Clark Howard Show Caller / Listener (6:50)

Okay, speaking of condos, Jennifer in Alaska has this question. I'm soon to be 58 years old. In August of 2024, I purchased a condo for $128,000 at 6.5%. I have a traditional and Roth IRA totaling about 350,000. Between the two, I contribute to my Roth IRA as well as contributing to a Roth 401K that I have through a part time job. I'm not quite meeting my yearly Roth contribution max. I've been putting an extra $100 a month towards my mortgage. I will likely sell this condo and move within the next eight years. Would it be better for me to put that $100 a month into my Roth IRA or keep throwing it at the mortgage? Just curious, which option will grow my money in a more meaningful way?

Clark Howard (7:39)

So you throw money at the mortgage. You're getting a guaranteed six and a half percent return right now. That's pretty fantastic. Guaranteed return. You think about people right now with savings accounts are happy to earn if they can get 4%. They're like, wow, I got this high yield savings account earning 4%. You have a mortgage that every dollar you throw to it, you're getting a guaranteed 6.5% return. At the same time, you can't eat that equity in the house. So there's an advantage to putting money into a Roth that grows tax free and it's spent tax free. But stocks are very highly valued right now and returns are likely to be lower over the eight years than you contributing additional money towards the mortgage balance. So in this case, I vote for putting the hundred towards the mortgage balance.

Clark Howard Show Caller / Listener (8:40)

Wow, I'm surprised. This may be bad math. You always say I'm an English major, but when I was thinking about this, when I saw this question, I was thinking, well, whatever money I put into the Roth, then if it does grow at all over the next eight or longer years, then I'm getting whatever I'm saving, whatever tax bracket I'm in. Percentage. I mean, I know it, tax brackets ratchet up as you go up in income. But you know that's going to be higher than six and a half percent in terms of the savings on the taxes, isn't it?

Clark Howard (9:12)

Well, no, because Jennifer, when she sells the condo, it'll be a tax free sale, right? So she's going to pocket all that equity. There'll be no tax on it and she's getting the guaranteed six and a half. But think about got it all the people who are sitting there with these ultra low mortgage rates like you've got from back when the Federal Reserve was suppressing mortgage rates to try to keep us from a depression after the banking scandals. And it never makes sense to prepay on one of those because the rates that people are paying are so crazy low you start looking at six and a half percent. There's a real advantage especially because stocks are by historical measures meaningfully overvalued. So that's why I say that for Jennifer.

Clark Howard Show Caller / Listener (10:03)

Okay, Byron in Kentucky says given the current state of the housing market, how long should a first time buyer plan to keep a home purchased today? The general Guideline has been five to seven years and I've heard you recommend at least 10 in the last few years. Which would it be even longer now since appreciation is likely to be flat or slow over the next few years after the recent run up in home prices.

Clark Howard (10:26)

So this one's a really tough call. But I stick to the decade. I've said a lot will happen between now and 35 and so that's why over this 10 year cycle I think you're going to be okay. But I also want you looking at what is the cost of renting right now where you live in Kentucky per month versus the cost of buying. If the cost of buying is per month significantly higher than renting, knowing that housing prices are likely to grow at a much slower rate over the next decade, it states a really good argument for renting longer than going ahead and buying. If you're just looking at dollars and cents now if you can buy Byron at a price that would keep it monthly cost that would be not significantly higher than the cost of rent. Go ahead and buy with the intention of owning until at least 2035m in.

Clark Howard Show Caller / Listener (11:35)

Colorado says hi Clark and gang. I just got a notification from Experian that my Social Security number was found on the dark web by something called National Security Breach. I have all three credit bureau profiles locked and frozen. The free one. What else am I to do? I also have a hospitality question. As I was packing up to check out of my hotel in Alabama, one of the cleaning people knocked on the door. When she saw I left a tip on the table, she asked if she could take it. She said management comes to take it as soon as guests leave and don't let the housekeepers keep the tip. I politely closed the door without giving her the tip. Do you know what this is all about?

Clark Howard (12:14)

Yeah. There are hotels where the employees don't get to keep the tips. And there are hotels now that will have a scan for paying a tip with Venmo or Cash App or something like that. And you don't know if that tip is ever going to the housekeeper. If you knew that was your housekeeper, I would have felt okay handing the money to the housekeeper. And in fact, I do hand cash when I'm leaving. If I see the housekeeper, I say, is this your room you're cleaning? If they say yes, I hand the tip right to the housekeeper. So I know they get it. But no big deal. As long as it was in the room, the next person who's likely to be in it will be that housekeeper, and they'll get the tip that you have left. Now, let's go back to your first question about the notification. All right, so the reality is, probably all of us have our Social Security number exposed at this point. Been so many breaches, starting with the medical industry, the giant Equifax breach of years ago. Gosh, that one alone exposed the Social Security number of roughly half of all American adults. So just know that your Social Security number is out there just waiting for a criminal to seize on it. You said something. You said locked, frozen. Okay? The credit bureaus try to steer you to this inferior thing called lock. And if you've done a lock on any of your credit bureau files, go back and change it to a freeze. A freeze is much more comprehensive at keeping information away from prying eyes. They're both free, but the credit bureaus make their money selling off your dossier over and over again. When you have a lock in place, they don't get to sell it when you have a freeze in place. And that's why a freeze is the more effective thing to do, even though the credit bureaus will all three mislead you into thinking you should do a lock instead of a freeze. And I need to reiterate, you set up a credit freeze. It's free to do, free to thaw whenever you need to apply for credit, but makes no difference with any of the credit you already have. Coming up ahead, I need to warn you about a quickly expanding practice to harm you when you go to the doctor to get well or get better.

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Clark Howard (18:03)

There's something dirty and rotten going on in medical around the United States. Hospital systems are trying to become quasi monopolies or monopolies in metro areas. And what they're doing is they're buying up all the facilities and doctor practices that can be lucrative for them in their area. And they'll go to a doctor's practice, maybe it's owned by several doctors or it's owned by an individual practitioner, and they'll make an offer the doctor finds it hard to refuse. You know, if you want to stay in our network, you've got to come to work for us. And we're going to buy your practice and we're going to pay you. Depending on the specialty and how valuable it is, the hospital system, they'll pay them something starting at a million dollars on up, could be many millions. The law firm and the doctor's like, man, either I'm gonna be starving because they're gonna kick me out of their network, or I become their captive employee and they pay me all this money for my practice. How does the hospital make that money back? Well, if you go to see that doctor and you need to get a test done, where they going to send you for it? To that hospital's facilities. If you need to be admitted to a hospital, where are they going to admit you at that hospital, even if that's not the right hospital for what ails you? Cancer, heart disease, whatever. And there's another place that's much better with much lower mortality risk for that. They're going to put you in that hospital because that's who they work for. Now, even if essentially they are doing harm to you by not referring you to the place that's really knowledgeable about the care that you need. And then there's this. You go and you pay your visit charge. Let's say you have insurance. You pay Your visit charge, 20 bucks, 50 bucks, 30 bucks, 10 bucks, whatever it is, and you think you're done, right? No. Because then you get a stray bill called a facility charge. So you may have gone to a doctor's office in A shopping center or an office building or something like that. But that doctor now works for that hospital system. Well, how did they make back the million or millions of dollars they paid that doctor to become their employee and no longer own their practice? They do it by charging a rip off facilities fee. That could be 800 bucks, 500 bucks, whatever. You never went to the hospital for care, but they bill you as if you had that care in the hospital. This is dishonest, unethical, crooked, terrible stuff. So if you go to your doctor's office and suddenly you see a sign for a hospital system, or you call in, or you go to the doctor's website and you realize, oh man, I'm at the website of the hospital and this doctor is listed. Before they render care to you, you need to ask, do they charge a facility fee? Because more often than not, there's no insurance coverage for that. And that 500 or so dollars is coming out of your pocket. Know this, be aware of it, and avoid it at all costs because it means every time you go, they're going to rip you off.

Clark Howard Show Caller / Listener (21:53)

And there's no fighting that.

Clark Howard (21:57)

Right now. There's no required disclosure. You know my thing, if you look, you know, I've always got these libertarian instincts. If they want to rip people off like this, as long as they tell me up front, hey, by the way, our ownership has changed. And if you come here, you're going to be charged $700 to come here. That's not going to be likely reimbursed by insurance. Would you like to keep your appointment? That should be required rather than being ha. The joke's on you. You already ate the meal, you already had the treatment or visit. So now we're going to charge you this fee and we're going to stick it to you. First of all, where's the Congress? Why is this not something that's required disclosure up front? What it costs for medical services before treatment is rendered? I mean, they say, oh, well, we're going to put patients in charge by giving you these higher and higher and higher deductibles each year, but then give us no way to comparison shop. How would you like it if you walked into Burger King and they tell you after you eat your Whopper that you now owe them a $500 facility charge for the building that they cooked your Whopper in? Come on, you're not going to do that. See, I gave an example. Other than McDonald's this time.

Clark Howard Show Caller / Listener (23:24)

Okay, okay. I love that. My dentist is very good with this. I have to say when. If I have like a big thing, which thank goodness I haven't had in a while, they sit me down before and they give me an estimated cost of treatment. Talk to my insurance company what they're going to pay. I mean, it's very thorough and I love that.

Clark Howard (23:39)

And why did Dennis do that? Because they're in the free market. Oh, medical care is not in the free market anymore once the insurance machines get involved. But dentistry, you go to a dentist, parking's you almost always free. You go to a doctor's office, you have to pay for parking. I mean, it's like the whole system is kafloui. You know what I mean?

Clark Howard Show Caller / Listener (24:10)

We know.

Clark Howard (24:10)

All right, well, that's a nice way of saying something.

Clark Howard Show Caller / Listener (24:13)

We'll get us some questions here. Michael in Pennsylvania says, I had a question about school bus stop sign violations. My wife and I share one car that she drives daily to and from the train station to get to work and home. The car is in my name only. About a month ago, I received a letter from a third party company addressed just to me stating that my vehicle was recorded passing a school bus while its stop sign was out and I owe $300. They have a QR code. You can scan and view the footage. At the time they say I passed the vehicle, I was at work and driving my work truck, not this vehicle. I'm not confirming or denying that my wife may have been approaching the school bus and they flip their sign out. But the violation says you can contest the ticket if you were not the driver. There were a few options to contest it. I chose the email address and sent pictures of my violation and stated that I would like a court date. One month later, I received a late notice saying I could be accruing late fees. Now, I called and spoke with a rep and she said just resend the email. They get very busy and miss some emails. In my research about this topic, I've read that I cannot be criminally charged for this, but they can send me to collections. I work very hard to have credit score around 825 and I don't want to risk them dinging me for something I didn't do. And I also don't want to fork over $300. Do you have any advice that could help me?

Clark Howard (25:35)

Well, okay, so, Michael, we got a couple of things here. Does your wife fess up that she did it?

Clark Howard Show Caller / Listener (25:41)

I think reading between the lines.

Clark Howard (25:43)

Yeah. I mean, so you're, you're asking procedural and technical. And then there's also the Ethical. The reason they have these laws is because of the danger to children. From an ethical standpoint, if your wife says that, yeah, I may have gone around the school bus, then that says from an ethical standpoint, she or you or both of you should pay the ticket. Now let's talk procedural. I've heard this over and over again with red light cameras and all the rest that when you appeal, the companies never respond. And so they, they have to have a procedure for you to appeal, but they basically ignore it. So you're the one who's going to have to keep following up with them. And I would follow up your email with a traditional letter sent by mail that also protests. I'm assuming that's one of the ways you're allowed to protest the ticket and the collection agency. You're right to be worried about that. Because it goes to collection, you can keep it from harming your credit by disputing the validity of the debt. And that's a written process you can do with the collection agency. And you need to do that quickly from when it is turned over to collections, if that happens. But you're doing everything right from a procedural standpoint. And you just got to continue to document and don't wait to hear from them. If they don't respond to you again, you need to call in again. Keep a record, a log of every time you call and every person you speak to at Customer no service.

Clark Howard Show Caller / Listener (27:34)

Okay.

Clark Howard (27:35)

Would you have answered that differently? Because you gave me a look.

Clark Howard Show Caller / Listener (27:37)

I think I just pay the ticket. The video shows that his wife.

Clark Howard (27:42)

See, that's why I'm saying you got. There's two answers there because. Cuz he asked me a question.

Clark Howard Show Caller / Listener (27:48)

Right. I understand. It's so I feel like my decision.

Clark Howard (27:50)

To make both ways.

Clark Howard Show Caller / Listener (27:51)

Yeah, for sure. Okay. Jessica in New York says thank you so much for the reminder to reshop your flights. I'm flying to Venice and out of Poo at the end of the summer. And when I initially booked, the tickets were almost $1,400 each.

Clark Howard (28:04)

It's a lot.

Clark Howard Show Caller / Listener (28:04)

After reshopping twice, we now each have a credit of close to $600. And I've gotten several of those lately, so I thought I'd throw that in.

Clark Howard (28:12)

Yeah, it's been a terrible, terrible time for the airlines to international destinations because even though Americans are going, foreigners are not coming to the United States because they're, they, they feel unwelcome right now in the United States. And so airline bookings are not to projections. And that's why you reshop Your tickets and get these credits like Jessica has gotten. Not once, but now twice.

Clark Howard Show Caller / Listener (28:38)

All right. And this is on a much more serious note. Isabelle in California wrote into you for some advice, Clark. And she says. My amazing 38 year old husband passed away in March of 2024 unexpectedly.

Clark Howard (28:52)

I'm so, so very sorry.

Clark Howard Show Caller / Listener (28:54)

So sorry. I was a stay at home mom for our two kids. We're receiving survivor's benefits. So I decided to enroll in college full time to help better myself for our kids. My husband was a great planner and had a life insurance plan. I have over $250,000 in a high yield savings account and his 401k with about $10,000. I also have CD accounts with $20,000 at 4% interest. I don't want to tie up all the money in CD accounts in case of emergency, but I feel like I should have the rest in maybe a different account of some type to earn more money. I don't want to risk losing money either. And I'm unaware of what to do with this 401k that is now under my name. I haven't done too much movement with the money because of my situation with everything being so expensive. I worry about the what ifs. I also wonder if I should. I have life insurance since I'm the only parent now. I also feel so overwhelmed and unsure of how to manage it all without my husband's input. Please help.

Clark Howard (29:51)

Isabel. This is a brutal, brutal time for you. This last year and a half. You gotta be reeling in so many different ways and being as conservative with the money right now is okay. For right now, I'd like you. Once you feel like you're not living an earthquake anymore, when it feels like the ground beneath you feels more settled. At that point, I'd like you to do some serious planning for your and your kids future with a fee only. Fiduciary financial planner. That's someone who will help you set goals for your life. Talk to you about the goals, talk to you about financial security. And there's something you said I don't remember exactly. Oh, I don't want to risk losing money. Every year you lose a certain amount of money to inflation. Right now you're just trying to to keep things on even keel. And that's why you need more time for healing before you go through this process I'm talking about. But for long term, you really need to think about how do you put this money to work to build for you. Knowing that in the short term, when you move into investments like you Were talking about the 401k with the 10k in it. As you move forward with thinking about not today or tomorrow, but long term for your kids and for you, investing the money that is available to you becomes a big part of it. You have a base, the money that you receive from survivor benefits that provides hopefully a good base of financial support for you and the kids. And so the money that you have needs to go to work for you for long term. You're not there emotionally or mentally yet to get involved in that process. But I've got a thorough briefing@clark.com how you find a financial person you can trust who's a fiduciary, meaning that legally they're bound to do what's right for you, not what's best for their wallet. And so you pay a fee for that to get that kind of advice. And that time will come where you feel more settled and you can do that. For now, having the money and savings, things like that is okay on the 401k in the plan that that money's in, you almost certainly have access to a target retirement fund and buy one closest to the year where your natural retirement cycle would be. And you just put that 10,000 straight in that target retirement fund and leave it be until you get to the point where you're building a more comprehensive financial plan for your future. And my heart goes out to you and your two children. I hope that the next chapter in your life is a real positive one and this additional education you're getting really pays off for you. On that note, we're going to end Today's podcast and YouTube show. And this is an extreme circumstance we just heard about. But so often what you hear me talk about is building plans for the future to create financial security for whatever occurs in the situation. That's why you always hear me talk about you focusing on how to save more money, how to spend less money day by day. That the whole idea is is to create financial breathing room in your life regardless of what life throws at you. And have a wonderful rest of your day and I look forward to being with you on Wednesday.

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