In contrast, many Asian countries see savings rates closer to 30%.
• Clark stresses that, unless you have a strong pension, a 4% savings rate will leave you working indefinitely.

Clark’s Saving Strategy: Baby Steps (03:20)

• Don’t get discouraged if you're not a “mega saver.”
• Start wherever you are—if you can only save 1%, begin there.
• Every 6 months, increase the rate by a penny (1%). Goal: 10% in 5 years.
• Analogy: Like learning to run—start with small intervals, build your stamina.
• “It’s all about building habits, creating space in your life." (Clark, 05:38)
• Ultimate goal: Save enough so that you "work because you want to, not because you have to." (Clark, 06:25)

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2. Listener Q&A Highlights

A. Teen Roth IRA and Stock Investing (07:44)

• Listener Question: Setting up a Roth IRA for a 16-year-old grandson who earns money from selling football cards.
• Clark’s take:
  • Schwab is a great place if you already have accounts there, though Fidelity offers more flexibility for teens.
  • Key investing principle: “Core and Explore”—build a strong base with index or target date funds, then experiment in small amounts with individual stocks.
  • “It’s fine for your grandson to want to explore with individual stocks, but it starts with Core.” (Clark, 09:03)

B. Accidental Death Insurance from Credit Unions (10:01)

• Listener Question: Is it risky to accept a “free” $1,000 accidental death policy?
• Clark: Accepting the free coverage will likely bring marketing offers, but isn’t harmful. He does not recommend paying for such policies and emphasizes having adequate term life insurance for true financial protection.

C. Credit Report Clutter (11:12)

• Listener Problem: Old addresses, employer errors, and unrelated phone numbers on credit reports.
• Clark says ignore small clerical errors unless they impact your score or ability to borrow.
• “If the errors are in a category I'd call clerical … don't worry about it.” (Clark, 11:45)
• Reminder: Use annualcreditreport.com for your free annual reports (the only official site).

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3. Furniture Sales Traps (16:16)

The State of the Furniture Industry

• Memorial Day sales are everywhere, but the industry is “flat on its back.”
• Many stores (large and small) are folding due to weak home sales and supply chain/tariff issues.

The Trap: Paying for Backordered Furniture (17:20)

• Critical guidance on deposits:
  • Never pay by debit card or cash for furniture that hasn’t arrived.
  • If the store goes out of business, you’ll lose that money—debit cards have “zero protection.”
  • Only use a credit card for deposits (first 60 days offer strongest chargeback protection).
  • “You do not pay a furniture deposit by debit card. Remember: the piece of trash, fake Visa or MasterCard debit card ... provides zero protection.” (Clark, 18:14)
  • If the furniture is delayed nearing 60 days, dispute the charge with your credit card.
  • Banks fight to prevent debit cards from having credit-card-level protections.

Bonus Advice:

• Look for quality second-hand furniture on Facebook Marketplace—great deals unless it’s a true antique.
• Clark’s anecdote: visited a “used” shop where a chair sold for over $11,000.

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4. Processing Fees and Card Payment Anarchy (22:23)

Merchant Surcharges

• Listeners complain of extra credit card fees at small businesses, government offices, and elsewhere.
• Though certain surcharges may be technically illegal or excessive, Clark points out:
  • U.S. banks operate as a “cartel” with the highest merchant fees globally.
  • He supports business owners’ “revolt” by passing some fees to customers.
  • Debit cards, when processed as credit, carry those high fees too.
  • “The system is flat out broken.” (Clark, 25:44)

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5. Credit Card Security & Online Protection (26:59, 29:03)

Locked Credit Cards Aren’t Foolproof

• Even when “locked,” pre-authorized/subscription charges can sneak onto your card.
• Clark’s fix: review statements for recurring charges before closing or locking old cards.

Two-Factor, SIM Hacking & Passkeys

• SIM swapping is a risk for two-factor (texted code) authentication.
• Protect yourself by enabling a “SIM lock” with your carrier.
• Passkeys and biometrics are the way forward; they are site and device specific, sometimes stored with third-party managers.
• Krista: “I have a basic understanding...the passkey is like a specific code for you and your password to a specific site...” (31:28)
• Clark: “The dream...is to eliminate passwords because passwords don't work and obviously two-factor to a phone is vulnerable to attack.” (32:24)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “Saving 4 cents of every dollar isn't going to give you security and comfort in your life.” (Clark, 02:53)
• “The greatest power is to work because you want to and not because you have to.” (Clark, 06:25)
• “Remember: the piece of trash, fake Visa or MasterCard debit card ... provides zero protection.” (Clark, 18:14)
• On banks and Congress: “Congressmen and senators don't even get up to go to the bathroom till the bankers say they can.” (Clark, 20:13)
• “Passwords don’t work and ... two-factor to a phone is vulnerable to attack.” (Clark, 32:24)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:05] – American savings rates discussion
• [03:20] – Baby steps strategy for saving more
• [07:44] – Roth IRA for teens and "Core and Explore" investing
• [10:01] – Accidental death insurance advice
• [11:12] – Credit report errors—what matters and what doesn’t
• [16:16] – Memorial Day furniture sales and payment risks
• [18:14] – Why NOT to use debit or cash for deposits
• [22:23] – Merchant surcharges and the payment “cartel”
• [26:59] – Credit card locks and recurring charges
• [29:03] – SIM hacking, passkeys, and better online security
• [31:28] – Explanation of how passkeys work
• [34:47] – Personal stories, education, and a bit of humor

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Tone and Language

• Clark’s delivery is seasoned, practical, and no-nonsense, with a signature touch of dry humor.
• Krista balances the conversation with relatable questions, listener stories, and an easy rapport with Clark.
• The show is fast-paced, friendly, and candid, designed to empower everyday consumers with actionable advice.

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a comprehensive blend of actionable savings advice, consumer protection strategies, and entertaining banter. Clark’s “baby steps” approach and his warnings about furniture payment traps are especially valuable for listeners aiming to strengthen their personal finances and avoid common pitfalls.

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Transcript

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[Clark Howard]

It's my pleasure to welcome you to 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. I'm going to begin today's show with some financial stats on the average American and we're going to talk about where you fit fit on this list later. You thinking of buying any furniture right now? Oh boy, oh boy. I got special warnings for you if you're hankering to buy some furniture, right? So 4 cents. That's the number I want you thinking about. 4 cents. That's how much the average American saves right now of every dollar they make. So that includes people who save huge amounts of every dollar to people who are what's known as negative net spenders. A negative net spender is someone who spends more than a dollar for every dollar they earn. You ask how is that possible? Well, credit card debt is an all time record high and various borrowing is how we end up with negative net spenders. But you take everybody, throw them all in the mix and the average American of every dollar spends 96 cents, keeps 4. Now in Asia, a lot of Asian countries, people on the equivalent currency that they use save about, let's just call it dollars and cents just to keep it simple. For every equivalent of a dollar that people make in a variety of Asian countries, it's normal that they save about 30 cents. Completely different than how we live. And some of it is historically cultural in a number of Asian countries. Some of it is living in countries that have no safety net at all if you're broke, you're broke. Where in the United States we do have some amount of safety net, not a great one, not one that would lead to, hey, I don't need to work. Look, I can just have money from the government that doesn't work here. And to be really honest with you, saving 4 cents of every dollar isn't going to give you security and comfort in your life. And it's also going to mean that unless you work somewhere that you have an employer provided pension that provides essentially for your needs later in your life, you're going to have a really hard time later because you'll likely have to work indefinitely. So here's how I want you to think about it. Wherever you are right now, unless you're already a mega saver. And if you are, close your ears to what I'm about to talk about because I don't want you to deprive yourself if you're already saving like a maniac. That's not most people. I want you to think about baby steps. The whole idea of is kind of like when somebody knows they need to exercise. And you can see it anywhere in the country that has a cold winter, that when weather starts getting a little warmer, you'll see people suddenly have decided, I'm going to go out and I'm going to exercise, I'm going to start running or whatever. You've seen them, I mean, they look like they're going to pass out as they're trying to run. Instead, somebody who wants to build new habits of exercise, you start slow and you do the thing where you pace yourself running. You know about this, where you run for a minute and then walk for 2, 3 or 4, and then run for another minute, walk 2 or 3, 4, and you build up to where maybe if you started running a minute and walking four, you get the point where you're doing better and you're running a minute and you're walking three, and then on like that, baby steps with money. Same thing. If you're like feeling like, well, it's terrible, I'm not saving money, you start somewhere again, going back to the penny kind of thing. If you're saving 1% of your pay right now, penny on every dollar every six months, I want you to step it up another penny. If it's through a retirement plan at work or it's through a Roth IRA or even just putting money through a payroll deduction where money's diverted straight into a savings account. It's all about building habits, creating space in your Life. And the goal, if you're not into historically into saving money, you've been living a deficit kind of lifestyle is. My goal is in five years to get you to saving a dime of every dollar you make. Every six months, another penny up. If you're living a big deficit lifestyle, would you think about some of the things I've talked about, about resolving to live on less than what you make so you can start paying down that credit card debt and have a plan that for it? Yeah. If you're carrying a lot of credit card debt, it's a five year plan to pay off debt. So the, the idea is to create less anxiety in your life, to create more freedom in your life, to build up a cushion so when the inevitable rainy day comes, you're prepared and with the ultimate goal being for you to decide based on how you've saved. When you decide to bag work and you don't want to work anymore, it is the greatest power to work because I want to and not because I have to. I want that for you, Krista.

[Krista]

Okay.

[Clark Howard]

I want that for you too.

[Krista]

Thank you. Well, I do want to work. I want to work and I have to work. I've got both.

[Clark Howard]

You want to and they have to.

[Krista]

Yeah, okay.

[Clark Howard]

But you're a great saver.

[Krista]

I try to. Thanks to you. I've listened to you and been with you long enough. Thanks to you. Richard in Connecticut says my 16 year old grandson wants to save money in a Roth ira. He makes money by buying and selling football cards at card shows and online.

[Clark Howard]

How about that?

[Krista]

I know. Very entrepreneurial. He also makes some money by doing odd jobs for me. Is Schwab good place for him to start his Roth ira or are there other places that might be better or safer? He's also interested in investing in stocks. I set up a custodial stock account for him and my two other grandsons with Schwab about 10 years ago. All the dividend money is reinvested to purchase more stock. By the way, I tell my grandsons that when you invest in stock, you're gambling at the Wall street casino. And the more knowledgeable you are, the better your odds are at winning.

[Clark Howard]

Wonderful advice, Richard. I love it. And so you already have accounts at Schwab, so that would be an absolutely great choice for your grandson to have a Roth ira. And at Schwab he won't have as much freedom. He'll need your help or another adult's help, whoever's this custodian to help him with it. Fidelity alone gives teenagers of your grandson's age, more freedom in terms of how they handle the account. So since you're at Schwab and your grandson's going to do his Roth at Schwab, I want him to understand Chuck Schwab, the founder of Schwab's Concepts and how to build a portfolio, which in the simplest terms, and it's the term that Chuck Schwab used, core and explore. So it's fine for your grandson to want to explore with individual stocks, but it starts with Core. And in a Roth, the easiest easy button is for most of the money that he puts into that Roth IRA goes into the Schwab version of the Target retirement fund for year 16, 50 years. I don't think there is one. There probably is 2075 fund yet, but that would be about the year that would be the target.

[Krista]

Linda in Washington says, I have a credit union account that I only use for Venmo. The credit Union has offered $1,000 complimentary accidental death and dismemberment insurance coverage. It also offers to increase coverage for a monthly fee that I'm not interested in. If I sign for the complimentary coverage only, am I leaving myself open to being bombarded by other insur offers?

[Clark Howard]

Potentially, yes. And pushes to try to get you to go past the free coverage to paid coverage, I don't see a problem with you taking the free thousand dollars coverage. But in terms of buying an accidental death and dismemberment policy, I'm not into those at all. And I ask at this point for you to think about do you have, Linda, adequate life insurance? Do you have a really, if there are people who are going to depend on you at the time of your untimely demise, do you have a good level term insurance policy to provide for those who might depend on you financially, which is the reason to have coverage for the time when you pass away?

[Krista]

Donna, Missouri says, I just looked at my credit reports from Equifax, Experian and Transunion. All of my credit account information appears to be correct. But there are mistakes with Lucky you that doesn't happen.

[Clark Howard]

There's got to be errors.

[Krista]

There are mistakes with previous addresses like misspelled streets, wrong house number, etc. There's also a phone number I never had. Additionally, none of them have my current employer correct and there were misspellings for previous employers. Is there any reason to go through the hassle of trying to get these corrected?

[Clark Howard]

No. I mean, I don't know that there's a credit report in existence that doesn't have errors on it. The key is if there are errors that would cost you credit you already have, lead to a denial of credit moving forward, or cost you the opportunity for a job that you want to have or insurance you'd like to get. So if the errors are in a category I'd call clerical like yours are, then don't worry about it. And your energy needs to go to the time at some point in the future. It's more likely a matter of when, not if. There will be significant errors on your credit report that could lead to any of the problems I just described. And good for you doing something that very rarely will anybody do. And that's look through a credit report fully, which is available to you for [e-mail] that is the federally approved site for you to get a free annual copy of your credit report. Again, annual credit report.com all the others you see advertised are not the real thing, and the Feds allow Equifax, TransUnion and Experian to try to trick you into buying junk from them. When you go there, you don't have to. You can see your report for free, no questions asked once a year. Great checkup to do. Come up with the time you do it when we change our clocks or your birthday or some date that you'll remember. Oh, that's when I do that kind of housekeeping stuff and see that things are as they should be on your report coming up up ahead. Things are not as they should be in the furniture business and it could cost you big time. I'm going to tell you what you need to know.

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[Clark Howard]

Big sales coming up really soon. Memorial Day is a holiday that we should be remembering those who did the ultimate sacrifice for your and my freedom serving in the US Military. Something that is dear to my heart. But a lot of people just think of it as the unofficial kickoff to summer and a big wave of sales. And one of the industries that has a lot of Memorial Day sales the furniture business. But right now it probably feels like sales are a perma feature at any furniture store you walk in every weekend of the year. And the reason is the furniture business is flat on its back. Furniture business depends. Both the manufacturing of furniture and the retailing of it depend on the home market being vibrant in the US which it is not right now. So furniture stores are hurting for certain and a lot of them are folding. Big ones, small ones in between are in distress because there just aren't enough customers out there and most furniture made overseas. Tariffs have disrupted the business for manufacturers, importers and retailers. So what you need to know is if you go into a furniture store on a sale weekend and they say, oh, yeah, we're out of that, but we're happy to. It's on backorder. We're happy to get it for you. And you give them money at that point so you can get the sale price that they have on the sale flyer or any other time. All right, you got to know how to play this game. You do not. You do not pay a furniture deposit. Buy debit card. Remember, remember, have this play in your head. The piece of trash, fake Visa or MasterCard debit card. The debit card provides zero protection.

[Krista]

Zero.

[Clark Howard]

If that furniture store goes bust, your money's gone. You're sitting on the floor. It's number one. Number two, do not pay a deposit to a furniture store in cash. Because if they go bust, same thing as the piece of trash, fake visa or fake MasterCard debit card. The only safe way for you to pay for that backorder, that furniture that's on sale, is with a credit card. And the credit card protection, the strongest protection, is the first 60 days. So let's say you put down the deposit on the backordered furniture and you're checking a month out. Oh, it's still backordered. And you're closing in on two months out. If they say, well, it's still backordered, at that point, you need to put the charge into dispute with your credit card company, because that's how you preserve your rights. The disputes take a while, and then they call and say, hey, your furniture's come in fine. You tell your credit card issuer, I want to remove this dispute. They have now provided my furniture. But if you don't do that, your money likely is gone, just like it is with the people who paid with the piece of trash, fake Visa, fake MasterCard, the debit card, or paid with cash. Now, the banks could, if they wished, not try to con you with the debit card and provide the same protections on a debit card that's provided on a credit card. But not only did the banks not do that, they fought efforts in Congress to provide the same protections on the debit card as the credit card. But did the banks allow that to go through the Congress? No, because you got to know. Because all the dirty money that go to the congressmen and senators from the banks, that the congressmen and senators don't even get up to go to the bathroom till the bankers say they can. That's how bad it is. So remember that debit card, what Is it the piece of trash? Fake visa and fake MasterCard. Remember?

[Krista]

Krista, what was that again? You love debit cards.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, no doubt somebody who cannot handle credit should use a debit card in a variety of situations. But if they're buying furniture, if it ain't there, you ain't buying it.

[Krista]

All right?

[Clark Howard]

No ordered furniture, period.

[Krista]

And check out Facebook Marketplace. I found so many good furniture pieces

[Clark Howard]

on there because furniture goes for nothing secondhand till it's old enough and then it can be called an antique. It's real money. I remember going to look at used furniture from my brother and sister in law who live in Utah. I looked up reviews online and we go to this used furniture store. There was not really a used furniture store. It was ultra premium furniture store. And we walk in, the first piece we see was 11,000 something dollars.

[Krista]

Wow.

[Clark Howard]

Wow. And it was a so and so. Whatever.

[Krista]

So and so was it a table, a sofa?

[Clark Howard]

It was, it was an oversized chair that was some brand. Wow, like the mid century.

[Krista]

Oh, like Eames or something.

[Clark Howard]

Maybe it was not an Eames, it was something. So we were in that store seconds. Very short period of time.

[Krista]

Okay. Chris in Georgia says who is regulating credit card fees companies are charging. Now my dry cleaner charges a flat 3 1/2% on all credit card charges, which is illegal because they cannot charge more than what Visa charges them, which is typically two and a half percent. Then yesterday I was charged a fee at the state tag office on my debit card. And at a restaurant with a debit card it is illegal to charge a processing fee on the bank card. But no one knows the laws and or they are definitely not following them.

[Clark Howard]

So Chris, what we have now is we have anarchy. And I support this anarchy feeling opposite you. And this goes back to the prior thing when I was talking about the banks and how they have captured every congressman it seems, and senator in the United States who think they work for the banks because of all the dirty money and contributions and free rides on the corporate jets that the banks have and all that that's going on. So we have the. We have a cartel going on in the United States with the highest merchant fees in the world. So what we've got is we've got a revolt going on that I support by business owners who were being abused by the cartel, and this is a banking cartel with the merchant fees. And so businesses now find that their third largest expense or what they have to pay the ransom to the banks with the cartel pricing for accepting credit cards, debit cards in Theory are supposed to have a much lower fee, which is why a lot of businesses don't charge those fees on debit cards. But you're talking about even your state charges them. So what we need is we need a free and open market that will set the rates on these fees. Until we have that, then I support the revolt going on by businesses that are charging either giving a cash discount or charging more for using credit because the system is flat out broken.

[Krista]

What about and I think with debit cards, aren't they allowed to charge the fee like at the state tag office because it's being used as a visa or MasterCard? In that case, yes.

[Clark Howard]

It is a great question Krista just posed. If you say when you're asked credit or debit, you say debit, it clears at virtually an insignificant number of cents for the retailer. But if you present a debit card and have it processed as credit, which the banks will encourage you to do, it then has the huge fees that restaurants, retailers, businesses, government, everybody faces from accepting the credit card. So the fees behind the curtain to actually process credit card transactions have never been lower. What actually costs the banks to do it, but the fees that are passed on to merchants and restaurants are the highest they've ever been. It is a broken cartel.

[Krista]

You know what makes me mad? When I pay my son's rent for his apartment at college, there's an automatic. I'm paying it. It's debiting the checking account. Okay.

[Clark Howard]

And they still charge you $2?

[Krista]

No, it's not 2%, but it's 2.95 transaction fee every time. I mean.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, you know what I love about this? What? Krista's son and my son go to the same college and they're both out of staters at a state school. And it's the third most expensive state school in the country. Out of state.

[Krista]

Oh, didn't know that.

[Clark Howard]

We're paying unbelievable costs like private school kind of tuition for our kids to go to Auburn University. War Eagle. Anyway.

[Krista]

War Eagle.

[Clark Howard]

You're upset about the $2?

[Krista]

I am.

[Clark Howard]

95 cent junk fee.

[Krista]

Wouldn't you be?

[Clark Howard]

Yeah, it's like salt in the wounds, right?

[Krista]

I'm not using a credit card, but $2.95.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah. Ugly.

[Krista]

As if the rent is already a complete rip off at these apartments in

[Clark Howard]

this small town and a small college town. The housing thing is bad. Ugly. Let's just call it what it is.

[Krista]

War Eagle Will in Florida says love the show and all the great info you share each week. I ran into something I think listeners should know my bar Barclays card has a lock feature, but it doesn't fully block charges. I paid it off, locked it and stopped using it. Yet a small charge still went through. Luckily I caught it, otherwise it could have led to a late fee and credit hit. Just a heads up, a locked card isn't always truly locked. Any tips on how to prevent this?

[Clark Howard]

Okay, well, this is a great question. You're the second person who we've heard from about this in months. So here's the thing. You lock a card, it prevents new, let's call them current transactions. Somebody dupes your card and they're trying to use it. If you haven't locked, it can't be used. But if you have pre authorized a continuing bill of some kind on that card, for most issuers, even with a lock, those will still go through. The simple example is, I call it the Netflix charge. If you have a subscription with Netflix or anything like that and they're charging you went up again. I think the cheapest now is 895amonth maybe. Anyway, that charge, even with a card locked, will still post transactions. So any pre authorized ongoing charges still will typically occur even if a card is locked. So if you're planning not to use a particular card anymore, but you're not going to close the account, even if you close the account, a charge like that might reopen it temporarily. You want to look through your old statements, either paper statements or if you look online and see if there are any recurrings, that may happen quarterly or twice a year or annually, whatever, because you'll forget, oh, I put those on that card and then you change what card is assigned to be charged by whatever that recurring bill is.

[Krista]

Steve in Georgia says Clark, I'm becoming increasingly concerned about online security. I've diligently used two factor authentication for years in all my accounts where it's available now. I read that two factor authentication is being compromised via the relatively new phenomenon of SIM hacking. And since I have long given up on maintaining any serious privacy and assume that all of my info is out there and available, I. I feel vulnerable. I've read and tried to learn about passkeys, but all the information I've seen provides an explanation of the plumbing of how these work. But no one has written about how you actually use them. The what, but not the how. I want to know what time it is, not how to build a watch. Can you do a deep dive into passkeys, password managers and authenticator apps with an emphasis on how to actually Use them. Is a passkey unique to a website? My device Both. Can you use passkeys on all websites or does the website have to offer it? How do I use a password manager? Free or paid versions? Are password managers a form of authenticator app? I'm relatively technology proficient but this stuff confuses me and cybersecurity is too important to make a mistake.

[Clark Howard]

All right, we're going to do this tag team I think because you've talked so much about pass keys I want to talk first about the sim. It is not a new hack what's known as sim swapping or SIM theft. And it's such a problem because a two factor authentication so often being tied into a text to your phone that the cell phone carriers, big ones and small ones offer what's known as semlock where you can put in place that they just don't make it really easy for somebody to swipe your cell phone number. So putting SIM lock in some of the cell phone providers make it relatively simple. Others it's a bit of a hassle. But Steve, whoever you have your cell phone service with you contact them and ask them the procedure for putting a SIM lock in place on your cell phone service to shut down a criminal doing that. Now I am using pass keys more and more and I'm kind of a passive player. I'm being offered the option at more and more sites because a lot of big technology companies went together to develop the passkey system. And you wanted to talk about what you've.

[Krista]

Well I just. I have a basic understanding and I'm going to actually our [e-mail] just published an article it was out in the newsletter saying it's. It's in this. We're linking it in the show notes a detailed write up about passkeys. I haven't read the through our own content yet but I'm going to go do that after we record today. But what I understand is the passkey is like a specific I guess you could think of it as code for you and your password to a specific site to get into that site. That code can then be stored either on an individual device so device specific or it can be stored across a platform. A third party like Google, LastPass, Bit Warden, any of those third party applications can store it as well. But then to get into your to use the passkey you have to use a biometric, a PIN number, whatever it happens to be on your device to then allow that unique passkey to be used for you to sign in to that website. That's my.

[Clark Howard]

The dream of the big technology consortium that developed the passkey system is to eliminate passwords because passwords don't work and obviously two factor to a phone is vulnerable to attack. So the idea is to use your biometrics as your friend and as the way that you validate who you are is part of the underlying architecture of passkeys. It's one of those things that, when it's new, sounds really confusing, but the whole idea of it is to make it to the point where for you and me as end users, it's ultra easy to use and it protects us as best it can from people pretending to be us.

[Krista]

So I may have just sounded like an idiot. Please don't write in a Krista stinks, but go read what our intelligent. Our intelligent team members of clark.com have written in. I'm about to go do that right now.

[Clark Howard]

Krista, there was no reason for you to throw yourself under the bus.

[Krista]

It's okay. I just don't want to. I don't want to hear it. I am an idiot.

[Clark Howard]

You are not an idiot. You are not an idiot. I mean, you got a degree that's one of the degrees that's hard to make a living from, right? An English degree. And you've done great with it.

[Krista]

Well, I speak English on this podcast.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah, but Krista repeatedly cringes when she hears how bad my grammar might be. No, it's true. You can never get the. The English degree out of.

[Krista]

I was. It was a literature, really more of

[Clark Howard]

a literature degree, but okay. Of things that I would have been a disaster. Literature, but particularly poetry. I am such a literal person.

[Krista]

Oh, I love poetry. Do you like music? Music's poetry. I mean, not the actual music, but lyrics.

[Clark Howard]

I never listen to lyrics when I did.

[Krista]

I have a minor in secondary education, so I could have been a teacher when I taught my high schoolers at Boston Teacher. Boston Latin. Well, you're a teacher. I'm your teacher's assistant. Boston Latin. I had the seniors grumbled when I knew they were juniors, grumbled when I said we were a poetry unit. And so I started out by saying, you know, bring in the lyrics to your favorite song. And they did. And we analyzed the lyrics, and they were so into it, and I was like, you like poetry, Krista?

[Clark Howard]

See, you would have been a great teacher. Well, you made it engaging and fun.

[Krista]

But then one of my junior students stood up with his hand raised one day and said, didn't I see you at Marianne's this weekend? Which was a bar that all the BC students went to. To embarrass me. And I said, that is an inappropriate question. Sit down

[Clark Howard]

and let me tell you, when Krista's mad at you and those fiery eyes look at you. No, that kid sat down. Oh, man. Someday I'll talk about what my poetry teacher said to me.

[Krista]

What? You can't say it. I mean, if people are still, they could have moved on. They're not.

[Clark Howard]

We're going through a poem and teacher calls on me and says, teacher, never use anybody's first name. Howard. What does. Whatever stanza it was, what does it mean? I said, well, they were really having trouble making it across the creek, and they couldn't figure out what was the best place to cross, and they just couldn't see where they could safely get across. And he says, you don't see where. This was about the person's life and trying to make a decision what they were going to do.

[Krista]

Symbolism. And I was like, metaphor.

[Clark Howard]

And I'm looking at the paper and look up. I say, I'm sorry, I don't see that. Dr. Roberts. Oh, man, was I in trouble in that class because I don't understand symbolism at all. It doesn't exist in me.

[Krista]

You understand stock market symbols.

[Clark Howard]

I'm not sure that was just a compliment.

[Krista]

It was a compliment. I mean. Oh, my gosh, you're making me sound so mean. No, I mean it like, I feel like it's a beautiful thing that all of our brains work in different ways and we. All of our strengths. Like, I. The worst class for me in college. Oh, my gosh. Economics. I. Oh.

[Clark Howard]

One of my favorite class.

[Krista]

Hated it. It was a giant lecture hall. Yeah. And you. That's your favorite. That's. If we were all the same, then we wouldn't. We'd have such a.

[Clark Howard]

Actually, my favorite was real estate.

[Krista]

Oh, wow.

[Clark Howard]

Which, ironically enough, my son, who's training to be a pilot and is also in college, his favorite course is real estate.

[Krista]

Oh, that's neat.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah. Anyway, my wife says he was cloned. She wasn't there.

[Krista]

That is so true.

[Clark Howard]

Which part?

[Krista]

That he is so much like you. It's a great thing.

[Clark Howard]

Poor kid.

[Krista]

Anyway, my son recently said to me, I don't know if anyone's still listening to this podcast. We were at lunch. You'll think this is funny. He overslept and missed an exam. Like, he went to the. He overslept, ran to the place where the exam was being taken, and. And nobody was there anymore. They had all finished the exam. This is like one of Those nightmares you have. But it actually happened to him. And so then he. He tells me, I said to myself, what would mom do right now? She's crazy. And so he ran to the professor's office, caught her right as she was coming out, explain what happened. Said he's ready for the exam, and she let him take it. Right there.

[Clark Howard]

That is a nice professor.

[Krista]

Very nice professor. But his whole thing was, you're insane. And I channeled that. I was like, all right, thanks you. Thanks. Okay.

[Starbucks Frappuccino Announcer]

Okay.

[Clark Howard]

Are we done now?

[Krista]

I think we're done for today.

[Clark Howard]

To anybody who's still watching or listening, this is what we're really like.

[Krista]

Yeah.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah.

[Krista]

You should hear us in the breaks. We laugh a lot.

[Clark Howard]

We have to do. What do you call those? Outtakes.

[Krista]

Yes. Oh, my gosh. There'd be some funny ones and some

[Clark Howard]

of them we wouldn't be able to play, right?

[Krista]

Yeah.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah. Anyway, have a wonderful day. All week long, we're here to serve you in so many different ways with our company, with our newsletters, our websites, clark.comclarkdeals.com or social media, our availability of one on one advice for free. I mean, we are here for your empowerment. If you live in a market where you see me on the news, on television, or you hear me during morning and evening drive on radio, I'm glad we're able to reach you that way as well. The whole idea is whatever way you best process information. No poetry here. However you best process information, we're here for you.

[Krista]

And tomorrow we're here with a new Ask an Advisor episode. If you haven't listened in a while or you haven't tried, Ask an Advisor, check us out, see if you like it.

[Clark Howard]

If you don't, it's doing very well. We're getting a lot of listener and viewership for it.

[Krista]

Yes. So.

[Clark Howard]

And Wes dresses a lot better than I do.

[Krista]

I feel like I need to step up my game. He brought in a suit coat the other day. I was like, this is too much, too big of a contrast. You gotta.

[Clark Howard]

He has shirts with his own initials on.

[Krista]

Yeah. Oh, you wouldn't want to know what he spends on his.

[Clark Howard]

He's like, Yeah, I spend $8.99 on my shirts.

[Krista]

That's like the. Not even the tax on his shirts.

[Clark Howard]

You're kidding, aren't you?

[Krista]

No.

[Clark Howard]

You're not kidding? No. All right, well, anyway, that's our deal for you to be empowered so you can save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. And we're finally going to say, have

[Krista]

a great rest of your day.

[Clark Howard]

Bye.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying Big Wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying. No judgments.

[Clark Howard]

But that's weird.

[Ryan Reynolds]

Okay, one judgment anyway, give it a [e-mail] Switch upfront payment of $45 for

[Starbucks Frappuccino Announcer]

3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro rate first 3 months only, then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms at mintmobile.

[Krista]

Com.