11.22.24 Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / Technology, Productivity & Jobs

Summary

The Clark Howard Podcast: Episode Summary – "Clark Answers His Critics on Clark Stinks / Technology, Productivity & Jobs"
Release Date: November 22, 2024

In this episode of The Clark Howard Podcast, host Clark Howard engages directly with his audience, addressing critiques and diving deep into topics surrounding technology, productivity, and the evolving job market. The episode seamlessly blends listener interactions with insightful commentary, providing valuable perspectives for those seeking financial wisdom and understanding the impact of modern advancements on everyday life.

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1. Reflecting on Gratitude and Thanksgiving (01:00 - 02:37)

As the episode begins, Clark Howard shares his gratitude towards his listeners and Team Clark. Highlighting the importance of taking a break during the Thanksgiving holiday, he emphasizes the need for personal time with family and friends.

Notable Quote:

"Our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life."
— Clark Howard [01:00]

He encourages listeners to subscribe to ClarkDeals.com for updates on Thanksgiving and Black Friday deals, ensuring they remain informed about upcoming savings opportunities.

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2. Addressing Listener Feedback and the "Clark Stinks" Segment (02:42 - 15:08)

Clark Howard introduces the "Clark Stinks" segment, where he responds to listener criticisms and misconceptions. This segment is a focal point of the episode, showcasing honest dialogue between Howard and his audience.

a. Accepting Compliments (03:41 - 04:32)

A listener, Wells Morehouse, shares an enlightening perspective on the importance of accepting compliments graciously. Howard acknowledges his own struggle with this habit, appreciating the listener's advice on recognizing compliments as genuine gifts.

Notable Quote:

"It doesn't mean you necessarily agree with their opinion, but saying thank you means you acknowledge the gift."
— Wells Morehouse [03:41]

Howard responds candidly about his difficulty in accepting compliments, demonstrating humility and personal growth.

b. Italian Car Rental Tickets (04:32 - 05:09)

Listener Keith criticizes Clark's previous advice regarding late-issued car rental tickets from Italy, advocating for proactive payment to avoid escalating fines. Howard agrees, sharing his own recent experience with an Italian ticket and the challenges of navigating foreign payment systems.

Notable Quote:

"There's no way you rent a car in Italy and don't get a ticket."
— Clark Howard [05:09]

c. Retirement Accounts: 401ks vs. Pensions (05:09 - 07:47)

Two listeners provide contrasting views on Clark's stance on 401ks. Ben defends 401ks as flexible alternatives to pensions, highlighting their tax-deferred growth and investment options. Howard counters by emphasizing the instability and confusion surrounding 401ks due to frequent job changes, advocating for a reimagined retirement savings system.

Notable Quote:

"We need to rethink how we save for retirement and how contributions are made by employers to an account that is owned by the employee, the person, rather than something managed by the company."
— Clark Howard [07:47]

d. Zelle Security Concerns (11:07 - 12:55)

Ben criticizes Clark's conflation of Zelle's security issues with broader platform vulnerabilities. He clarifies that the primary concern lies in scam handling and refund processes, not inherent security flaws. Howard responds by highlighting the integration of Zelle with bank accounts and the resultant vulnerabilities, advocating for better regulatory frameworks.

Notable Quote:

"Zelle is embedded inside your bank account... nothing in the law or regulations anticipated a creature like Zelle or the other payment apps."
— Clark Howard [11:43]

e. FAFSA Assistance Scams (12:55 - 13:20)

Shannon brings to light fraudulent practices where individuals offer to manipulate FAFSA applications to enhance financial need, rather than providing legitimate assistance. Howard admits unfamiliarity with this scam, acknowledging the importance of recognizing and addressing such deceptive practices.

Notable Quote:

"If that's going on, you just taught me something."
— Clark Howard [13:20]

f. Bitcoin and Cryptocurrency Misconceptions (13:41 - 15:08)

James criticizes Clark's skepticism towards Bitcoin, urging him to educate himself on reputable exchanges and the distinct nature of Bitcoin compared to other cryptocurrencies. Howard defends his position, categorizing Bitcoin as a speculative asset lacking productive capacity, contrasting it with investments that contribute to economic growth.

Notable Quote:

"Bitcoin is a holding that people have, but it creates no productive capacity anywhere at any time."
— Clark Howard [15:08]

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3. Technology, Automation, and the Future of Jobs (21:05 - 28:10)

Clark delves into the pervasive influence of technology and automation in the fast-food industry, illustrating the shift from human-operated kiosks to robotic systems in food preparation. He argues that while automation may displace certain jobs, it ultimately leads to increased productivity and the creation of new employment opportunities.

Notable Quote:

"The marketplace always innovates, always creates new opportunity, because the only way you make a society more wealthy, the only way is by generating more goods or services for hours worked."
— Clark Howard [21:05]

However, the dialogue with listeners reveals a divide in perspectives. A listener expresses concern over the potential reduction in job availability and the existential threat posed by AI and robotics to meaningful employment.

Notable Quote:

"I don't think society will have less money overall, but I think they're going to be way less jobs. That scares me for people's reason to live."
— Listener [26:26]

Howard counters by referencing historical trends of technological advancement leading to improved living standards, emphasizing adaptability and the emergence of new job sectors.

Notable Quote:

"The nature of work never stops changing in a modern era. And other things will emerge that we can't even see right now."
— Clark Howard [27:13]

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4. Listener Questions and Final Advice (28:10 - 33:20)

a. Brokerage Security Practices (28:46 - 30:12)

Jay from Florida inquires about the risks of consolidating banking and investment accounts with a single brokerage. Clark advises diversifying financial holdings across multiple institutions (Schwab, Vanguard, Fidelity) to mitigate risk, emphasizing the importance of understanding each firm's policies on fraud protection and fund restoration.

Notable Quote:

"I think there are advantages that appear in your life to having more than one financial arrangement."
— Clark Howard [30:12]

b. Computer Security for Financial Activities (30:20 - 33:10)

Troy from South Dakota seeks recommendations for securing his new MacBook Air used for financial management. Clark endorses the built-in security features of Mac systems, advises using VPNs on public Wi-Fi, and recommends password managers despite potential vulnerabilities, highlighting their role in creating strong, unique passwords.

Notable Quote:

"Using a VPN is very much to your advantage."
— Clark Howard [30:33]

c. Debit Card Usage and Security (33:10 - 33:20)

Jeff from Texas asks about using Fidelity's debit card solely for ATM withdrawals. Clark approves this limited use, reiterating the comparative lack of consumer protections with debit cards versus credit cards, and shares his personal strategy of segregating debit card functions to minimize risk.

Notable Quote:

"So I have to have the ability to get money out of an ATM and I have a debit card I only, only use for that purpose and that's it."
— Clark Howard [33:20]

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5. Concluding Remarks and Holiday Wishes

As the episode draws to a close, Clark Howard reiterates the importance of gratitude during the holiday season, encouraging listeners to balance work with personal well-being. He announces a temporary pause in regular programming for Thanksgiving, promising a "best of" compilation upon return.

Notable Quote:

"There's always more time for work. But a lot of us don't take enough time for ourselves, our time with friends, our time with family."
— Clark Howard [33:20]

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Conclusion

This episode of The Clark Howard Podcast offers a blend of financial advice, listener interaction, and thoughtful discussions on the intersection of technology and employment. By addressing critiques and engaging with diverse viewpoints, Clark Howard fosters a dynamic conversation aimed at empowering listeners to make informed financial and personal decisions in an ever-evolving landscape.

Transcript

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[Clark Howard]

It'S my pleasure to have 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 we're going to take time off next week to spend Thanksgiving with family and friends.

[Listener/Co-host]

I'm very grateful to all the Clarkies out there and you Clark. Very grateful.

[Clark Howard]

Grateful and thankful for you Christa as well.

[Listener/Co-host]

And you Grace and Sally that the Corkies can't see in here. We really are so lucky to work with so many wonderful people.

[Clark Howard]

We do work with just the best people ever, which is something to really be thankful for that you look forward to being at work with people who become your friends.

[Listener/Co-host]

Absolutely.

[Clark Howard]

So we're going to play some of your favorite episodes while we're gone. How do we know favorites from number of downloads? It's really cool how you can tell that and I hope that you take time for yourself and your family and friends take time for themselves next week as well. And if you want to know what's coming up with all the deals Thanksgiving week, Black Friday week, what a deal week. Make sure you're subscribed to ClarkDeals.com our newsletter and the website will keep you up to date. You want to sign up for it, go to clark.com newsletter or newsletters. And our team does not work on Thanksgiving because that would stink.

[Listener/Co-host]

I think they'll send out a newsletter that's like pre done with the deals that are still going on. But that will be it.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah right. Because we'll know what the dot com deals are. The cyber deals on Thanksgiving Day. Now something else that stinks Me. Me using that cheap deodorant I use. I get to hear about it today in our weekly Clark Stink segment. And later. Gosh, people are annoyed about having to go to a kiosk to order now at more and more places. And to me, that's the tip of the iceberg of something. That's good, not bad. That I want to talk about straight ahead. But it is time to hear how I need to spend more on Keogh. I never encouraged you to speak. You almost 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.

[Listener/Co-host]

Alright, this first one was actually on YouTube. Nicole and our team flagged this one for me. It was a comment. It says Clark and it's from Wells Morehouse on YouTube. Clark, here's the advice that made me realize the importance of accepting compliments. When someone gives you a compliment, it may be the only thing they have to give. It's a gift. So recognize every compliment with an expression of thanks. It doesn't mean you necessarily agree with their opinion, but saying thank you means you acknowledge the gift. On the flip side, responding to a compliment, that is I love your shirt with a denial. This old thing rejects their gift, insults their opinion, and squashes their kindness. Don't be that guy. Just say thank you.

[Clark Howard]

Thank you. And you're right, it's always been a character flaw of mine, as far back as I can remember that I have trouble accepting a compliment. I appreciate that guidance.

[Listener/Co-host]

Clark advised the listener who got a ticket from Italy long after the trip was over that he knew of no adverse consequences for ignoring it. Having had this same experience, I think that advice stinks. When it happened to me, I did a lot of research and discovered that almost every American who rents a car in Italy gets one of these tickets months after returning home. The fine will double periodically. When it has reached some astronomical amount, the rental car company will charge it to the credit card used to pay for the rental, which is what you agreed to when you signed the rental agreement that you could not read. Better advice, in my opinion, is just consider this part of the expense of traveling to Italy, pay the fine and walk away. Keith.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, Keith, I got to tell you a funny story. So anybody who's ever rented a car in Italy knows what Keith said is 100% right. There's no way you rent a car in Italy and don't get a ticket.

[Listener/Co-host]

Because just one more reason to not drive there. It is crazy.

[Clark Howard]

Oh, it's Fun.

[Listener/Co-host]

I would never ever drive there.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah, well, anyway, so I got a ticket in the mail just a couple of days ago from March of last year. Seriously. There's a little bit of English there, but most of it's in Italian and they want like 60 Euro from me. Can't even figure out what it is I supposedly did wrong and I go online to try to figure out how to pay it because we had prior posts saying that I was really being an idiot and you should pay these tickets. So I said okay, 60 Euro. So I go to try to pay it. I cannot figure out how to pay the thing. I can't. I mean, I'll work on it some more. It's sitting on my desk and see if I can figure out how to pay the thing.

[Listener/Co-host]

I think replacing 401ks with a pension funded between the employee and employer is a bad idea. I had no choice on how my pension money was invested and had little choice at the time of retirement. I on how that pension would be paid out. To me it was so much a month whether I needed it or not. I had that choice with my 401k and preferred to leave it invested until I have to make RMDs. I also had the benefit of my tax deferred investments in my 401k, earning a return on those deferred taxes until I started making withdrawals. 401s are a good alternative to pensions for many people. And there's another one about this same topic. This one says Dear Mr. Clark. Not quite bad enough for Howard. You stink more than moldy cottage cheese left in an abandoned house. You said the 401k system is broken. It's not. My wife and I were just above the IRS definition of poverty level for about the first five years of marriage and we were both able to put some money away into a 401k every month. If a 401k isn't available, we would have set up a Roth with one of your favorites. We knew people who were around our level of income but chose to spend $100 a plus monthly getting their nails done or other things. There are some situations where people can't and I feel sad for them. Help as I can with food bank donations, but it's fairly often being an adult and prioritizing. It's also a matter of education. I still have the 6 digits of pie memorized from high school about 25.

[Clark Howard]

Years ago 3.1415927 but I didn't know.

[Listener/Co-host]

Anything about retirement accounts or investing until my first job out of high school. Ben.

[Clark Howard]

Ben, thank you. Okay, so to both of you, the problem for me with the 401k, we don't have all day to talk about this, but let me summarize as quickly as I can is how often today's workers change jobs. And I just did something on television where I went to a park and stopped people in the park that were all having a good time and asked and not a single person could tell me what they were supposed to do with their 401k when they change jobs. Not one had a good answer for that. Of the people I asked at random and these were all people who'd done 401ks and they didn't know what to do. We need to rethink how we save for retirement and how contributions are made by employers to an account that is owned by the employee, the person, rather than something managed by the company. And I've got a lot of ideas about how matches should be done. And then the hard part, that is the other thing I can't dig too deeply into is what happens at time of retirement. How do you manage that money? That's where people have even more difficulties doing. So we need to really think about the wider picture in an era where people change jobs so many times, how we make it possible and easy for them to save for retirement.

[Listener/Co-host]

Clark stinks more than a ferret cage that hasn't been cleaned in months. And believe me, that is pretty stinky because ferrets are filthy.

[Clark Howard]

You ever held a ferret? No, I have.

[Listener/Co-host]

Have you? Yeah. You missed the mark on only talking about applicants transgressions in the job search process. You failed to cover the other side. That has their transgressions too. From personal experience, I have been ghosted by potential future employers for scheduled interviews.

[Clark Howard]

Really?

[Listener/Co-host]

Exclusion of benef in the final job offer that were previously communicated, shown my name on the door and informed I would be receiving a written offer, then getting nothing. And after I countered sensibly on an initial job offer, I was told they would talk internally and get back to me. But they never did, even after I followed up several times. I should write a book as there are several other instances where my in my experience, a company didn't act professionally or courteously. Cheers, Steve.

[Clark Howard]

Steve, thank you for that perspective of potential employers behaving badly. My beef with employers is when they post a job and go through the motions of interviewing people when they've already decided before the job was ever posted who they were going to give the job to anyway and you use up your time and you have false hope about a job opportunity that you were never really a candidate for from the get go.

[Listener/Co-host]

Just some well intentioned stinkiness. While I agree that all people should be advocates for their health, I'd recommend that they start close to home first. For many conditions there are regional centers of excellence or local academic centers that a patient can be referred to and these centers can also collaborate with the patient's local doctor to keep treatments close to home. This would save the financial and time costs of travel as well as the risks of having to pay out of pocket for insurers that won't cover a self referral.

[Clark Howard]

Nikki, Nikki, very good advice. Absolutely valid.

[Listener/Co-host]

Clark continues to confuse his listeners by conflating scams on Zelle versus security concerns. He says things like if a criminal gets into the Zelle platform, there is no known weakness in the security at Zelle. If a criminal got into Vanguard or Fidelity, it would be devastating as well. Security is not the problem. The problem is Zelle is the same as the other peer to peer payment networks, the scams and how the service handles refund requests from victims. There is no evidence of any of the scams being perpetrated by criminals breaking into the Zelle service. Please stop confusing the issue. Ben.

[Clark Howard]

Ben, thank you for that. All right, so why is Zelle something that I call big bad Zelle? Because it is embedded inside your bank account. And a number of financial institutions do something that's so dishonest and unethical. I mean it way past stinks. It infuriates me where they bring Zell active and live without even telling you it's there. And so if a criminal is able to get into your account, they can then use Zelle as a way to remove the funds from your account. And the bank's attitude is, well, I mean you must have done something that they got into your account. The difference that to me is significant with cash app and PayPal and Venmo, they are not embedded in your account. They have their own problems as well. And the real issue is that nothing in the law or regulations anticipated a creature like Zelle or the other payment apps. And that's why they leave you wide open and vulnerable to having your money swipe from you.

[Listener/Co-host]

Clark was asked about people advertising help with the FAFSA application and Clark answered as if the question was about engaging a financial aid advisor. These are not the same people advertising that they can help with the FAFSA steer families into manipulating income and assets to appear that they have more financial need than they do instead of actually providing guidance through the complicated web of federal institutional, private need based and merit based aid.

[Clark Howard]

Shannon, Shannon, that's an angle I'm not familiar with that there are people who hang out a shingle figuratively that they are helping you manipulate your FAFSA so that you will appear more needy than you really are. And if that's going on, you just taught me something.

[Listener/Co-host]

Hey Clark, smells like the milk has turned over there recently. You mentioned someone getting bitcoin solicited to them on social media or something similar. Well, I agree that that sounded like an obvious scam. You seem pretty clueless about Bitcoin. At the very least you should be familiar with the reputable exchanges like and they mentioned one that do proof of reserves so that you don't run into an FTX type of situation again. I'd recommend reading why Bitcoin is very different from every other cryptocurrency and Fidelity's report titled Bitcoin First. Finally, I'd invite you to consider reading one book on the subject, like the Bitcoin Standard by CFedine Amos. I think that's how they pronounce it. You may find it interesting to learn about MicroStrategy, a data analytics company whose CEO Michael Saylor read that book and decided to put his company's treasury into Bitcoin. Since that time four years ago, MicroStrategy has outperformed every other American stock, including Nvidia, and is still only worth 2% of Nvidia's market cap. Shockingly, Vanguard, which doesn't allow users to buy Bitcoin spot ETFs has the second largest institutional stake in this company, along with many other banks and financial houses that have openly trashed talked Bitcoin. To top it all off the spot Bitcoin ETFs have had an incredible year as far as volume, assets under management and flows, even taking in more than VOO IVV some weeks and breaking many records. I think it's time to do some homework and take Bitcoin seriously.

[Clark Howard]

James James, thank you very much and I've been hearing from people unhappy with what I've said about Bitcoin for as long as Bitcoin's been around. Okay, so what's my problem with Bitcoin? Is it a speculative holding or is it a form of payment? A form of money? And Bitcoin, because of its unique structure and the way it's manufactured and also the excitement in the marketplace, has had a trajectory that is extraordinary it is not a modern money. It is in my opinion still my opinion has not changed on this. A speculative holding that has worked out very well for the people who have speculated in it through the years. And James, I appreciate your passion. Obviously you have benefited from it and are very excited you're in it. My son is someone who loves bitcoin and has had bitcoin since he was an early teenager and he's like, dad, you just don't get this. I do get it. It's just not my thing. I'm interested in things that invest and productive capacity, that invest in the future of the United States, the well being of people, the world economy. And bitcoin does not do any of that. Bitcoin is a holding that people have, but it creates no productive capacity anywhere at any time. So we can talk about crypto and bitcoin all you want. I want long term prosperity for the great mass of people. And cryptos don't do anything to support that, just as gold does not either. And gold has had a phenomenal run up as well as bitcoin has had. If you look at the two of them, they have trended generally up together for reasons that are macro as well, people's worry about the value of government issued money and uncertainty in the world. Gold has always been a hedge and for many people bitcoin is as well a hedge against uncertainty problems in the world. I'm going to leave it there. I probably should have said less, but that will lead to more. Clark Stinks on a future edition Coming up ahead, I want to talk about what creates economic growth, what makes people wealthier? It is productivity. That's what it's really about.

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[Clark Howard]

Has been made about what's going on in the fast food industry because we all gotta eat and a lot of Americans consume fast food or quick serve food. And now more and more places you go to, you walk in the door and for example Panera was very early in this with instead of you going to a cashier, them trying to get you when you walked in the door, see a bank of kiosks to order at. And they were very primitive early systems, they were very early on it. So many chains now when you walk in they want you to go to a screen to order, they want you to use their app. I've talked about the advantage of the apps and California went to the $20 minimum wage for chain restaurant workers. That led to big controversy about what that was going to do to employment and all that did nothing about employment, didn't kill employment at all. The reality is a lot of the jobs that automation plays a role, that technology plays a role, that is not replacing a worker, because those businesses have trouble finding and maintaining a workforce anyway. And now, as I shared with you years ago from the annual CES in Las Vegas Consumer Electronics show that I used to cover every year, and I retired from doing that from exhaustion five years ago, but it CES year after year, there would be all these inventors and companies showing new ways of doing things that right now humans have to do and have machines do. And nowhere would I see more stuff like that than for the restaurant industry. And now, forget the kiosk. You're going to see more and more working back of the house as robotics replace humans. Preparing food, making food, salad chains, you know, where you go down a line and you tell them what you want in salad, you're going to see robots doing that and they'll equally measure, you know, they'll put in this much of this and this much of that, and it will be totally integrated with the app. You place your order or a kiosk, you place your order. If you do go to a human and you place an order, the robot will still be the one making the salad or flipping the burger or cooking the egg or whatever. And you're like, what about the jobs? The marketplace always innovates, always creates new opportunity, because the only way you make a society more wealthy, the only way is by generating more goods or services for hours worked. That's the only way. That's what makes a society more wealthy. Unless it's a, you know, a petro dictatorship, that they're making money from oil coming out of the ground or natural resources of some kind for societies and the people in them to become more wealthy, to have better lives, to reduce poverty. It's all about productivity. And so you can fear the robotics. And there's so much talk about robotics, and AI is the big buzzword. And it's tied right in, in so many ways with technology like robotics. But this is how you make a society more successful. You know what else? Other jobs come along, other things need to be done. I don't believe it. I feel that that's something that's in the category that I know, that it's empirically true that you should not fear for society the benefits of advances in technology that make work more efficient. Now, who has a reason to fear, though, people in an individual job, that that job gets mowed down by advances in automation, technology, robotics, AI, whatever that is, A Fact. But that has always been part of economies that jobs that are valid and important today, maybe 50 years won't be there. It is completely common way before we talked about AI or robotics or automation, that the jobs that exist 20 years out will be very different than the jobs that exist today. But if you go back and you look at 1950s or 1960s United States people live so much better today than they did those many generations ago. It's not even close. You look like, oh no, there come the Clark stinks from that.

[Listener/Co-host]

I honestly, I wish I could feel the way you do, but I can't think of a single job that won't be affected by AI and robotics. I was just talking to someone about this yesterday. The fact that they're actually doing things that humans do in a different way. And so I do feel like I don't think society will have less money overall, but I think they're going to be way less jobs. That scares me for people's reason to live. And you know what I mean? Like I think there really will be less work.

[Clark Howard]

You know, in the United States people have believed that going back into the late 1700s.

[Listener/Co-host]

Yeah.

[Clark Howard]

But they've always feared, you know, this is different.

[Listener/Co-host]

This is, you know, this is actually things that can replace human beings like in a different way. I think. And I'm sorry, I wish I didn't feel that way.

[Clark Howard]

No. But what you believe is a valid feeling and a valid belief. And there are people as futurists that will look and say this time is different. But the reality is all through human history there have been, but really only in a big way. Since the early 1800s, there have been continuing things that have changed how life works in the work world. And there have always been other jobs that have come along. You think about through most of human history, how brutal work was, how dangerous it was, how physically devastating work was. It was all extreme physical. The nature of work never stops changing in a modern era. And other things will emerge that we can't even see right now.

[Listener/Co-host]

I hope so. I hope we're not just a bunch of zombies walking around with phones. Because that's what it seems like we're gonna.

[Clark Howard]

We are a bunch of zombies walking around with phones right now.

[Listener/Co-host]

Okay, we'll go to questions. Jay in Florida says, is there any extra risk of losing money via scam or hack if one uses the same brokerage favorite child banking capability for day to day routine banking and for life savings investments? Does the simplicity and other advantages of the company outweigh the added Security of separation, of having day to day relatively low balance checking account at a zero fee if carefully managed credit union or bank.

[Clark Howard]

Okay, great question, Jay. All right, so let's talk about my favorite children, Schwab, Vanguard, Fidelity. So what you want to look at, whichever one of the three you're at, if you're looking at banking, is almost certainly Schwab or Fidelity. Go read the Schwab and Fidelity policies on what happens to your account if money is swiped from your account and under what circumstances that they explicitly state that they will restore your funds. They have written policies and you want to see if those policies make you feel at ease. Now, for reasons that are complicated, I actually have a credit union account and I have money with all three of my favorite children. So I am diversified with where my money sits and it answers the question of all my eggs in one basket. I don't have that. It's not for the reason that you're talking about. There are a variety of circumstances over the years that I've ended up with accounts at Navy Federal Credit Union and with Schwab, Vanguard and Fidelity. So I think there are advantages that appear in your life to having more than one financial arrangement.

[Listener/Co-host]

Troy in South Dakota says you're the first podcast I listen to every weekday during my hour long morning commute. And I appreciate your advice.

[Clark Howard]

Thank you.

[Listener/Co-host]

I recently bought a 15 inch MacBook Air to browse the Internet and check my financial accounts. Do you recommend using a vpn, antivirus software, ad blocker, password manager, and if so, what do you like?

[Clark Howard]

Okay, so Troy, let me say this to you. All right, so with a Mac, you already have really nice security built into a Mac. I think that is an advantage Macs have over Windows computers. They don't have it over Chromebooks. Chromebooks are very safe creatures from the ground up on a virtual private network. The real advantage of a VPN is if you're using public WI fi. If you routinely travel a lot with that Mac and you're on a variety of networks, you're not sure they're friend or foe. Using a VPN is very much to your advantage. I don't feel any need though, with that advanced MacBook you have for you to add any kind of additional antivirus beyond what Apple already builds into the system. The third thing you said, password managers, I really like. If you're not able to come up with a systemic way to create very exotic passwords to use a password manager for that, you can always have the risk. Like Krista had that her password manager was hacked into. I mean, that has happened on more than one occasion. And then the criminals have a pretty useful entry, possibly into your life and your passwords. But a password manager I find is worth that potential downside because we tend to be creatures of habit and create passwords that are so patterned or the same that we're making it pretty easy for a criminal to get into our lives. I hope that you really enjoy using that MacBook. I'm the only one in my family who doesn't use a MacBook. I use only Chromebooks and the ad blockers. People do tend to like using an ad blocker many times. As far as the downside of using one, there are sites that won't function well if you've got an ad blocker on your computer. But that's something you can try. You can do trial and error. If you end up finding that the ad blocker makes your Mac less efficient, going to various websites, you could disable the ad blocker.

[Listener/Co-host]

Okay, Jeff in Texas says, I know you don't like debit cards to make purchases, but are you comfortable with using the Fidelity debit card only for getting cash at a bank based ATM machine?

[Clark Howard]

Yeah, that's fine. And let me say this about debit cards. Debit cards don't have the protection of a credit card. A lot of people like using debit cards because they don't trust themselves with a credit card and they know they're going to run up balances that they can't afford to pay when the bill comes in with a credit card. So I've softened on this because of the consumer behavior about how people don't feel like they're really spending when they use a credit card. All right, so we know there's greater risk using a debit card. You don't have the consumer protections because the banks manipulated Congress to not have the same protections on a debit card you have on a credit card. So you're laying yourself wide open. If you're using it for small purchases, purchases you're doing at the time you're using it. The risk of the debit card that you could have a problem are potentially outweighed by somebody who knows by consumer behavior wise they can't handle a credit card use it. But your single use purpose of that debit card to get ATM money. That's exactly what I do, is I have to have the ability to get money out of an ATM and I have a debit card I only, only use for that purpose and that's it. So I hope that you have a great weekend as we kick off Thanksgiving week. And I hope that this Thanksgiving week coming up brings great joy into your life and that you take a moment at some time and just think through. Thanksgiving is about gratitude and thanks and just take that moment to think about what you've got to be thankful for and what you're grateful for in your life. As I said earlier, we will be running best of next week for Thanksgiving as we take Thanksgiving week off. And I hope that you, if you're a workaholic, that you try to shift into a lower gear between now and the first of the year, through the Thanksgiving holiday, Christmas, New Year's or whatever holidays you celebrate, that you take time for yourself, for your own relaxation, for your own enjoyment, because there's always more time for work. But a lot of us don't take enough time for ourselves, our time with friends, our time with family. And in the end, that's what ultimately I think we learned to cherish anyway. And we'll see you in 10 days.