06.13.25 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / Protect Your Package Deliveries

Summary

The Clark Howard Podcast – Episode 06.13.25 Summary

Release Date: June 13, 2025
Host: Clark Howard
Title: Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / Protect Your Package Deliveries

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Overview

In this episode of The Clark Howard Podcast, host Clark Howard delves into two primary segments: addressing criticisms from listeners in the "Clark Stinks" segment and offering practical solutions to the persistent issue of package theft, commonly known as "porch piracy." Additionally, Clark engages with listener questions, providing tailored financial advice.

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Clark Stinks: Addressing Criticisms

[01:03] Introduction to Clark Stinks

Clark Howard opens the segment by acknowledging the presence of critics and expresses openness to feedback, setting the tone for a candid and constructive discussion.

1. Misrepresentation of United Airlines Incident

[02:01] Listener: Mike from [Location]

Mike criticizes Clark for misrepresenting an incident involving United Airlines and Dr. Dow, arguing that Clark incorrectly portrayed United as directly assaulting the doctor.

• Mike: "Clark's false representation that United 'beat up' the doctor needs clarification."
• Clark: "United completely changed its policies after Dr. Dow was beaten up. The airport security employees mishandled the situation, resulting in Dr. Dow sustaining a concussion and broken teeth." [02:46]

Clark acknowledges the oversight, clarifying that while United Airlines was responsible for policy changes post-incident, the actual altercation involved poorly trained security personnel.

2. Social Security as a Forced Investment

[05:18] Listener: Jordan from [Location]

Jordan challenges Clark's support for making Social Security a forced investment, highlighting the program's foundational structure as a pay-as-you-go system rather than an investment fund.

• Jordan: "Social Security has never been investing; it's always taken from the working age to support retirees."
• Clark: "I support the idea of an additional, non-mandatory investment option to complement the existing system, ensuring long-term financial security for individuals." [05:48]

Clark explains his stance favors enhancing the current Social Security framework with optional investment opportunities to bolster retirement savings without disrupting existing benefits.

3. Gold’s Industrial Uses

[07:37] Listener: Jay, Retired Electrical Engineer

Jay points out Clark's omission of gold's industrial applications, particularly in electronics for corrosion resistance.

• Jay: "Gold plating of electrical connectors is crucial to avoid corrosion and oxidation."
• Clark: "Gold’s industrial uses are indeed important, and I appreciate you highlighting that." [08:08]

Clark acknowledges the significance of gold in various industries, admitting his previous oversight.

4. Selling Inherited Items

[08:08] Listener: Leslie from [Location]

Leslie seeks advice on selling inherited items her children do not want, expressing concerns about using platforms like eBay versus local options.

• Leslie: "I hate sending perfectly good things to the landfill. Any suggestions?"
• Clark: "Consider local marketplaces like Nextdoor or Facebook Marketplace for safer, community-based transactions." [09:13]

Clark recommends utilizing local selling platforms to minimize risks associated with online marketplaces and reduce environmental impact.

5. Encouraging Fast Food Consumption

[10:22] Listener: Audrey

Audrey criticizes Clark for promoting fast food, linking it to various health issues.

• Audrey: "Fast food is filled with sugar, oil, cholesterol, and saturated fat, leading to serious health problems."
• Clark: "I apologize for any unintended promotion of unhealthy eating habits." [10:31]

Clark offers an apology, recognizing the valid concerns about fast food's health implications.

6. Shared Appreciation Mortgage Guidance

[10:44] Listener: Tom

Tom criticizes Clark’s advice on shared appreciation mortgages, arguing there are no pros and that it encourages unaffordable lifestyles.

• Tom: "People should not buy something they cannot afford. Shared appreciation mortgages have no benefits."
• Clark: "While not ideal, shared appreciation mortgages allow individuals to own property they otherwise couldn't afford by sharing future equity with investors." [11:08]

Clark provides a nuanced perspective, acknowledging the drawbacks while highlighting potential accessibility benefits for homeownership.

7. Nursing Home Fees for Dementia Care

[12:02] Listener: Dr. Rose from [Location]

Dr. Rose, a physician, critiques Clark's advice on managing nursing home fees for dementia patients, emphasizing systemic limitations.

• Dr. Rose: "Nursing home fees are set and don't allow for better care through higher payments. The best approach is frequent visits and showing appreciation to caregivers."
• Clark: "I agree that emotional support and recognition for caregivers are crucial. Additionally, funding ABLE accounts can provide financial security without jeopardizing Medicaid benefits." [13:19]

Clark concurs with Dr. Rose's insights, reinforcing the importance of emotional support and financial planning for families dealing with dementia care.

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Protect Your Package Deliveries: Combating Porch Pirates

[15:39] Discussion on Package Theft Solutions

Clark addresses the ongoing issue of porch pirates, individuals who steal delivered packages. He recounts previous yet technologically unfeasible solutions and introduces modern advancements that offer effective protection.

• Clark: "Installing secure package receiving boxes at your home can significantly reduce the risk of package theft." [18:52]
• Chris: "I use a doorbell camera and have loud dogs, making it difficult for thieves to act unnoticed." [21:15]

Clark explains the functionality of secure boxes that allow delivery drivers to place packages safely, preventing unauthorized access. He shares a personal anecdote about his daughter using Amazon Lockers to avoid theft, highlighting the practicality of these solutions.

Key Recommendations:

1. Secure Package Receiving Boxes:

   • Installation at home
   • Accessible by various delivery services
   • Durable and cost-effective

2. Local Delivery Options:

   • Amazon Lockers
   • Facebook Marketplace
   • Local police station drop-offs for added security

3. Monitoring and Prevention:

   • Use of doorbell cameras
   • Awareness of package delivery patterns
   • Immediate retrieval of packages upon delivery notifications

Clark emphasizes the importance of proactive measures to safeguard deliveries, reducing the inconvenience and financial loss associated with package theft.

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Listener Q&A: Financial Advice and More

1. Road Bike Recommendations

[21:15] Listener: Sal from Florida

Sal seeks advice on selecting a reliable mid-range road bike to avoid high maintenance costs.

• Sal: "Looking for a dependable, durable, and cost-effective road bike akin to a Toyota in the car world."
• Clark: "I recommend consulting Consumer Reports or Cycling Weekly for comprehensive reviews and rankings of budget-friendly road bikes." [22:16]

2. Savings Bonds for Newborns

[25:23] Listener: Daryl from New Jersey

Daryl discusses disparities in the generosity of savings bond gifts between firstborns and subsequent children, seeking advice on equitable treatment.

• Daryl: "Should we distribute the bond proceeds equally or find alternative ways to balance the gifts?"
• Clark: "Consider diversifying the types of gifts for subsequent children or ensuring equal financial support through Series I savings bonds, which offer better benefits for educational purposes." [25:49]

Clark suggests strategies to balance financial gifts, ensuring fairness among siblings while maximizing the benefits of savings bonds.

3. ABLE Accounts and Special Needs Trusts

[27:11] Listener: Jill from Wisconsin

Jill confronts conflicting advice regarding ABLE accounts and their implications for Medicaid benefits, seeking clarity on optimal financial planning for her disabled daughter.

• Jill: "Should we continue funding the ABLE account despite potential Medicaid payback clauses?"
• Clark: "Continue funding the ABLE account up to the legal limit to secure financial benefits without jeopardizing government assistance. For additional funds, consider establishing a special needs trust." [28:52]

Clark advocates for maximizing ABLE account contributions to ensure financial security while adhering to Medicaid regulations, recommending special needs trusts for supplementary financial planning.

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Conclusion

In this episode, Clark Howard demonstrates his commitment to addressing listener concerns transparently and providing actionable financial advice. By engaging with critics constructively and offering solutions to common consumer problems like package theft, Clark reinforces his mission to empower individuals to make informed financial decisions.

For more insights and personalized advice, listeners are encouraged to visit www.clark.com and engage with the Team Clark through various platforms.

Transcript

[Clark Howard]

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[Chris]

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[Clark Howard]

Thanks for joining us here on the Clark Howard Show. You know our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life. And Happy Friday. You made it to the edge of the weekend. And I like to start the weekend off with some self improvement. And that's why we begin today's show with our weekly Clark Stinks segment. Also today, an easy, relatively low tech solution to the ongoing Porch Pirate problem. But right now we got to talk about the problem with me where you think I messed up. I should have never encouraged you to speak. You must 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]

Alright, I've got to give a Clark Stinks to Clark's response to the Clark Stinks regarding the United and Docter incident. First, I think we all agree that United was wrong for its atrocious policies. Beyond that, I watched the video for myself as Clark advised. Maybe Clark should review it as he continues to misrepresent the incident. No one from United touched the doctor. They called the Chicago aviation officers who ordered the doctor to exit the plane. He then refused to obey a lawful police order and resisted the officers. To be fair, those officers were later disciplined for escalating this situation. That's a far cry from Clark's false representation that United quote unquote beat up the doctor. Why do those officers get a pass in Clark's version of the story? Your listeners and viewers deserve the true story. Mike.

[Clark Howard]

Mike, thank you. Yeah, so should I have shorthanded that? You're right, I shouldn't have. The reality United completely changed its policies after Dr. Dow was beaten up. I Think he had a concussion and broken teeth, and it was just terrible. So once a passenger is seated on an aircraft, and pretty much every airline learned from this, they don't then pull you off the plane. Unless you're an airline employee or someone on a buddy pass or you're, like, unruly. Oh, yeah, yeah. Oh, no, no. If you're a discipline problem yourself. Yeah, that. That was handled completely wrong by United. They apologized. They changed all their policies. And it's true. There were poorly trained airport employees, airport security employees who dragged Dr. Dow off and injured him. How did he resist? He just sat in the seat. He said, I'm not giving up my seat. Then they grabbed him out of the seat and harmed him. But it was really all United's fault. Should the police have been better trained? I don't know if they were public. I don't know what exact official capacity they were, like public safety officer. I forget what it was. But should they have been better trained? Yes. Should they have ever been called upon by United States to do this to Dr. Dell? No.

[Chris]

Okay, let's move on.

[Clark Howard]

We're relitigating something from what, seven years ago, Eight years ago.

[Chris]

Clark, you smell worse than a durian fruit that's been left out in the sun for days. People often reference the durian fruit. You said that you would only do the Clark stink segments every other week when you went from five days a week to three days a week, but now you do them weekly. What happened, Chris?

[Clark Howard]

Chris? There were a lot of complaints from people that we weren't doing Clark stinks every week. I don't know. Do we do it two out of every three weeks? I mean, what do you think is going to be the right.

[Chris]

I don't know. We'll see. I'm getting less submissions, so it could be that we have to skip a week at some point. We'll just see how it goes.

[Clark Howard]

Okay. But the reason Clark stinks came back weekly is because there were a lot of people on Happy Chris that we were only going to do it every other week, and it'll find its natural level.

[Chris]

Clark, you stink worse than my apartment after my sick cat has painful bowel movements all over my car.

[Clark Howard]

Oh, my goodness. Oh.

[Chris]

When talking about Social Security, you agreed with a listener about how it would be a good idea for Social Security to be a forced investment. But you failed to take into account the history of Social Security since the beginning in the early 40s. It has never been investing. It has always been taking from those of working age and giving it to retired people. It would be great to find a system where it can be invested, but there are issues. How do you cleanly stop current Social Security without hosing? Basically people working now who would have paid in but not get a benefit. Jordan.

[Clark Howard]

Jordan, thank you. All right, so I don't remember the exact scenario when we were talking about it on the podcast and YouTube show, but what I've been in favor of, I talked, I think I talked about former president George W. Bush when he came up with a proposal. The idea is that people would continue to pay into traditional Social Security, which you're completely right right now is a reverse Ponzi scheme. The people working are paying for people in retirement. There is not a pile of money sitting there to pay the Social Security checks. Okay, that's all true. What I like is the idea of having not a mandatory but an add on additional Social Security. You can do that goes into an investment account automatically be pulled out of payroll and you could do it as a negative option like so many employers now do with 401ks, where you're automatically putting money into the additional investment thing unless you opt out. Whole idea is we need to get people into a position where they're benefiting from the long term advantage of being an owner of enterprises, small one as it would be. And also that we get people into a mode of saving more money towards their future so they're not impoverished in retirement. So it would have to stack on top of the existing Social Security system that would continue to be funded as it is because we don't have the money to do a sharp transition right now or I don't even know how you would do that sharp transition. That would require mathematics and economics beyond my skill level.

[Chris]

This is not too stinky, but definitely a scent of brain fart in the air for gold. You continuously fail to mention that the metal has some industrial uses. The most common industrial use is gold plating of electrical connectors to avoid corrosion and oxidation. There are commercial and military standards about gold plating indicating it is common and important. Please at least acknowledge this small but very important industrial use. Jay, a retired electrical engineer.

[Clark Howard]

Jay, thank you very much. And of course, as I would have flunked out of right away in school, any engineering class. Do you ever take engineering?

[Chris]

Oh no.

[Clark Howard]

Wow, that's so far over my head.

[Chris]

All right. Love getting your emails and the info you share, but you really have to get over the no check bags mantra. It's not always feasible. Chris.

[Clark Howard]

Chris, thank you. How much did my wife pay you? To do that post.

[Chris]

All right. I got a slight whiff from Krista when she said she doesn't buy anything from ebay unless the seller sells thousands of items. I'm a beleaguered baby boomer who. Who is trying to shed some of the many inherited items that my adult children do not want. I think some of it has value, but finding a buyer is daunting. I would like to sell it, if possible, there, if possible. Ebay seems safer than Craigslist, but Krista thinks there's too much hanky panky on ebay. If you have suggestion, please let me know. P.S. i use Freecycle for the things I don't think have much value or donate to Goodwill. I just hate to send perfectly good things to the landfill. Leslie.

[Clark Howard]

Leslie. If you ask me, the best place to do so is next door. Next door, next door, next door. Or on Facebook's local marketplace. Right. What do you call those?

[Chris]

Facebook marketplace. Yeah, but you do that. Yeah. It's a local listing. I agree. I would say those two places, too.

[Clark Howard]

I'd say would come before posting things for sale on ebay. Not going to have as wide a marketplace, but it will be local in your immediate area and only meet people.

[Chris]

In a public place. Like you can meet someone to transact at a police station, you know, just somewhere that's very public.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah, I love. I love exchanges at police stations, particularly anybody who does Craigslist. You don't want to do any transaction anywhere but right in front of a police station. I remember we talked about when there was a lot of crime involving Craigslist where people would ambush you that there were police departments around the country that were publicly notifying through local media. Hey. Come inside the precinct to do your transaction. Any crook isn't going inside the precinct to rob somebody.

[Chris]

Isn't it wonderful that you pointed out how fast food restaurants have been able to adapt and become more efficient? Lovely. You should be so proud of yourself for finding yet another way to encourage people to buy fast food, which is filled with sugar, oil, cholesterol, and saturated fat, which directly causes heart disease, diabetes, stroke, autoimmune disease, and cancer. Audrey.

[Clark Howard]

Gosh, Audrey, I'm sorry.

[Chris]

I think you can just say I'm sorry on that one.

[Clark Howard]

I'm sorry.

[Chris]

Okay, Clark, don't be such a namby pamby Regarding shared appreciation of homeownership. You gave some pros and cons, but there are no pros. People should not buy something they cannot afford. It's as simple as that.

[Clark Howard]

You.

[Chris]

You are a very influential person and you should not be leading ignorant people into a lifestyle that they cannot afford.

[Clark Howard]

Tom Tom I'd say that's too harsh. Shared appreciation mortgage I'm not a big fan of them. What they allow someone to do is live in a property that they could not afford to buy. Otherwise they get half a loaf. They get half the equity in that home down the road because the investor is getting the other half. But it allows them to own a home at least half of the ownership of the home that they wouldn't have been able to have. So I don't look at it as necessarily living beyond their means. They're in a situation where the investor is getting out of it what the investor wants and they're getting out of it what they want. A place that they can call their own, that they own half of. Is it ideal?

[Chris]

No Clark advised a woman caring for her aunt with dementia on how to fight a $30 per month nursing home fee. I'm a physician who treats dementia patients. Dementia patients are completely reliant on their caretakers. In a perfect world, every dementia patient would have a full time caretaker 24 7. But that's only an option for the super wealthy. Dementia patients can never get as much care as they need. There will never be enough resources and our system only allows set fees. You're not allowed to pay a nursing home more for better care, meaning cutting corners and nickel and diming is the only way for a home to stay open. Pick a good home and stick with it for better or for worse. Once you pick a facility, switching is almost impossible. Another home is unlikely to accept the transfer because the cost of care increases as the dementia progresses and they assume that you're not happy in one home, you won't be happy in another either. The best ways to ensure good care is to visit as often as possible and write frequent thank you letters and give frequent small gifts to show appreciation. I'd recommend large gifts and outright tipping, but it's not allowed. We save our whole lives so that we can be well cared for when infirm. And if $30 per month can go just a little way to make that happen, even if it's not fair, she should gladly pay it and add another $30 a month for gifts for each person caring for her aunt.

[Clark Howard]

Dr. Rose thank you Dr. Rose. I want to say something else about care for a parent with dementia. My mom had dementia and had it for a long time till she died nine years ago and I was stunned how many people there never had visits from family. How are you going to show the staff that they should be caring towards your loved one if nobody from the family even cares enough to ever go see them. And seeing a parent who's in care should not be looked at as an obligation. But just think back to everything your parent did for you growing up. Kids never appreciate what their parents do for them, but now the chips are down for a parent who has dementia of some kind, Alzheimer's, whatever. Be there for them. And Dr. Rose, I appreciate your perspective that these facilities are in a financial straitjacket and the actual caregivers are not well paid. And so your advice to give them gifts, maybe tokens, or you can afford it. Meaningful money is a very worthy suggestion. And the other thing is, words matter as well. When you go to visit, take the time to thank the people who take care of your loved one who's in a facility, whether it's skilled nursing, memory care, unit, assisted living. Take the time to thank the people that are there doing the hard work day after day. And on that note, we're going to move on from Clark Stinks. And if you do have a Clark Stinks you'd like to post, please go to clark.com clarksthinx to post it. Coming up next, I want to talk about the porch pirate problem that just goes on and on. And there's a solution that people tried about 10 years ago, but the technology just wasn't there yet. I want to share it with you straight ahead.

[NerdWallet]

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[Chris]

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[Clark Howard]

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[Chris]

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[Clark Howard]

This episode is brought to you by Discover. Hey listeners, bet you didn't know that Discover is accepted at 99% of places that take credit cards nationwide. You know what's a little less accepted? Taking financial advice from random usernames and avatars you found on some forums. That's just sketchy. No offense to all the finance bros out there on the Internet. Based on the February 2024 Nielsen report. Learn more at discover.com credit card the new McCrispy Strip is here Dip approved by Ketchup Tangy Barbecue Honey Mustard honey mustard Sprite McFlurry Big Mac sauce Double dipped in Buffalo and Ranch More ranch and Creamy Chili McCrispy Strip Dip now at McDonald's. The Porch Pirate thing goes on and on and on my friend. And it's so easy. You just follow the Amazon truck, the UPS truck, the FedEx truck, the postal service truck. You just see them drop something off and you grab it and you're gone. That's why it has been such a terrible problem. I've talked about all my harebrained ideas like for Amazon diverting to an Amazon locker facility or sending it to your workplace. Boy did I get some Clark stinks about that workplaces that did not like receiving packages and all the problems involved with the theft of packages. A lot of people have cameras now, so you catch a video of the crook, but the package is still gone. But there was something that some early pioneering types thought of back mid last decade and it just didn't catch on in the market. But it's back bigger time and with technology being so much more advanced than it was 10 years ago, it's a potential solution. And these, these are package receiving boxes that you install at your house. And so the delivery driver, they're set up where the delivery driver from whichever of the package delivery organizations they can open the box to put in your package. It locks. And these are very difficult to break in boxes. They're not crazy expensive. If you get a ton of deliveries and you're in an area where the porch pirates have hit repeatedly, it's an easy way for you to protect the time that's involved in the hassle of dealing with whatever company sent the package that went haywire. You know, the other thing I talked about is smaller companies that ship are now charging you a fee to if you want them to cover the cost of the stolen package because it's become such a big financial burden on the business that sold you the item in the first place. That's how big a problem this is. And so having a secure way to receive packages is the best and most important thing for you to do. My middle child, my daughter who lives in Southern California, used to live in an apartment complex that had a room that packages were just dumped in. I can't tell you how many times she had packages stolen from that room before she realized, oops, this isn't working and wasn't able to have things delivered to her anymore because they were just vanishing and she had to go pick them up at secure places. She got her Amazon packages as long as she lived at that apartment from Amazon lockers because of all the packages that were being stolen. And you've never had a package stolen.

[Chris]

From your house knock on for Micah? Not yet. I do have two very loud dogs and a doorbell camera, so I know when packages are left immediately. It tells me package left at front door. So it would be really hard for someone to get away with it. Okay. Sal in Florida says I've been riding my road bike five to six times a week and the expenses are starting to add up. My original bike from Costco ended up costing me a lot in repairs and my mechanic mentioned that it's not the best option for someone who rides as much as I do. My second bike isn't as bad, but the costs still accumulate. I'm looking for a reliable mid range road bike that offers the best value, something akin to buying a Toyota with the in the car world, dependable, durable and cost effective. Do you have any recommendations for brands or models that fit this description?

[Clark Howard]

Right. This is a great question. And you know my automatic would be. Well you should go to Consumer Reports. They this is not an area they have.

[Chris]

They've only done folding bikes.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah, yeah, they test. But you found Cycle Cycling Weekly is.

[Chris]

A magazine and they do have affiliate links but they rank all road bikes. But then they have a specific list for budget road bikes and maybe these are not high enough range for you, but it seems like what I would do is I would look at this list and then their list overall of road bikes and then I would go look at reviews for each of the bikes because I mean they're all sold on Amazon. You're going to find a ton of reviews on there even if you don't buy it there.

[Clark Howard]

But this thing is titled, this will be in our show links.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Clark Howard]

Best budget road bikes of 2025 and a cycling magazine. What they consider to be budget is different that I would consider budget. So it's probably more what you're thinking of in a mid price people who don't cycle as a big activity of theirs. You're probably not aware that people spend $6,000 on road bikes. I mean that's the kind of money they, that they'll spend. But there are a lot that you can spend a whole lot less.

[Chris]

And I have a friend who's, she's training for a triathlon and she just got a really, really good bike. Like fancy, fancy, fancy, used. So people who are really into this, they might sell their bike on Facebook, Marketplace or something like because they're getting an even fancier bike. So that's a way also to get a better bike for less money.

[Clark Howard]

So. Okay, I'm going to tell a story on a friend.

[Chris]

Okay.

[Clark Howard]

No details about who they are.

[Chris]

It's not me.

[Clark Howard]

This friend decided he was going to start riding with a group of his buddies that, that ride all the time. So he spent $5,000 on a bike. Wow. He went on one ride?

[Chris]

No.

[Clark Howard]

Then the bike sat for a while, then he sold it. How much did he get for that bike after riding one long ride?

[Chris]

Or on a more positive note, how much did the lucky buyer pay for it?

[Clark Howard]

$500 for the $5,000 bike. So you know of what you speed.

[Chris]

Yikes.

[Clark Howard]

There are people who think they're going to do something, get too enthusiastic about it, spend too much money, then they got to sell it off. And it's kind of like jewelry. Apparently with a used bike, it's worth a tiny fraction of what was paid for it originally.

[Chris]

I can attest to that with all the yarn I have in my house that I was going to knit with. Not as much as money as the bike though.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, you don't still. You used to.

[Chris]

I knit sometimes, not all the time. I knit once.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, wait a minute. What was it you used to do? Krista used to be a really nervous flyer. We would travel. We, we did syndicated radio for a long time. We travel all over the country. On our spring and fall tours. And you'd sit there and you'd be your way of calming yourself on the plane.

[Chris]

Yeah.

[Clark Howard]

Wasn't that knitting?

[Chris]

That was knitting. But then they stopped letting me bring my knitting needles on the plane.

[Clark Howard]

Oh, I didn't know those. I didn't think about those being banned.

[Chris]

All right, let's go to another question. This is from Daryl in New Jersey. I know savings bonds are a common gift for a newborn baby. And while we certainly appreciate the generosity of friends and family, we wonder what the bonds are intended for. Education or something else. We recently came across a bunch of bonds given to us years ago for our now teenage daughters and noticed that people were much more generous for our firstborn, which I guess is understandable since people tend to make more of a fuss over the first baby.

[Clark Howard]

Always happens, every family.

[Chris]

But it doesn't seem fair to the second. Should we somehow try to make it even either with our own funds or by dividing the bond proceeds or just distribute them per the names on the bonds and say, sorry kiddo, that's life.

[Clark Howard]

This will be your your judgment. I mean, you could do any of a number of things sterile for the second born. It doesn't have to be savings bonds. You could do anything to equalize it. If you did want to make sure it was equal, you could buy right now. Series I savings bonds are better deal. The ones originally purchased may have been series ees. You'd be better off with series I's for the child who was kind of left out. And depending on how the bonds are titled. If the intention is for your kids to go to college, there's a program you may qualify for where all the interest earned over the years used for college would then be tax free instead of taxable. Rules are pretty arcane, but you should be able to find them online pretty easily to find out if these bonds would best be used for college, if that's a likely destination for either or both of the kids.

[Chris]

Jill in Wisconsin says my 3 year old daughter has cognitive and physical disabilities due to a rare genetic disorder. She may need assistance for the rest of her life. When she was born, we immediately signed her up for a Medicaid and thanks to your wonderful advice, started an able account, which we have funded to the max every year.

[Clark Howard]

Good for you. An able account is a special provision of tax law that's like kind of like an a supplement to the 529 plans that parents use to save tax free for college. The529ABLE or 529A the ABLE account allows a parent of a disabled child to put aside money over the years that does not erode that child's ability to receive government assistance for care.

[Chris]

And so Jill goes on and says, recently when we met with an estate planning attorney experienced in setting up special needs trusts, she cautioned us against putting any more money into the ABLE account because of a little known Medicaid payback clause. This means if my daughter were to die with money left in the ABLE account, those funds would go to pay back Medicaid. The estate lawyer then suggested that for future monetary gifts, we might be better served investing them in a bank via a special needs trust, which would not have the tax benefits and would likely be much more expensive. So what do we do? There is no reason to believe my daughter will die prematurely. So my thought is to continue to fund the able up to $100,000 and then when she's older and needs assistance, spend that money first. Any advice you have on this is greatly appreciated and will likely help many families with children with disabilities.

[Clark Howard]

Thank you very much for your post because Jill, we probably only have two questions a year about that apply to ABLE accounts. I'm with you versus the advice you receive professionally. I'm not an estate lawyer, but I'm with you because the financial needs of a child with disabilities in adulthood can be so significantly costly that you getting up to that hundred thousand dollars you're allowed to put in an ABLE before you disqualify your child from any government assistance or you put that government assistance in jeopardy is an absolute first step. I mean the worst that happens is the worst that you lose your child at a younger age than you expected. The best circumstance, the ABLE grows so nicely tax free over the years. And the ABLE accounts, the good ABLE accounts are so inexpensive to administer that it's very efficient money. And I wouldn't worry about. You got more to worry about if your child dies younger than you expect than the fact that Medicaid is going to do a recapture of the money. So I'm with you. I think the, the smart first move is that you want to fund that ABLE and then if you are in a financial position to be able to put more money aside in one of these expensive to. To draw up and expensive to administer trusts so that more money is there, great, go for it. But I think the ABLE account has filled a need that is so necessary for families with children with disabilities. I think it's great it exists. I think it's great they're affordable and wonderful that you've been able to put funding into it, I would not stop doing that. Just make sure you never end up with money in there beyond the hundred thousand. And thank you so much for taking time to join us today. Know that we're here for you all week long in so many different ways. Social media, our websites, and if you live in a city that you see me on TV or hear me on radio, we've got that for you. We've got our newsletters, we have our free one on one advice available to you from the Team Clark Consumer Action Center. Everything we're about is about you being empowered with knowledge so that you can save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off.