12.12.24 Subscription Wrangling / Estate Planning in 3 Steps

Summary

The Clark Howard Podcast – Episode Release: December 12, 2024 Episode Title: Subscription Wrangling / Estate Planning in 3 Steps

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Introduction

In this episode of The Clark Howard Podcast, host Clark Howard delves into two significant topics affecting personal finances: the pitfalls of subscription services and the critical steps of estate planning. With insightful discussions, listener questions, and practical advice, Clark equips listeners with the knowledge to navigate these areas effectively.

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Subscription Wrangling

Timestamp: 00:21 – 05:37

Clark begins by addressing the growing frustration with subscription services, particularly focusing on Uber's recent controversies. He highlights the challenges consumers face when attempting to cancel subscriptions, emphasizing how companies like Uber may complicate the cancellation process to retain customers.

Key Points:

• Auto-Renewal Traps: Clark shares his personal experience with multiple streaming service subscriptions he wasn't utilizing. By canceling these services and questioning the value they provided, he uncovers unnecessary monthly expenses.

  "I have a number of credit cards and there were all these subscriptions to streaming services that I didn't know we had... I just go in and start canceling them all because I don't watch any of those things."
  (02:15)

• Preventing Unwanted Charges: Clark advises turning off auto-renewal for all subscriptions to avoid ongoing charges. For services that make cancellation difficult, he suggests using a small remaining balance on a gift card as a payment method, leading to a declined transaction that halts the subscription.

  "Use a small remaining balance... it becomes your automatic stop on all these crazy subscriptions that are running up your bills."
  (04:05)

• Listener Interaction: Clark recounts a conversation with his family about canceled subscriptions, illustrating the common struggle of managing household subscriptions and the importance of financial transparency within families.

  "Why am I paying for it and what price are we paying per month compared to what deals there are?"
  (04:50)

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Listener Questions and Advice

Timestamp: 05:37 – 16:16

1. Tax Return Retention Listener: MJ from West Virginia

Clark discusses the appropriate duration for keeping tax returns, aligning his advice with that of Jonathan Clements, a guest from a previous episode.

"Both Jonathan and I say keep your returns, all your supporting documents for seven years."
(07:14)

2. Managing Excess Savings Listener: Jennifer from North Carolina

Jennifer seeks advice on managing $200,000 currently held in a savings account at age 52, with ample retirement funds.

Clark's Recommendations:

• Avoid Paying Off Low-Interest Loans: Recommends against paying off the primary home at 2.75% or a rental property at 4%, as investment returns could surpass these rates.

  "I would not pay off your primary home at 2.75% since you can earn more even in a simple savings account."
  (09:15)

• Investment Strategies: Suggests dollar-cost averaging into index funds, fully funding a Roth IRA for tax advantages, and avoiding new investment properties due to the current housing market.

  "I would look at dollar cost averaging into investments, into my favorite... index funds."
  (09:45)

3. SIM Swap Scam Prevention Listener: Kenneth from New Mexico

Kenneth shares his experience with a SIM swap scam where a thief hacked his cell phone account, leading to unauthorized overseas calls.

Clark's Advice:

• Enable SIM Lock (SEMLOC): Protects against unauthorized changes to the cell account, preventing criminals from accessing two-factor authentication codes.

  "By putting the SIM lock feature in place, it means if somebody does hack into your account and then try to steal your cell phone service, they can't even."
  (12:17)

• Awareness and Security Measures: Encourages listeners to activate SIM locks and regularly monitor account changes to safeguard against similar scams.

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Estate Planning in 3 Steps

Timestamp: 18:28 – 25:30

Clark transitions to the essential topic of estate planning, underscoring its importance even for those who are currently financially secure.

Key Steps:

1. Create Legal Documents:

   • Wills and Durable Power of Attorney: Establishes who will manage your affairs and make decisions if you're unable to do so.
   • Digital Will: Details the management of online accounts, digital assets, and provides access instructions for critical information.

   "You don’t want to leave anything to a bank safety deposit box... discuss your decisions with your trusted loved ones."
   (24:02)

2. Communicate with Heirs:

   • Transparency: Clark emphasizes the importance of discussing your estate plan with your heirs to prevent misunderstandings and disputes.

     "Sit down with your heirs and tell them what your plan is. Let them even read the will."
     (24:30)

3. Regular Updates and Accessibility:

   • Keep Documents Current: Regularly update your estate plan to reflect changes in assets, relationships, and personal wishes.

   • Ensure Accessibility: Ensure that trusted individuals know where to find these documents and understand your intentions.

     "Do one now and check to see if your state has their free forms that you fill out... make sure your loved ones know where you've kept everything."
     (24:50)

Warren Buffett's Advice: Clark references Warren Buffett, highlighting Buffett's belief in proactive estate planning for the sake of family harmony and legacy management.

"Warren Buffett says something I think is very important... it's your money and you can choose to distribute it how you wish."
(25:10)

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Clark Minute: The Case for 15-Year Mortgages

Timestamp: 16:33 – 17:35

In a brief segment, Clark advocates for considering 15-year mortgages over the more common 30-year terms.

Advantages Highlighted:

• Lower Interest Rates: Typically around 0.6 points lower than 30-year loans, resulting in significant interest savings.
• Equity Building: Faster accumulation of home equity.
• Interest Savings: Overall payment towards the mortgage is reduced, saving substantial amounts over the loan term.

"Cut years off that mortgage. You're going to pay so much less interest... and building a whole lot more equity."
(16:38)

Recommendation: Encourages listeners to explore refinancing into a 15-year mortgage if financially feasible.

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Final Listener Questions

Timestamp: 25:30 – 31:38

1. International Travel to Bolivia Listener: Marcelino from New Mexico

Marcelino and his wife plan to drive 25 hours to Bolivia to save on airfare and seek advice on preparations.

Clark's Recommendations:

• Cash vs. Credit: In rural areas of Bolivia, cash is preferred as credit cards are not widely accepted.

  "Credit cards are accepted in the big cities... elsewhere, it's going to be all cash."
  (28:30)

• SIM Cards: Advises purchasing a local SIM card upon arrival for better connectivity and cost management.

  "Make sure your phone is unlocked and you can put a SIM in your phone."
  (31:00)

• Financial Safety: Recommends alerting multiple banks before traveling to prevent issues with ATMs and ensure access to funds.

  "Having ATMs spread across your accounts helps in case one fails."
  (30:00)

2. Roku TV Reviews Listener: John from Texas

John inquires about recommendations for Roku TVs, particularly 43-inch models.

Clark's Insights:

• Size Recommendation: Suggests opting for larger sizes (55 inches or more) for a better viewing experience.

  "Yeah, John, that's way too small for a television. At 43, you got to go 55 at least."
  (31:48)

• Platform Preferences: Prefers Roku and Fire TV platforms for their ease of use and seamless integration.

  "They are the two smoothest, easiest to use... the pictures on them... are really great."
  (32:00)

• Affordability: Notes the competitive pricing of Roku TVs, especially during the holiday season.

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Charity Highlight: Clark's Christmas Kids

Timestamp: 31:58 – End

Clark concludes the episode by promoting his long-standing charity, Clark's Christmas Kids, which has been supporting children in foster care for 34 years. He encourages listeners to contribute by selecting gifts or donating cash to ensure foster children experience the joy of Christmas.

"Help these kids have Christmas again... Our listeners have been so unbelievably generous over these 34 years."
(34:00)

Call to Action: Visit clarkschristmaskids.com to participate and make a difference.

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Conclusion

In this episode, Clark Howard provides valuable insights into managing subscription services and underscores the importance of proactive estate planning. Through personal anecdotes, listener interactions, and expert advice, listeners gain practical strategies to optimize their finances and secure their legacies. Additionally, Clark's commitment to community welfare through Clark's Christmas Kids exemplifies his dedication to empowering others both financially and socially.

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Transcript

[Sponsor Announcer]

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[Clark Howard]

This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. There's nothing sweeter than baking cookies during the holidays. With Prime, I get all my ingredients delivered right to my door, fast and free. No last minute store trips needed. And of course I blast my favorite holiday playlist on Amazon Music. It's the ultimate soundtrack for creating unforgettable memories from streaming to shopping. It's on Prime. Visit Amazon.comprime to get more out of whatever you're into. It's my pleasure to welcome you here to the Clark Howard Show. You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you to make better financial decisions and your life. And Uber is in the news. Uber's in the news a lot, isn't it? For allegedly ripping people off who sign up for a subscription with Uber that gets you a little bit better prices and supposedly this, that and the other. And I need to give you a homework assignment based on the bad ink that Uber is getting. And I'm going to start talking about that on today's podcast. Then later, Warren Buffett gave some advice that's not about what investments you should own, but something if you have been financially successful in your life, there are many ways to be successful. But if you've been financially successful, something that he urges you so strongly to do for your family, and I think it's really smart. So I alluded to this recently that I have a number of credit cards and I looked through them and there were all these subscriptions to streaming services that I didn't know we had. I was as bad as all the rest of us with the streaming subscriptions. So I just go in and I start canceling them all because I don't watch any of those things. And suddenly I'm hearing from my wife, one of my daughters, my son, dad, what happened? This isn't working. That's not working. The other's not working. I said, well, when did you sign up for this and why am I paying for it and what price are we paying per month compared to what deals there are? That's just one example of all the craziness with the subscriptions. The Uber thing that triggered me thinking about this was Uber is under Investigation for when people want to cancel their Uber subscriptions. That Uber makes it impossible for you to cancel. And this is something that's come up in the past, how difficult it is once you sign up for something to cancel. So I want to tell you something that happened with me recently. I have one of the travel cards. I have had a promotion where I got two free years of something called Lyft Pink. It supposedly gets you higher priority for Lyft vehicles. The important thing for me was it allows me access to bikes for free as I travel in cities all over the place. And so I love hopping on a bike, but I won't ever do those because I don't want to pay the money. And now for two years, I get it free. But what happened when I got this two year free promotion is it said, and after the two years, you'll be billed at our normal rate, which is right Now, I think $200 a year. So I immediately signed into this Lyft Pink account thing that I now have and I turned off auto renewal. And that's what I encourage you to do with any of these subscriptions you sign up for is once you've signed up for it, they're all designed to auto renew in the inertia of life. The charges just go on and on and on and on. So what I do is I go on and I turn off the auto renewal. But what about the ones that don't allow auto renewal? Well, somebody came up to me the other day in Sam's club and says, you know, here's what I do. And it's something. We'd had a suggestion from a listener before that they use a small remaining balance. If they got a gift card from somebody, you know, Visa or MasterCard gift card, they leave a small amount on there and they use it as the payment of record for any of these subscriptions that auto renew. And then all of a sudden you're going to get a notice saying, hey, your form of payment was not approved. We need a new form of payment. It becomes your automatic stop on all these crazy subscriptions that are running up your bills. Like me looking at the credit cards and seeing all these things. And why did we have two different Hulu subscriptions? And one was for more money because it didn't have ads. And the Hulu, I was dying anyway. Think about what I could have done with that money. Put it into an index fund, let it sit there for anyway.

[Krista]

Oh, my gosh, your family.

[Clark Howard]

Well, what's funny with them is, dad, you changed this again. Why do we do that? Well, it was a better deal. So hopefully by osmosis, it gets in their brains.

[Krista]

I love how, like, it just stops working for them.

[Clark Howard]

Well, what am I supposed to do?

[Krista]

Well, let him know maybe. I don't know. That's just.

[Clark Howard]

Wait, wait, wait. My kids signed me up for a subscription to Something True using my card number.

[Krista]

Yep. Yes, you're right. I mean, they're all adults. I know, I know.

[Clark Howard]

I must say, my oldest never does anymore, but she's also 35.

[Krista]

Yeah. She's got two kids.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah. So now her own kids will bring that joy into your life. Oh, yeah, look at this. Boom. Sign up for it. Do you know how many subscriptions you've got going in your family right now?

[Krista]

No, and I need to look through that. Honestly, I do.

[Clark Howard]

All right, so here's your assignment. Let's say sometime in January, come in on the podcast and you talk about everything you found on your cards.

[Krista]

I'm going to go through everything. I'll do it.

[Clark Howard]

And you're going to save so much money.

[Krista]

I am.

[Clark Howard]

You say, you know, I'm saving so much money now, I think I'm gonna retire.

[Krista]

No, Definitely not.

[Clark Howard]

No. Okay.

[Krista]

Okay, we'll go to questions. MJ in West Virginia says Clark, when you had Jonathan Clements on the show, he mentioned he only kept his tax returns for the past seven years. You've mentioned you keep your tax returns indefinitely minus the supporting documents after seven years. So who's correct? And by the way, thanks for introducing me to the humble dollar years ago.

[Clark Howard]

Thank you very much. And we've received so much wonderful feedback. You know, we don't normally have guests, but we got such great feedback on the Jonathan Clements broadcast. He's such an amazing man.

[Krista]

He is.

[Clark Howard]

And humbledollar.com is a wonderful website that, if you've not checked it out, it has such great philosophies about how to invest for the future, how to manage your money and manage your expectations in life. They're just great. Okay, so the tax return thing. So both Jonathan and I say keep your returns, all your supporting documents for seven years. I keep either a disc or a paper copy beyond seven years of just the return itself. So that the thing with the irs, there's no end period. And when they can come after you for failure to file. And so keeping a copy of the return shows in good faith that I did file. And those take up, like, no room at all. I have an obsessive number of years of just the returns themselves or a disc Going back, trying to remember so the 70s or into the 80s. And so it's silly. But in the case of doing the seven year rule, that's the sane, rational thing to do, I'd say what I do is beyond the pale.

[Krista]

Jennifer. North Carolina says I have $200,000 saved and it's sitting in a savings account.

[Clark Howard]

Well, first of all, fantastic that you got 200 grand sitting there. Pretty anemic to have it in savings.

[Krista]

What do you think I should do with it? I'm 52 years old with more than enough retirement savings. And here are four ideas. One, pay off the primary home at 2.75% interest. Two, pay off a rental property in full at 4% interest. Three, buy a new investment property and four, buy more stocks, bonds and CDs. And I'm open to other ideas.

[Clark Howard]

Well, Jennifer, it's hard to give good guidance on that because your finances are so solid. So it's like what goals are you trying to achieve that you haven't Met? You are 52 and you are the rare bird who already has saved enough money to do everything you want to do in retirement. That is incredible. Just fantastic. You're earning though today on a savings account if you're putting it aside wisely, somewhere between 4.5 and 5.2% likely if you're earning less than that. And this is money that you're mad money if something goes wrong or whatever, you want to make sure you're putting it in something earning a much higher rate than maybe you're earning right now. The best way to do so is with an online bank. We have a simplified [e-mail] if you want more data on that. Bankrate.com may be the best for that. But I think you'll find enough on our updated guide that we continually update. But what would I do with it? I would dollar cost, average it. If you don't need that money, you're okay for rainy day. At least have enough in savings for a rainy day. I would definitely not pay off your primary home at 2.75% since you can earn more even in a simple savings account. I would not pay off the rental property at 4% because in today's market you can earn more than that in simple savings. Buying a new investment property right now is not a good idea because housing is so pricey at the moment. So I would look at dollar cost averaging into investments, into my favorite if this is going to be an investment account into index funds. If you're not fully funding a Roth IRA Each year I would do that. You say you've saved more than enough for retirement, but the Roth is so tax favorable in that the money goes in and then it grows tax free and you spend it tax free. It's a great asset ultimately for an heir to inherit if you end up not needing the money. And I would continually make sure every year that you're putting money into the Roth because of your age, you can do catch up. You can do more than the 7,000 that normal earthlings could do. But I really like the idea of you taking money and month by month in equal chunks. If you've already funded the Roth every year and all that, you put it into a broad index fund like the Total Stock Market Index or Broad Market Index with Vanguard or Schwab or Fidelity. If you do business one of those and not have so much idle cash sitting there because long term having the money invested in corporate America will pay off. Why dollar cost average in because the stock market is a little inflated right now. It's not a good time to put a lump sum in.

[Krista]

Kenneth and Georgia says I had the unpleasant experience of having a thief hack into my cell phone account when I.

[Clark Howard]

Received some stealing, some swapping. Yep.

[Krista]

When I received a notice that something had been changed on my account, I logged in and I couldn't see anything that had been changed. When I received another notice, I logged in again and noticed that the contact email had been changed. I immediately changed it back and updated to a stronger password. Later that night, my wife said she'd been having trouble with her cell phone. She wasn't able to get a call through and I noticed the phone was only working on wifi. To my surprise, after logging into my account, I found that the thief had changed my secondary line to an entirely different cell phone model and IMEI number. They made around $25 in calls overseas where they were apparently located. Russia, we believe. While I still remain confused as to why a thief would go to all that trouble to hack an account across seas instead of locally, I wanted to share this information with my fellow consumers to check everything when you get these notices that something has changed. Because all this happened within about two hours, we were able to avoid paying for these bogus calls.

[Clark Howard]

So Kenneth, thank you so much for sharing your SIM swap story. And here's what you need to know. The overseas calls? That's not what the criminals are after. They're after two Factor authentication. Unless this person just didn't realize that's where the real money is. Then they try to get into Your brokerage account, your bank account, wherever your money is and swipe your money. So cell phone companies now provide a SEMLOC feature. I remember when Krista switched recently, she didn't even remember that she had SEM lock on and couldn't port her number. Right, Right. Yeah. So this is a great procedure because it stops the criminals cold who have stolen your account information, gotten into your account with whoever your cell phone provider is, because what they're after is getting that one time use code that allows them into your account where they can then move money out that is very difficult to ever recoup. So take the notice you've gotten from Kenneth that he dodged a meaningful bullet and you put in place with your cell phone provider SIM lock. It means if somebody does hack into your account and then try to steal your cell phone service, they can't even if they've gotten into the account because you've got the SIM lock feature in place or it puts an extra roadblock. And SEMLOC is most of the carriers refer to it is free to do. Some carriers, you can do it just by signing in your account, go into the procedure to lock it. And the smart carriers don't allow somebody, once they've gotten access to your username and sign in and gotten into your account, they don't allow them, after a change in information for email address or anything like that, to remove the SIM lock from a sign into the account. You can add it in some cases to your account by signing into your account, but you can't remove it that way, which helps prevent a criminal from being able to really go around the semlock. This is serious stuff. If you have worked hard to save and invest money over the years and in a day a criminal runs off with much of it or all of it. Coming up ahead. Speaking of having money, there are some responsibilities that fall on you. If you have been financially successful, have built up assets and you've got the dynamic of what's going to happen to that money when you're no longer with us. I want to talk about Warren Buffett's advice on that straight ahead.

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[Krista]

It so much last time that we decided to play another Clark minute and here it is.

[Clark Howard]

This is Clark Howard. Okay, So I have certain things that I drive people crazy about and one of them is my obsession with 15 year mortgages. And I know that someone buying a home, you're not in a position almost certainly to be able to afford the payment on a 15 year loan, but if you bought a home over the last few years, you've been able to handle the payments on the much higher mortgage rates that we had when you bought that home. Now may be a great opportunity for you to refi into a 15 year loan. You know, cut years off that mortgage. You're going to pay so much less interest. And speaking of less interest, the interest rate on a 15 year loan is usually around 0.6 of a point lower than it is on a 30 year. So you save money every possible way, building a whole lot more equity.

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[Clark Howard]

Recently I asked Mint Mobile's legal team if big wireless companies are allowed to raise prices due to inflation. They said yes. And then when I asked if raising prices technically violates those onerous two year contracts, they said, what the are you talking about, you insane Hollywood? So to recap, we're cutting the price of mint unlimited from $30 a month to just $15 a month. Give it a [e-mail] Switch $45 upfront.

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[Clark Howard]

Slows full [e-mail] so none of us are immortal, right? And it's always tomorrow. We're going to get around to updating our will. Doing what used to be called a living will, now referred to more often as a durable power of attorney for health care. Having some kind of paperwork that tells your survivors about all your online existence, your online accounts, all of that. What now is referred to as a digital will. These are things that are always like, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'll get to it. And it completely makes sense with human nature. Why would you want to sit down and say, you know what, today's the day. I'm going to do all that planning about what happens when I die, nobody says, yippee. I want to do that. Right? It's not fair to your loved ones if you don't do it because you're leaving them with a burden that is really, really messy. So this is something I believe in so much that you don't go to your grave or go to your urn without getting this stuff done, keeping it up to date and telling your family, your loved ones, your friends, whoever it is, the trusted ones, what you've done, where they find the stuff. And don't think you're doing a good thing by putting it in a bank safety deposit box. That's an issue for a different day. You don't want anything to do with a bank safety deposit box. They're nothing but trouble in your life. Warren Buffett says something I think is very important that about zero people ever will do. And that is when you've done this stuff, let's say you go to the estate planning lawyer or if you've got a really simple thing, and use software like Will Maker or Legal Zoom or something like that, and you do a will and you write down a document that shows your accounts and that one you need to keep updated, your sign ins, all that. I want you to talk to your loved ones about what you've done. And if you got the guts, do what Warren Buffett did. Sit down with your heirs and tell them what your plan is. Let them even read the will. Because you can't imagine how many times a parent will say, well, you know, she's doing really well in life. She's got all that savings, all that, you know, she doesn't need the money. I'm going to give it to her two brothers, but never explained to her why she's not getting anything from the will and the two brothers are. The most important thing is to explain your reasoning while you're alive to your kids. If you're not doing just a, you get this, you get this third, you got this third, you got this third. If it's going to be something where you're saying, well, you know, I want to do this for this, and I'm giving this family heirloom to this kid and I'm doing this, that and the other, tell them, tell them, explain your reasoning because it eliminates so many hard feelings. I got a call from a friend recently who is an executor of the family estate. His dad, without his knowledge, had not done an equal division, and he was the one who had to tell a sibling they weren't getting an Equal share. Wanted to know from me how to tell that. Oh man, that's not fair to your kid. To put already having to do the estate work and then tell them they're the messenger who has to tell their brother that their brother's not getting anything. No. Whatever the reasoning is, you had a good reason and it's your money and you can choose to distribute it how you wish. And my kids know that if I die second and I've told all three of them I'm giving my estate to charity, giving each of them a little bit and everything else goes to charity. If is likely my wife is second to die, she feels differently. She was giving money to charity, but she wants the kids to have a meaningful amount of money and we've explained that to them. Telling your kids what the deal is, I think is really valuable. Now, the living will thing. Okay. Do you know where your living will or most states have a state statutory form you have to fill out. Do you know where it is? More important, the person you want to carry out your wishes, do they know where it is? Have you gone over it with them? Did they agree with your philosophy that you want this, that or the other? My mother in law and father in law have made it clear they never want me being the messenger. On their durable powers of attorney for health care because they know that I don't like artificially prolonging life when there's no hope. That's not my thing. And they're like, clark, you'd cut things off too quick. I think you said that too. Krista, didn't you say.

[Krista]

Yeah, I have to say I agree with them on that.

[Clark Howard]

So you don't want me to be the one to be the durable power of attorney for healthcare.

[Krista]

You're too quick to lose hope.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah. So you want what I've seen. You want the person who's mind meld with you.

[Krista]

Right?

[Clark Howard]

And you want to go over it with them. Do that. And if you can't find yours and you did it, I don't know what year or century I did it. Do one now and check to see if your state has their free forms that you fill out. There are different witnessing requirements, maybe none in some states. Just depends on the state, what you have to do. Make sure it's up to date, make sure people know where it is. And the third one is all this digital stuff. Does anybody know how to get in any of the bank accounts, Brokerage accounts, frequent flyer accounts, accounts accounts, email accounts. What am I missing?

[Krista]

Oh my gosh.

[Clark Howard]

Cell phone Accounts, bank accounts.

[Krista]

Well, you said brokerage accounts.

[Clark Howard]

Bank, brokerage, retirement accounts. So these three things come up with the date each year, whatever that is, your birthday. When we change from standard time to daylight time, daylight time to standard time, whatever it is, come up with that time that works for you, that you make an appointment to make sure that all three of these things are up to date and done as you wish today. There's a lot to throw out about this. Wasn't it?

[Krista]

I think it's important for sure, but.

[Clark Howard]

It'S hard to get people to not zone out on this.

[Krista]

All right, well, we have a question that is sort of very related from Andrew. He says, I'm a longtime Quicken user and they recently offered a new service, Quicken Life Hub, a secure online personal vault for all your important documents information with an easy to use interface. I also saw a similar product called Trustworthy. Does Clark or your team have any experience or recommendations in this area? Today I use a combination of backup drives, Dropbox and paper towel store my important information. So I'm looking for a more organized and secure option.

[Clark Howard]

Andrew, this is going to surprise you. I prefer what you're doing right now. The problem with the digital services is they'll decide one day like, oh, yeah, we're not going to do that anymore. What was that budgeting thing that people love so much? Mint. That just. The owner of Mint, was that into it? Yes, into it. Just like they just had a meeting one day and they say, yeah, we don't want to do this mint thing anymore. Bam, gone. I worry about any of these digital kind of services, free subscription, whatever, that the owners of the company just one day say, yeah, we're not doing that anymore. And then where you left. So you relying on me, myself and I, which is what you're doing right now. And having basically three different ways you're storing stuff, I think is actually an organized way of doing it. And I prefer that to the subscriptions because we just can't trust them right now or maybe ever.

[Krista]

And just make sure you're regularly changing your password on your Dropbox too. Marcelino in New Mexico says, my wife and I will be traveling to Bolivia in 2025. We will be driving 25 hours to catch the plane in Miami, saving us almost 1000 dol on airfare. Would you do that, Cork?

[Clark Howard]

No, I've driven 10 hours to save money on airfare. 25 is a lot. Okay, here's my challenge to you before we go on with your question. Watch airfares to see if an airfare gets cheap enough from time to time because fares to Florida can end up being really, really thrifty and could end up being cheaper than the cost of driving those 25 hours each way. Just a thought for you. There'd be good setup and alert like Google flights or something like that. And if a really, really cheap fare pops up from let's say Albuquerque to Miami, you may still save so much money that it's worth it versus driving.

[Krista]

Okay. We have never been on any kind of international trip before and we aren't sure what to expect. Our cell phone service is visible thanks to your recommendation. Will our phones work in Bolivia? And while we're making our way there, should we carry cash or is everything done by credit card? And are there any safety measures we should be aware of and any other tips or information you think would be helpful?

[Clark Howard]

So, Marcelino, I've been to Bolivia and when you get out of La Paz or one of the other very major metro areas in Bolivia, it gets very, very rural fast. And credit cards are not normally accepted. They are accepted in the big cities and routine middle class and above businesses. And so the credit cards will work there, but as you travel more remotely, it's going to be all cash. So the important things for you to have. And I'll come back to the cell phone later. And there's another thing about Bolivia you need to know. Make sure that you alert your credit cards that you're going to be there. There'll be like a foreign travel alert that many credit card companies have that you do on their websites or you do by calling into customer service. And if you have more than one checking account or savings account, one place, checking account, another, I want you to have ATMs if you can get them ATM cards from more than one financial institution on this trip, you need to alert them you're going. The reason you want two different ones from different accounts is a lot of people report in Bolivia and some more remote parts of South America that they'll go to put their card in an ATM and it never comes back out. And then you got no way to get cash after that. And that's a real problem. ATMs are widespread in La Paz. They're, they're all over like you'd find in any other big city. You will be much happier having a decent supply of a lot of local currency which you're going to need when you travel around. Did I mention that a lot of places with credit cards in Bolivia you'll have to pay a 10% surcharge using a card. Did I mention that? No. So cash can be really good in Bolivia as the method of payment. One other thing, the US dollar is useful as an exchange currency in bigger cities, not so much elsewhere. And you may have a tax that you have to pay an arrival tax for like a local visa that is really expensive in Bolivia. I've heard from people it's like 150 bucks. Look that up before you go. You can pay for that with a credit card. Cell phone Visible has a thing where you can pay a daily fee of roughly $10 a day to use it in a foreign country. You're better off when you get to La Paz if that's where you're flying into to buy a sim, a data sim to use in your phone. Make sure your phone, well, it would be unlocked if you were Visible, that you can put that in your phone. It may be an ESIM or a physical sim and use that while you're in Bolivia.

[Krista]

And the visa costs $160. Actually, US embassy in Bolivia has a nice briefing on the arrival into Bolivia.

[Clark Howard]

I loved going to Bolivia and it's one of the countries that I want to get back to that I've not made another visit to have a great trip.

[Krista]

This is from John in Texas. Has any member of your team reviewed Roku TVs? If so, are there any recommendations? I'm interested in the 43 inch models. I know you're going to think that's too small.

[Clark Howard]

Yeah, John, that's way too small for a television. At 43, you got to go 55 at least. We are Roku in our household and there are advantages and disadvantages to buying a Roku tv. The advantage, the integration is so simple, so good, just like they are with the Fire TVs. I'd say the Fire TV platform and the Roku TV platform are the two smoothest, easiest to use. The LG one is a nightmare. And I don't like the Samsung one. I don't like many of these other operating systems. For TVs. I really prefer the Roku and the Fire because they are so streamlined, so easy to use. The Roku TVs because the models continually change who Roku licenses to. You have to go with the reviews. You're not going to find them in Consumer Reports, typically because the models change so quickly. But you'll find the reviews to be really helpful. I will tell you that we have a variety of Roku TVs always tuned to football during football season and the pictures on them without exception, are really great because you're watching streaming. And I'm really, really happy with the pictures we get on those TVs. And maybe I'm not picky enough about the quality of the picture, but I love them. And that 43 inch as of late has been as cheap as a hundred and change. You'll even find the 55s have been as cheap as $179. So you see, I'm trying to push you up from that 43. But the Roku is easy, easy breezy to use. And speaking of why things are so cheap right now, it's because it's the Christmas season and we're closing in 13 days till Christmas and we're in the later stages of getting it together for the children that we buy gifts for who are in foster care. Our 34th year of Clark's Christmas Kids. If you've never heard me talk about it, you're like, what's this thing? It's where we as a community come together to make it possible for children in foster care to have gifts that they have wished for Christmas morning. If you go to clark's christmas kids.com you can see how it works. You pick out a child age you want to buy for. You see their names, boy or girl, what gifts they want. Buy one, two or three of them or just give us cash. You'll see the donate now button for that [e-mail] you'll see a header right when you get there. About Clark's Christmas Kids. This means so much to me that our listeners, viewers, readers have been so unbelievably generous over these 34 years to help make these wishes come true for children in foster care. Remember, they didn't do anything wrong. It's the adults and their family that couldn't provide a safe, loving environment for these kids. And these kids end up in a foster group home or they end up with a foster family. And so many of the foster parents have such wonderful hearts that they open up their homes to provide care and a safe place to live to these kids. But I want you to pitch in and help these kids have Christmas again. Clark's Christmas Kids.com have a great day. Tomorrow you give me an early holiday gift. Clark stinks comes your way. And let me tell you, I look forward to it every week. See you tomorrow.