06.17.26 Let’s Channel Your Inner Millionaire / Reluctant Landlords

Summary

The Clark Howard Podcast: Let’s Channel Your Inner Millionaire / Reluctant Landlords

Episode Date: June 17, 2026
Host: Clark Howard
Summary Prepared By: Podcast Summarizer AI

---

Episode Overview

In this episode, Clark Howard explores two central themes:

1. How Ordinary People Become Millionaires: Drawing on recent Kiplinger research and classic works like The Millionaire Next Door, Clark discusses the habits and strategies that allow everyday Americans to achieve millionaire status—emphasizing slow, steady wealth-building instead of high-risk bets.
2. The Rise of Reluctant Landlords: Clark offers practical guidance for homeowners who feel forced into renting out their properties due to stagnant home sales. Drawing on his 43 years as a landlord, he lays out both the pitfalls and best practices for accidental landlords.

The episode also includes answers to listener questions on credit cards, vacation deals, the Oura ring, managing divorce and home equity, credit card management for retirees, and battling calendar spam.

---

Channeling Your Inner Millionaire

[01:02 – 16:10]

Key Points

• The Tortoise Wins the Race:
  Clark likens wealth-building to the fable of the tortoise and the hare, emphasizing slow and steady saving/investing rather than chasing windfalls.

  “It was data that Kiplinger has collected about first time millionaires. How did people become millionaires? There are some real insights with it that I want to share with you.” — Clark Howard [01:10]

• Evolution in Wealth-Building:

  • Past: Research (e.g., The Millionaire Next Door) showed most millionaires built "under the radar" service businesses (plumbing, HVAC, etc.), often selling to private equity when retiring.
  • Present: Thanks to retirement plans like 401(k)s and IRAs—and the power of compound interest—even regular wage earners can become millionaires if they stick to good habits.

• Compounding & Living Below Your Means:

  • Habits, not luck, are key: “What Kiplinger found… people who become millionaires… give their money time to grow… people doing just regular jobs… end up financially independent.” [04:52]
  • The biggest shared trait: consistently spending less than you earn, and investing the difference.

  “The proof is that this is how you can become wealthy down the road is deferring wants.” — Clark Howard [05:52]

• Investment Choices:

  • Most new millionaires today build wealth through “boring” retirement accounts (401(k), IRA, especially Roth versions).
  • Chasing the next “Apple” is akin to buying lottery tickets; focus on process and discipline, not big bets.

• Memorable Quote:

  “I want you to stack the decks that you don’t need a lottery. You win just by habits. Saving, investing, and living on less than what you make.” — Clark Howard [07:12]

• Book Recommendation:

  • The Wealthy Barber (Canadian classic): allegorical story about a barber who quietly built wealth and retired comfortably by prioritizing saving over spending.

  “The core and the key is you live on less than what you make. You do low-cost investing, you use the tax code to your advantage with the Roth versions of the IRA and 401(k)… and ultimately you end up with financial independence, which is the goal. Right?” [08:51]

---

Audience Q&A Highlights

[09:11 – 16:10]

1. Paying Off & Closing Credit Cards

[09:11]

• Question: Should I close credit cards I’ve just paid off?
• Clark’s Advice: No! Keeping cards open helps your credit history and score. Use cards sparingly; pay in full to manage temptation.

  “That grabs defeat right from the jaws of victory… you keep that credit alive because that is what forms your credit reputation.” — Clark Howard [09:22]

2. Scoring Off-Season Caribbean Vacation Deals

[10:26]

• Question: Is it wise to chase last-minute Caribbean deals during hurricane season?
• Clark’s Advice: Absolutely—if you’re flexible and watch the weather. Use last-minute deal sites; let the best deal pick your destination.

  “I actually recommend the other way… You say, ‘That sounds like fun. I’ll go there,’ where you let the deal drive your destination.” — Clark Howard [11:17]

3. The Cost of the Oura Ring & Wearable Tech Value

[11:57]

• Critique: Clark didn’t mention the annual Oura ring subscription fee; is it worth it given tech’s lifespan?
• Clark’s Response: Transparent about costs. For him, health tracking has been life-changing, especially as wearables get more advanced (e.g., future blood pressure warnings). But agrees it’s a heavy investment—not for everyone.

  “Aura is expensive, there is no doubt. And I’ve been wearing Aura for six plus years and I really believe in what it’s been able to do for me…” — Clark Howard [12:38]

---

Reluctant Landlords: Managing an Accidental Rental

[18:24 – 23:46]

Market Context

• New Trend: Zillow reports a rise in "involuntary landlords"—homeowners renting out property because sales have stalled.

Clark’s Landlord Wisdom

Key Lessons and Warnings:

• Being a landlord isn’t passive income—there is real work, risk, and potential costs.

• Always screen tenants thoroughly: Don’t rely on impressions or take shortcuts.

  “You want to prevent problems, not try to correct them after they’ve happened… there are services you can find easily online, and you can charge the tenant… an application fee to cover the background check you’re going to do.” — Clark Howard [19:06]

• If unsure, hire a local real estate agency to handle renting, screening, and management—expect to pay 7–10% of rent, plus markups on repairs.

Rental Management Do’s:

• Treat it as a business: Set and enforce strict policies on rent collection, late fees, and evictions.

  “You need to go into it like it’s a business, business you didn’t want to go into. You need to jump in with both feet and do it right.” – Clark Howard [21:30]

• If it’s too much, consider selling—even if it means adjusting the price.

Memorable Moment:
Clark candidly tells stories of tenants who “skip,” leave abruptly after fires, and cause damage—evidence that landlord life can get messy if not managed professionally.

---

Additional Listener Q&A

[23:46 – 30:34]

1. Navigating Home Loans After Divorce

[23:49]

• Scenario: Listener in divorce wants to keep the house with low income; options for assuming or refinancing two mortgages, potentially with brother as cosigner.
• Clark’s Advice:
  a) Check if first mortgage is assumable—rare but not impossible; scrutinize loan documents.
  b) Be realistic about affordability on $40k income. Don’t let emotions override financial sense; don’t risk your brother’s finances.

  “You got some homework here… I’m really only concerned about the first mortgage at the 3%. You want to get those loan documents out… Your brother is a kind soul… You need to work on a budget and see if you can afford it.” — Clark Howard [24:46]

2. Corporate Cards Before Retirement

[27:40]

• Question: What to do with a mandatory corporate credit card upon retirement?
• Clark’s Advice: Before retiring, open a new card in your own name and then close the corporate card; this helps preserve your credit history.

3. Managing Spam Calendar Invites

[28:52]

• Listener Tip: How to block unwanted Google Calendar invites (step-by-step walkthrough provided at [28:52–29:49]).
• Clark’s Reaction: Grateful for community advice; highlights the dangers of clicking unknown invites (malware risk).

---

Notable Quotes & Moments

• “You win just by habits. Saving, investing, and living on less than what you make.” — Clark Howard [07:12]
• “Rent is due when rent is due. A lot of times people will slide on paying rent… This is business.” — Clark Howard [20:34]
• “We don’t do enough as community anymore… something I want different here with what we do in our orbit is that we all serve each other and help each other and help make community better.” — Clark Howard [30:34]

---

Timestamps for Key Segments

• [01:02] — Main intro / Channeling your inner millionaire
• [04:52] — Importance of investing/budgeting habits for wealth-building
• [09:11] — Credit card management Q&A
• [10:26] — Off-season vacation deals
• [11:57] — Oura ring and wearables discussion
• [18:24] — Reluctant landlords market context and advice
• [23:46] — Divorce, home loans, and refinancing
• [27:40] — Corporate cards and retirement
• [28:52] — Blocking spam Google Calendar invites

---

Final Thoughts

Clark’s episode delivers practical, motivational strategies for ordinary people to achieve financial independence—focusing on the power of consistent, conservative financial habits over get-rich-quick schemes. His landlord segment is an honest, reality-based guide for those thrust into the rental world by circumstance. Listener participation adds practical advice and community spirit, living up to the show’s mission: Save more, spend less, and avoid ripoffs.

---

For more resources, check clark.com and clarkdeals.com. Submit your questions at clark.com/askclark.

Transcript

[Indeed Advertiser]

When you need to build up your team to handle the growing chaos at work, use Indeed Sponsored Jobs. It gives your job posts the boost it needs to be seen and helps reach people with the right skills, certifications and more. Spend less time searching and more time actually interviewing candidates who check all your boxes. Listeners of this show will get a $75 sponsored job credit@ Indeed.com podcast. That's Indeed.com podcast. Terms and conditions apply. Need a hiring hero? This is a job for Indeed Sponsored Jobs.

[Daredevil Promo Voice]

Where is Daredevil?

[Clark Howard]

I'm right here.

[Daredevil Promo Voice]

Don't miss the return of Marvel Television's Daredevil Born Again.

[Clark Howard]

So what's next?

[Schwab/AT&T Advertiser]

I feel liberated.

[Clark Howard]

We're gonna take this city back over

[Daredevil Promo Voice]

medicated in an all new season. Now streaming only on Disney plus.

[Clark Howard]

They're hunting us. It's time we started hunting them.

[Daredevil Promo Voice]

I can work with them.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Assistant]

This should be tons of fun.

[Daredevil Promo Voice]

Marvel Television's Daredevil Born Again. Now streaming only on Disney Pl

[Clark Howard]

Foreign I'm so glad you're with us here on the Clark Howard Show. Think about what we're about. Our mission is to provide you information and advice that empowers you so you can make better financial decisions in your life. And I want to give the example of the turtle today, or as I was corrected by a listener viewer, it's actually the tortoise. It was data that Kiplinger has collected about first time millionaires. How did people become millionaires? There are some real insights with it that I want to share with you and also a lot of Americans. This is something I talked about on Monday. Homes are not selling like people would like who own them. And so people are becoming what are known as involuntary or reluctant landlords. If you are thinking about going down this path as someone who's been a landlord for over 40 years, there's some things I want to share with you. But right now I want to go in the Wayback Machine. Last century there was research done by a couple of professors and it generated some books like the Millionaire Next Door and some others in the series. What was key to what they discovered in their research about how people became millionaires was one of the key things that led to people becoming millionaires was they owned under the radar businesses, usually service businesses, people who might own a heating and air conditioning company or a plumbing company or an electrical contractor, auto repair shop. Businesses that don't necessarily have glamour attached to them but have a good stream of income and a value to the enterprise that when it would be sold. And by the way, you know I make a lot of aspersions to private equity. But a lot of the people who become millionaires from these kind of service businesses, if they don't have a natural heir with a kid who wants the business or something like that, the big time buyers of these businesses tend to be private equity. They keep the local name there. You don't realize you're not dealing with who originally owned it. And the individual who built up the business over time is able to cash out and have that money. So that's a path. And that was very heavily in the millionaire Next door and other information that came out of that research. But what Kiplinger has found is that today, because of the financialization of the U.S. economy that people working a regular job can become a millionaire. Fidelity. I talked a few months ago about research at Fidelity Investments that found how common it's becoming that people who just have good habits, saving and a retirement plan for a long time end up being millionaires. What Kiplinger found that was consistent in the research they did is that people who become millionaires think about this. When you borrow money, you're paying back more than you borrowed, right? You ever look at, let's say you've finance a house and you see you borrowed this amount of money and over the years you're going to pay this huge amount of money. You take out a vehicle loan, you borrow this much, but over the years of that loan you're going to pay this much more back. Well, that's one of the fundamentals that savers get. The compounding effect of time and money put aside. You know, it's why I've talked for decades and decades about the earlier you start living on less than what you make, the greater financial success you're going to have later in life for the rest of your life. And it was universal in the Kiplinger research that people who give their money time to grow end up in this group of people who work not at jobs, they make a lot of money, just regular jobs, end up financially independent, end up millionaires was specifically what they were looking for. And where do they put that money? This is going to shock you based on being a regular Listener, viewer of me 401ks IRAs, that's where the money goes. The people who they're like school teachers, government employees, people doing just regular everyday jobs that you wouldn't think they're going to end up independently wealthy later in life, but they do because they are putting money aside like clockwork. You know, you hear me say these concepts all the time. But the proof is that this is how you can become wealthy down the road is deferring wants. Because what was another key principle of every single person, every single one who became a millionaire, they lived on less than what they make. I mean, it's so crazy that I've been through these arguments with my son, who's 20 years old, where he thinks it's all about picking the right investment and getting a huge return on your money, looking for the next Apple or the next AI company or whatever. That's like trying to win a lottery. I want you to stack the decks that you don't need a lottery. You win just by habits. Saving, investing, and living on less than what you make. You know, there was a book like 40 years ago called the Wealthy Barber. It wasn't popular in the United States. It's a Canadian book. And it was about how this barber ended up retiring crazy wealthy. And his customers that were in his chair kept on having to work. And what he. What the barber learned was you just. He'd hear people talk about that, you know, they were taking this trip or buying that new car, they bought the vacation house or whatever, all about consumption. And he was like, you know what? I just need to put some money aside every week from what I make as a barber. And it was really just. It was almost like a fable. It's like just a story to try to get the concept across that the core and the key is you live on less than what you make. You do low cost investing, you use the tax code to your advantage with the Roth versions of the IRA and the 401k, unless you're making a lot more money, and we're talking about here, and ultimately you end up with financial independence, which is the goal. Right?

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Assistant]

All right. Salas in North Carolina says Clark gave a recent tip about how to best pay off your credit cards. My question is, once you've paid off the credit card, should you close them completely?

[Clark Howard]

No, no, please don't close them. Because that. That grabs defeat right from the jaws of victory is fantastic. You paid off all the debt, and so you keep that credit alive because that is what forms your credit reputation is your credit score and credit report. If you close those accounts, then you don't show available active credit. Now, I know it's scary to have that credit since you got in trouble with it before, but what you do is you use credit sparingly moving forward with the credit cards you had, but always design it where you're paying in full. I know there's a school of thought that says that every week pay whatever you charged if you've gotten in trouble with credit in the past just to make sure you don't get in trouble with it. And if you're comfortable with that, that's how I do it.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Assistant]

Chip in Texas says, I love the camaraderie on the show. Everyone seems to have a great time sharing their experiences. Even hugging Henry Winkler. I just realized that was still in there. That's funny. Hurricane season runs from the beginning of June to the end of November and I can see some amazing deals in Atlantic and Caribbean resorts. Hurricanes seem to have some warning period. So I was wondering what you think about watching the weather and the deals to make a last minute cheap vacation. Are the insects and weather lousy during that time and is there a safer way to save more money on a beachfront vacation?

[Clark Howard]

No Chip, this is a winning strategy and there are a lot of the resorts off off off season, particularly talking about end of summer. You know, when you get up to September is a great bargain month in the Caribbean. You know, fun in the sun kind of areas that are prone to hurricanes and last minute specials. There are all kinds of sites. Vacations To Go is a popular one, but there are many others where they post last minute deals. And so you can say, you know what, it'd be great next week to be in fill in the blank and look at this incredible deal. I actually recommend the other way you see the incredible deals that are posted for last minute. You say that sounds like fun. I'll go there where you let the deal drive your destination.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Assistant]

Love it. Lewis in Florida says, why does Clark rave about the Oura ring but fail to mention the additional $70 a year subscription? The newest ring already sells for over $400 over years. The cost of having the ring plus the yearly subscription comes to roughly $680. With today's electronics and batteries that may only last four years, you could easily end up with little to no long term value before needing another device. Clark acts like I'm somehow better than the rest of us redheaded stepchildren because I have a 400 ring and a $70,000 Tesla. As a Saints fan, I call that the classic Atlanta dirty bird attitude. That's kind of a Clark stinks.

[Clark Howard]

Oh that was a Clark. I love it. Okay, so first of all, my Tesla was a lot cheaper than that. Second, the Oura ring has been so important in my life is getting more important because as I've shared with you many times, my health is not the greatest and having this device track my health. And now the new software with Aura is allegedly going to allow much better micro targeting of warning signs of potential serious illnesses. That's the future of medical wearables is being able to monitor your health and specifically zero in. One of the things that is anticipated with the newest Aura is it's going to be able to give you warning that your blood pressure is not trending well. And that's something that wearables have been trying to do of all different types for a long time and nobody's really been able to crack that code yet. But as I shared recently on the podcast, Aura is actually helping to save people's lives who the health numbers, the warnings it's giving are leading to discovery of illnesses like various cancers before they've had a chance to spread and become potentially fatal. And so Aura is expensive, there is no doubt. And I've been wearing Aura now for six plus years and I really believe in what it's been able to do for me and being able to target my health and improve my health. One of the things it's done is I sleep dramatically better than I used to because of following the suggestions of Aura. So spending it's a huge amount of money. You're not kidding. For the ring plus the subscription. And so for me, who goes to doctors enough I know where to park for free within one mile of most of the places I have to go to the doctor. If somebody has that kind of detail about how to avoid paying for parking at various doctor's offices, my health is, you know, so for me, tracking I wear a Garmin where the Samsung. I got Samsung health. I got the Garmin tracking me, I've got the Aura. Obviously an obsessive overload on my part, but I want to be active in improving my own health and that's why for me it's been worth it. And not sure the Falcons are going to have a great season this year. It's been tough for us as Falcons fans lately, but you know, hope always springs eternal and the best is always when we beat the Saints. Coming up ahead, involuntary landlords. Basically a continuation of our soap operatic coverage of what's going on in the housing market. When I talk about so you want to become a landlord when you didn't intend to. What does that mean?

[Schwab/AT&T Advertiser]

Self directed investing, Trading, full service wealth management, Automated investing, financial planning, Thematic investing, retirement planning, Few. And to think that's just a small taste of what Schwab offers. Because Schwab knows that when it comes to your finances. Choice matters. No matter your goals, investing style, life, stage or experience, Schwab has everything you need all in one place so you can invest your way. Visit schwab.com to learn more. This episode is brought to you by AT and T Business. For business owners, connectivity is key. If you are starting your business today, that would be your first concern and your first decision. Reliable connectivity is essential to launching whether you're local or national. For a business owner, it's a decision that pays benefits every day and in every aspect of your operation. Make the right decision. Choose AT and T Business AT and T Business is a reliable provider for business owners powered by AT and T Business Built to work. Get AT and t [e-mail] tomorrow morning is knocking.

[Starbucks Advertiser]

Stock your fridge now. How about a Creamy Mocha Frappuccino drink? Or a sweet vanilla smooth caramel maybe? Or white chocolate mocha? Whichever you choose, delicious coffee awaits. Find Starbucks Frappuccino drinks wherever you buy your groceries.

[Microsoft Advertiser]

Study and Play come together on a Windows 11 PC and for a limited time, college students get the best of both worlds. Get the Unreal College Deal Everything youg Need to Study and Play with select Windows 11 PCs. Eligible students get a year of Microsoft 365 Premium and a year of Xbox Game Pass ultimate with a custom color Xbox wireless controller. Learn [e-mail] studentoffer while supplies last ends June 30th terms at aka mscollegepc.

[State Farm Advertiser]

This episode is brought to you by State Farm. You know those friends who support your preference for podcasts over music on road trips? That's the energy State Farm brings to insurance. With over 19,000 local agents, they help you find the coverage that fits your needs so you can spend less time worrying about insurance and more time enjoying the ride. Download the State Farm app or go online@state farm.com like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.

[Clark Howard]

Zillow reports that we've got a larger number of would be home sellers converting into involuntary landlords than they have ever shown in data going back a good while. Zillow has been around for a while and so people are feeling like they don't have a good alternative that their house isn't selling. They can't afford to or don't wish to cut the price. And so they say, oh well, guess we're going to have to rent this place out. As someone who has had a variety of experiences over the years with tenants, being a landlord now for 43 years, I've had a variety of rental properties I have just two right now. I used to have a lot more and having had some interesting adventures like tenants who skip, tenants who don't pay, tenants who left after having had a fire and a property and just vanished. I mean, I've seen it all. I've seen damages of various kinds of. And I have loved being a landlord. But if you are thinking, gosh, nobody wants my home, we're going to just rent it out. Renting it out is not just a decision you take lightly. The process requires up front. You know, you want to prevent problems, not try to correct them after they've happened. What do I mean by that with screening tenants? A lot of involuntary landlords look at the whole thing is just being a bother. And you'll advertise place for rent. Somebody comes along, they seem nice, they seem good, drive a nice car, say they've got a good job, you say, great, here's the lease. You pick out a lease you find online and you fill it out, you have them sign it and you get the money. You think you're good and then that's the last good thing that happens. Because once you get somebody in your property who's not okay getting them out, depending on what jurisdiction the country is from, anywhere from maybe a couple month hassle to more costs you money. You don't know what damage they've done, you get no money on the property. Screening tenants up front is so very important. And there are services you can find easily online. And you can charge the tenant just like any apartment complex you can charge it would be tenant an application fee to cover the background check you're going to do. This is so very important because you never know when somebody might be up to something no good in your place. And so I want you to get the screening right. You can. Even if you just hate the whole process of being a landlord, you can resign yourself up front to paying a local real estate agency. And more and more of them offer rental services for involuntary landlords where you pay them a commission first to get a tenant in there, do all the screening and then to collect the rent ongoing. They might charge 7 to 10% of the monthly rent for their services. If somebody has to be evicted, they handle it. Things need repairing. You're not getting the calls from the tenant, they're getting the calls from the tenant. Just know whatever the repairs are, it's going to be cost plus. Plus you're going to pay a markup because they'll have their own captive contractors that they pay and market up to you. For the services. But if you are going to do it yourself, rent is due. When rent is due, a lot of times people will slide on paying rent. And you being an individual, you might like the person. You may take their excuse. This is business. I need for you to think of it like if you've ever rented from a traditional apartment building or complex, what do they do if the rent's not in on time? They charge you late fees. And what do they do if you still don't pay? They start eviction proceedings as soon as necessary because that is no longer a revenue producing property and they've got somebody living there rent free. I need for you, if you are going to do this, to go into it like it's a business, business you didn't want to go into. You need to jump in with both feet and do it right. And if you're not willing to do that, you hire a professional to do it or you decide, you know what, we're going to let it sit empty and we're going to still try to sell it, maybe even cut the price to get it sold.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Assistant]

Okay. You ready for some questions?

[Clark Howard]

I am.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Assistant]

This one's from Eric in Utah who's in a tough situation. Eric says I'm through a divorce and I'd like to understand my options for financing the home we shared. I'll have the option to keep the house, but I'm not sure if my options to assume or refinance the loans. My self employed income is low. It will go up over time at $40,000 and my ex's income is $250,000.

[Clark Howard]

Wow.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Assistant]

There are two loans outstanding, a first mortgage and a second mortgage. The first is at 3% with $175,000 outstanding and 14 years left. The second is at 5.99% with $150,000 outstanding and 16 years left. The home's equity is $375,000. I have a brother who would be willing to co sign as a last resort. He has a high income and great credit. I'm confident that I'll be able to afford the mortgage and would obviously like to keep the low interest rate. Thanks for all of your service.

[Clark Howard]

So Eric, first of all, I'm sorry you're going through the pain of divorce right now and unless what you read, I misunderstood you. You said his income's $40,000 a year. I'm really worried about you, Eric. You say you can afford the payments. I'm worried. At an income of approximately $3,500 a month, you're going to be able to afford the carry cost of 325,000 in mortgage debt. I assume you're going to owe your estranged spouse some share of equity too

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Assistant]

and probably will have to refinance for sure.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah. So there's a small percent of loans that are assumable but it's a rare thing. So you got some homework here. You got to check to see if and I'm really only concerned about the first mortgage at the 3%. You want to get those loan documents out and make sure you're really awake and not disturbed at all. You want to read through on what assumability options there are and a loan will say clearly if it's not assumable. It will say that and what you're looking for is assumable. Non escalating. That means you keep the same interest rate and if you use an AI tool you can load the the mortgage into it and have AI search for the information you're looking for. If it's too hard for you to do it just reading it yourself. Your brother is a kind soul and the fact that he's willing to co sign may be required because of your income versus the amount of debt you're taking on. But you need to work on a budget and see once you see what the monthly payments would be if the loan's not assumable. And you're going to have to pay off both of these with a new refi at today's interest rates. Can you afford it? I understand emotionally and practically you want to keep the home and you're going to have to see if that is actually a viable option. Because what I don't want you to do is get into a loan obligation you can't afford and you're not able to stay in the house and your brother can get stuck with some serious obligations from doing this. So that's why I want you to just look at the straight dollars and cents once you see what is actually involved in the possibility of assuming that the original first mortgage that's at a fantastic interest rate you'd love to keep.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Assistant]

Dave in Alabama says the company I work for forces us to get a corporate credit card to use for travel. It's a card I would never get otherwise as it has no benefits for me now that I'm retiring. Should I cancel this card or just throw it away? But leave it open. I don't want it to affect my credit score.

[Clark Howard]

Okay Dave, first of all, congratulations on your retirement. Before you retire I want you to get another card that's your card replacing the credit. This. Had you said it's a card you never use. I want you to get one that would be useful to you in your life. If you're looking for one, what I'd love is for you to look at a simple no annual fee cash back card paying 2% cash back. We've got a list of some of those on clark.com replace the credit. I call it leapfrogging. You replace it and then you cancel that card. Your history of having had the card will remain part of your credit standing and you'll have the new card that would be useful to you to replace it and whatever credit you need you want to get before you're officially retired.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Assistant]

Okay. And Sean in Wisconsin wrote in. A few people wrote in about this. I heard you discuss the problem of spam calendar invites showing up on people's calendars. This happened to me too. And what made it especially frustrating is that I never even saw the original invite in my inbox. It went straight to spam, but the event still landed on my calendar. For anyone using Google Calendar, there's a setting that fixes this. And we only heard from people about Google Calendar settings. Open Google Calendar and click the green gear icon. Then you choose Settings. In the left menu, click Event Settings. Change Add invitations to my calendar from everyone to either only if the sender is known or when I respond to the invitation in email. If the only if sender is known option works well for most people. It limits auto added events to contacts and people that you've interacted with before. So random spammers can't drop events onto your calendar anymore.

[Clark Howard]

Okay. I was trying to follow all those instructions. That was too quick.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Assistant]

Well, anyone can always pause and go back and listen to it. And we'll put it in the show notes as well. Today, that episode, I love that.

[Clark Howard]

And I want to thank Sean and the others who posted about this because this is just terrible when things show up on your calendar. You had nothing to do.

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Assistant]

I got another one the other day. It was from a different service than we even talked about. It was. It was like a fake punch bowl invite. It's called as one of the invite services. So.

[Clark Howard]

So you. You're going to do this same thing?

[Clark Howard Show Producer/Assistant]

I don't know. Because I do. I probably won't because my Google Calendar is my work calendar that I use and I get invitations to meetings from people from other organizations. But I'm careful to see what I'm being invited to now.

[Clark Howard]

So I'm definitely going to do this. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you. I love it because, Sean, you're part of Team Clark. You're making a difference for other people. If you're not aware of why this was so dangerous, people are trying to get you to click on things and then it can download viruses into your phone or your computer, and you don't want stray stuff showing up on your calendar. So thank you for the suggestion about how to deal with this, and I appreciate all the time that I'll say, gosh, I don't know how to do that. And we will instantly hear from people who say, clark, you should know this. Do this and this other thing. And then we check them out first before we talk about them. But it's all part of the force multiplier of what we do as a team to help each other, to serve each other. And we don't do enough as community anymore, generally as a country. And that's something I want different here with what we do in our orbit is that we all serve each other and help each other and help make community better. So thank you for that. And we have more of that coming on our next podcast Friday. As a special birthday treat for me, the day before my birthday, we get to have the birthday edition of Clark Stinks coming up Friday. And I so look forward to sharing that with you. So have some more empowerment in your life so you can save more, spend less, and avoid getting ripped off. See you on Friday.

[Shopify Advertiser]

Starting a business can seem like a daunting task unless you have a partner like Shopify. They have the tools you need to start and grow your business. From designing a website to marketing to selling and beyond, Shopify can help with everything you need. There's a reason millions of companies like Mattel, Heinz and Allbirds continue to trust and use them. With Shopify on your side, turn your big business idea into sign up for your $1 per month [e-mail] specialoffer stitch fix.

[Stitch Fix Advertiser]

Stop shopping. Get styled. Not today, sweatpants. Somebody's wearing jeans that fit.

[Daredevil Promo Voice]

Wow.

[Schwab/AT&T Advertiser]

No photos, please. I'm just a regular dad who happens to have a stylist.

[Clark Howard]

I really look my best when someone else makes the decisions.

[Shopify Advertiser]

Hey, we can all see you two way mirrors.

[Stitch Fix Advertiser]

Just share your size, style and budget and your stylist sends personalized looks right to your door. Stitch Fix. Get started today@stitch fix.com. i want to hug you. I'm going to hug you. I'm coming. I'm coming in for a hug.