Podcast Summary: The Clark Howard Show

Episode: “09.05.25 A New Generation Gets Ripped Off / WARNING: Booking Travel”

Date: September 5, 2025

Host: Clark Howard, with Show Producer/Co-host

Episode Overview

This episode of The Clark Howard Show focuses on two urgent consumer topics:

Pump and Dump Scams Targeting a New Generation — Clark explores how classic investment cons have evolved with social media and cryptocurrency, putting younger investors at risk.
Critical Warnings on Booking Travel — Clark gives a crucial warning about the financial vulnerability of travel companies and why your choice of payment method could make all the difference if a supplier fails.

Throughout, Clark and his co-host answer a variety of listener questions on everything from home affordability and auto insurance to Airbnb bookings, travel planning, and credit score strategies—always with Clark’s signature, practical advice for protecting your finances.

Key Topics and Insights

1. Modern “Pump and Dump” Scams (01:05–08:33)

Classic Scheme, New Medium:
- Clark recounts the origins of the “pump and dump”—buying worthless company shares and artificially hyping them—and explains how social media has made these schemes both more scalable and harder to police.
- “Now, two generations later, people are doing the same kind of junk, buying shares in near worthless companies and touting them all over social media, posting all these videos about how great this particular company stock is and is going to the moon.” — Clark Howard (04:49)
Crypto is the New Frontier:
- The scam has shifted from phone calls about “hot” stocks in the ’80s to anonymous social media touts of fledgling cryptos and penny stocks.
- These assets often have “no cred and no value in the marketplace” (06:00).
Younger Investors Are Most At-Risk:
- The co-host shares an anecdote about a young worker who saw crypto as a retirement plan but had no idea what an IRA was (06:49–07:42).
- Clark stresses, “Everybody's looking for the shortcut... people are looking for that shortcut to wealth,” making many especially vulnerable to too-good-to-be-true promises (07:42).

2. Listener Q&A – Financial and Insurance Advice

Housing Affordability Outlook (08:33–12:37)

Question: Will housing ever be affordable again, or is homeownership becoming unreachable for most young people?
Clark’s Answer:
- Clark provides a cautiously optimistic view:
  - With U.S. population growth slowing and possible declines due to lower immigration, future housing demand may drop, easing prices.
  - “Not only is it not trending higher than inflation, it's going the opposite of inflation... Housing situation will be less negative than you anticipate and more positive than you expect in the years ahead.” (09:20–12:37)

Automaker-Backed Car Insurance (12:37–13:51)

Question: Are insurance products offered by auto manufacturers (GM, Toyota, Tesla) advantageous compared to traditional ones?
Clark’s Answer:
- Too early to tell—these products are in the “pioneering stage.”
- “You are a pioneer who will either benefit or get slaughtered for the choice you have made. Because... it's just too soon to know if this is positive, consumer-friendly or not.” (12:51)

Umbrella Insurance Denial After DUI (13:51–15:59)

Question: What options exist for obtaining liability coverage if denied an umbrella policy after a DUI?
Clark’s Answer:
- Suggests maximizing property liability limits as a second-best solution.
- “Congratulations to you on being sober for the last several years.” (14:21–14:28)

3. Travel Industry Warnings & Booking Tips (18:31–23:31)

Financial Instability in Travel:
- Airlines (notably Spirit) and tour operators are experiencing shaky finances—“rocky” is how Clark puts it (18:31).
- The way you pay matters: only credit cards offer true consumer protections if the supplier fails.
- Quote: “If they shut down completely, there's money there... and that's the protection you have with credit cards. You pay for an airline ticket with a debit card, you lose your money.” — Clark Howard (20:45)
- Debit cards, checks, and direct payments have NO consumer protection if the company collapses.
Google Flights Tip:
- New filter lets you automatically exclude “basic economy” fares, which Clark urges listeners to avoid as they’re often a bait-and-switch tactic (22:45).

4. European Travel Advice and Airbnb Tips (23:31–28:59)

Traveling Trio to France—Hotel & Airbnb Options:
- Family rooms (three- or four-person) are common in European hotels; try these or Airbnb for small groups.
- Watch out for heat: Many accommodations lack robust air conditioning—“Read reviews to see if the AC actually works.” — Clark Howard (25:28)
- On river cruises, triple cabins are rare to nonexistent; stick to Southern France with Airbnb or similar for groups.
Airbnb Booking Warning:
- Book only properties with a liberal, customer-friendly cancellation policy. Many Airbnbs go non-refundable immediately—even for far-off dates.
Experiences Recommendation:
- The co-host raves about unique Airbnb “experiences” in France, such as croissant-making classes with a former Ritz pastry chef (27:17).

5. Credit Score and Payment Tactics (28:59–30:58)

Airline Ticket “Hack” for Credit Scores:
- Listener asks about buying/then canceling an airline ticket to “show card activity.”
- Clark says it’s unnecessary: “As long as you're showing activity on a card of any kind, $5 whatever... that's all you gotta do.” (29:48)
- Maintaining a low balance and steady activity is sufficient for excellent scores.

6. Buy Now, Pay Later (BNPL) Pitfalls (30:58–31:40)

Industry Insider’s Caution:
- Hotel employee warns that high-end hotels are pushing “pay in four” BNPL plans and marketing them to the young.
Clark’s Take:
- The popularity of BNPL signals financial distress; default rates are high, and missed payments negatively affect credit scores.
- “Pay in four is like a plague spreading through the economy... Even though it's tempting, don't do it.” (31:27–31:40)

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

“Everybody's looking for the shortcut... People are looking for that shortcut to wealth.” — Clark Howard (07:42)
“Your money's gone. We've had this in the cruise industry again and again... You pay for an airline ticket with a debit card, you lose your money.” — Clark Howard (20:45)
“In Europe, hotels... almost all sell what they refer to as a family room. And a family room is a three or four person room. And it is just a common tradition.” — Clark Howard (24:15)
“Pay in four is like a plague spreading through the economy. And even though it's tempting, don't do it.” — Clark Howard (31:40)

Timestamps for Key Segments

| Segment | Start Time |
|---------|-----------|
| Modern Pump and Dump Scams | 01:05 |
| Younger Investors and Crypto Risk | 06:49 |
| Housing Affordability Q&A | 08:33 |
| Automaker Insurance Q&A | 12:37 |
| Umbrella Policy Alternatives | 13:51 |
| Booking Travel Safely (Credit Card Warning) | 18:31 |
| Google Flights/Basic Economy Warning | 22:45 |
| France Trip Planning (Hotels, Airbnb) | 23:31 |
| Airbnb Cancellation Advice | 28:01 |
| Credit Card Activity & Score Advice | 28:59 |
| BNPL (Buy Now, Pay Later) Industry Warning | 30:58 |

Tone & Approach

Clark Howard and his team maintain their trademark practical, conversational tone, blending urgency with optimism and a bit of humor. They’re always candid, sometimes emphatic, never preachy—and remain relentlessly focused on real-world, actionable consumer guidance.

Summary

This episode delivers clear warnings to listeners about old scams evolving for the digital age, the pitfalls awaiting unwary investors and travelers, and the importance of smart payment choices. With pointed listener Q&A and hard-won practical tips, Clark equips listeners to resist hype, protect assets, and spend wisely in a rapidly changing economy.

Transcript

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Clark Howard (1:05)

I'm so glad you're with 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 I'm sorry to say, no Clark Stinks today. I know it's Friday, but we're skipping a week because there's only two podcasts this week because Monday was Labor Day and I celebrated my labor over the year by taking the day off. So we'll be back with Clark Stinks next Friday. I just had too many things I wanted to talk about to get to and to get to your questions. So that's why no Clark Stinks today. And I do want to address something that is ripping a new generation of people off. It's something that is an odd name, but it's called the Pump and Dump and I'm going to talk about that straight ahead. And also coming up later, a lot of people in the travel business are on really, really rocky financial circumstances. And so you need to be so cautious how you book travel right now, how you pay for it, because the risk that your money will take the trip but you don't get to it's coming up later. So pump and Dump is a phrase that goes back to the 1960s. It was a hot, hot thing through the 80s. And what it was was there would be what were known as touts A crook, a crooked individual organization, would look for a failed company that was a public listing, what used to be known as a pink sheet company. It's a company that was registered as able to sell stock to the public, but had essentially failed and was sitting there as a zombie. So what the con artists would do is they would start calling people, they buy up shares in this worthless enterprise, and then they'd have telemarketers calling people on the phone pretending to be stockbrokers. There was even a few rogue registered stock brokerages that made their money cheating people with these failed companies. And they'd call up and they say, hey, I got a hot stock tip for you. And I remember I would get these calls heavily in the 1980s from brokerages trying to get me to buy shares in these companies that have a hot new breakthrough, hot new invention, hot new whatever, and they'd run the value of the stock up that they bought for basically nothing. And once they had sold off the shares they had to the people they conned, they were gone. And turned out the value of these shares was worthless and people got wiped out. Very labor intensive. Hurt a lot of people, but nothing like fast forward now, two generations later, almost two generations later, what's been happening today with almost no expense, where people are doing the same kind of junk, buying shares in near worthless companies and then touting them at no cost to them all over social media, posting all these videos on YouTube and wherever about how great this particular company stock is and is going to the moon. And the values run up. And remember they bought the shares when they were basically worthless. And then when the value runs up from all the touting online and on social media, they sell out and you have the value of what you paid way too much money for collapse back to zero. It's the same scam forwarded to a new era. It's happening with near worthless stocks and with a lot of the new wannabe cryptos that people are touting online that they bought really cheaply. They sell them to you and then you find out later, hard expense, hard lesson. You lost the money because that crypto had no cred and no value in the marketplace. Just remember this weird phrase from 50 years ago, pump and dump. They pump them up and then they dump the shares. And I want you to think about that so that you remember when, when you see on social media, when you see a video saying, this is your dare to be rich opportunity in this stock of a failing enterprise or failed enterprise or some crypto that's going to Be the next. They're always the crypto. They're always the next bitcoin, right?