05.03.23 Relationships & MONEY Conversations / Clark Smart Moving Rules

It's my pleasure to welcome you here to the Clark Howard Show, our emissions to serve you and empower you so you make better financial decisions in your life. In today's episode, yet more stats about how we're willing to talk or do just about anything other than talk about money and why that is so harmful to you in terms of financial security and financial independence. Something else I want to talk about is moving. People move all different times a year but never more than they do in the summer and I want to really go through with you what you've got to be wary of and careful when you do hire a mover because there's a lot of dirty dealing and actually crooks in the business and I want you to protect yourself. We as Americans are terrified about talking about money and I'm gonna dig up some family laundry here. I did a terrible thing. I really upset my in-laws when I talked about in one of the books I wrote years ago. I talked about how when my wife was growing up that she and her brothers never ever ever heard anything about money and the household they grew up in and I hurt my mother-in-law and father-in-law's feelings talking about that but the reality is they shouldn't have hurt feelings about that because that's the truth in most families. Money is never discussed. People that are living together without benefit of marriage never talk about money with each other. Couples that are married almost never talk about money with each other and families never talk about it with their kids and so how are you supposed to learn and when you're a couple how are you supposed to figure out if your goals are the same as the person you're with how are they supposed to know what you're about and all the rest. There was and I could use any survey at all but the latest one I saw was from M-Power big 401k administrator found that roughly in round numbers two-thirds of people never ever ever have a discussion with their significant other about money. Never it's just this big mystery something not discussed. Bad idea. Bad idea because what you don't know about each other will hurt your relationship but one thing never discuss money when you're mad at the other about something they bought a bill that shows up in the mail anything like that this is never a discussion to have as a flashpoint is a discussion to have as not a talk it's an ongoing conversation it's about being obsessed with money it's about talking about things more neutral you know you start with something like hey you know have you ever thought about when you really would love to retire you may remember I talked about this several months ago when I did a TV special series on the question of retirement and so I was standing on a street corner and I just asked people randomly as they went by I'd ask them financial questions and one of my asked was what age do you want to retire and people would say oh well my goal is to retire by age whatever and it's a great starting point because people smile when they talk about that and they're like yeah I want to bag work when I'm 50 I want to bag work when I'm whatever it's a really useful starting point in a couple and it starts the conversation when somebody says yeah I want to I don't want to work past age whatever and then say gosh you know I was thinking I might work to blah blah blah and then you start talking about that opens the table to talk about how you hope to get there how you hope to save that money to get there and by the way it's not buying a lottery ticket that's not what's going to get it done it is an ongoing conversation that you just have to have the conversation starter if one of you is not open to talking about money and the other is craving to talk about it then the one who is has to be not a nag but has to be the conversation starter and remember always from neutral or fun kind of aspirational things and then you start talking about the fundamentals like how do you plan to save money how do you invest and you find out if your goals are even the same often people will assume that the person they love has the same life goals and the same financial goals as they do and when you just assume that there will come a blow up and unfortunately from that blow up can come something that poisons a marriage or relationship that's why I want you to have these conversations I want you to talk about it because in most couples it's the topic never discussed with unfortunately negative consequences and you can learn from each other and benefit each other but never guilt each other guilt is another poison in a relationship when people use guilt is a way to try to gain leverage in a relationship it's not good we've seen it haven't we we've all seen that right all right well now you don't want to comment yeah I mean we've definitely seen everything you know every you never know what's actually going on in anyone's relationship Linda in New Hampshire says we have a dilemma that I was hoping you could help with my father passed away over 15 years ago my sister is his executor we found out that he had a life insurance policy with my mother as the beneficiary unfortunately she predestced him when my sister the executor called they are telling us we don't have the right to know how much the policy is for or any rights to the policy because my mother is listed as a beneficiary they have been completely uncooperative what is our next step what are our rights this makes no sense they can't just keep the money no kidding all right so Linda here's a dirty dirty secret about the life insurance industry they know they knew when your father passed away they knew that they had a life insurance policy that they needed to pay to a beneficiary but they kept it quiet now how does a life insurer know you may wonder life insurers pay for a database of recorded deaths and they do this because there are lots of things life insurers do then involve what are known as living benefits where they're paying to somebody for as long as they live so they want to know when somebody's died several life insurers have been fined in recent years that even though the database is they're subscribing to tell them when people who have not just living benefits but also they know when somebody's died who has a life insurance policy which knows a death benefit there are unethical dishonest crooked insurers that keep their lips sipped and hold on to the money that is rightfully due to the beneficiary or in this case the beneficiary has sadly also passed away there's still playing hardball first thing you do Linda lives in what state? Linda's in New Hampshire life insurance is regulated by each individual state New Hampshire will have a department of insurance you file a consumer complaint with the New Hampshire Department of Insurance it'll either be with a phone call or an online form you file a complaint the executor does against this insurer the insurer will now have to answer to the insurance department of the state of New Hampshire and then the answer of lack of cooperation will suddenly change because the executor who stands in as if the executor is your mom your deceased mom the insurance company has to has to by law cooperate with that executor since the beneficiary has passed away this insurer I wish I you don't know the name of the I don't know that's a shame because this insurer is wrong and wrong and wrong ethically and morally and procedurally and I want to hear back from you Linda if the state of New Hampshire does its job if it does not we need to know and we'll see if there's something we can do to help unlock this money how cynical how mean-spirited how uncaring this is of this insurer Matt and Indiana says you shared in a recent episode that you shouldn't be trusted with trades related home repairs plumbing electrical etc I can relate and I'm also handy challenged but the typical advice for saving on home repairs is just watch a YouTube video and do it yourself I've been down that road before and a quick 30-minute job turns into four hours later and sparks are shooting out of the wall situation I've also had a bad experience with shoddy work from a handyman professionals are expensive but often worth it to me for the peace of mind that it's done right how do you save on home repairs okay so first of all I never cheap out on having work done to my home why because a home is so valuable and if you find someone who is competent and trustworthy you want that person again and again I don't want the cheapest plumber I can find the cheapest electrician the cheapest carpenter the cheapest handy person I want somebody who I know is going to earn their money and how they do the work and the honesty that they have I give an example I was talking to somebody who right when they came out of training to be a heating and air conditioning contractor employee was talking about how the company that hired him right out of the trade school he hated working for them because they were always trying to push him to sell people things they didn't need that's the problem because when the contractor has superior knowledge to you you're in a weakened position so my thing all through the years is through trial and error you find someone you can trust and that's who you have that relationship with in a specific skilled area like HVAC or plumbing or something like that or with a handy person or with a home improvement contractor you want to develop that relationship and that's your go-to when you have a problem it's no different than what I say about auto mechanics that the time to find a reliable mechanic is not when your car is broken down by the side of the road that's a relationship you want to build and have over the years same thing with your home. Jillian in Florida says I have a small business where I offer local pickup at my home I do not share my home address on my website rather a PO box that I have used for years after I purchase I share pickup information my PO box is getting very expensive so I'm thinking of canceling it and just having all my business mail which is not much shipped to my home but with my website I need to put in a real address for the local pickup option I was looking into a virtual mailbox in my zip code are you familiar with these and can you think of any other solutions I rarely use the PO box and it's becoming a large expense yeah okay so virtual mailboxes have been around for a good while and they were a real fan favorite of crooks con artists things like that but there's a procedure the postal service uses now try to make sure that the private operator you're using is not setting up an account for someone who would not be on the up and up I don't know exactly how well that betting works but these companies of which there are many they have different levels of service depending on what you want the cheapest level and I know many people use this like people who travel a huge amount don't have a permanent fixed address they have all their mail sent to one of these virtual places and they scan in your mail when it comes in and send it to you you want to make sure that they have proper insurance that if they had an employee who was dishonest opening and scanning your mail that they're the ones that have to stand behind it but this is a viable alternative for you particularly because you may not want to disclose your home address in information where somebody looks up who is this that was called where you can see the address for a website or just on your website you're supposed to also have your physical address at the bottom and a virtual address service would be a way to deal with that as well so that is a good thought is an alternative to having the post office box coming up next we're gonna talk about a different kind of move that's moving your stuff Wow this is an area that is rife with fraud customer service problems and dishonesty we need to talk about what you've got to be aware of and protect yourself from this podcast is brought to you by progressive insurance hey listeners whether you love true crime or comedies celebrity interviews news or even motivational speakers you call the shots on what's in your podcast queue right and guess what now you can call the shots on your auto insurance to enter the name your price tool from progressive the name your price tool puts you in charge of your auto insurance by working just the way it sounds you tell progressive how much you want to pay for car insurance then they'll show you a variety of coverages that fit within your budget giving you options now that something you'll want to press play on it's easy to start a quote and you'll be able to choose the best option for you fast it's just one of the many ways you can save with progressive insurance quote today at progressive calm to try the name your price tool for yourself and join the over 29 million drivers who trust progressive progressive casualty insurance company and affiliates price and coverage match limited by state law influencers they are so powerful in the marketplace now somebody you follow on TikTok or Instagram or any social media develops an intensely loyal following and then the money they make is as an influencer getting paid by companies to tout their stuff and there's even formulas now that advertising departments marketing departments that companies use to figure out what is the value of this influencer that one or the other one and it's so formulaic they know they're worth this much for this mention and this much for that mention this person's worth this much less and this other person costs that much more because companies are finding that influencers in many cases may be more effective at getting people to buy something from a company than traditional advertising because of that human connection that happens I've talked about how many people got ripped off and crypto by celebrity endorsements through influencer kind of channels and now the feds are going after some of these people I share with you before some of the people that are now in trouble with the feds for having touted stuff they knew nothing about that ended up costing people real money and tokens you know in crypto tokens that were scams and people's money's gone so enjoy an influencer be careful taking their recommendations because they're bought and paid for for so many products and services the Wall Street Journal just did a story about how this is taken the moving industry by storm that movers are moving important influencers for free and one's not as important at big discounts for them to then post all over social media about hey I use the greatest mover in the world these people were something else you should be using them to do your move and so the movers are finding this really works for them and then people will move within these movers and gosh all kinds of things go wrong you know for these influencers this is making money right now but what's the reputational harm when you recommend something just because they put money in your pocket or gave you a free move or whatever and then somebody who's hyper loyal to you ends up getting burned not the best long-term business play on your part and with moving don't follow advertising don't follow influencers follow my rules when you're doing a state-to-state move don't end up like a caller we just had to our team Clark Consumer Action Center and we have these regularly where they ended up with a mover who was a crook and unfortunately believe it or not the moving industry has long been infiltrated by organized crime and so this mover came they packed up all the stuff they took it away and then they held the possessions hostage and they hold your things ransom for whatever they think they can get out of you in many cases tens of thousands of dollars Krista do we know how much this most recent one was that they I think they wanted to say one of fifteen thousand fifteen thousand to get your own possessions back is a terrible problem in the moving industry in my TV work I was chasing down one of these movers that turned out to be a mafia front connected allegedly to organized crime family in New Jersey and I remember after one of the stories aired I got a call from the FBI telling me that these people were extremely dangerous and I needed to be aware of that well I already knew that because when I went to one of their facilities to try to talk to somebody there because they kidnapped people's possessions they sent a killer dog after me it was it was really something to have the video of that attack dog coming after me was really that was great TV so to protect yourself in a move first I'd like you for a move to look for a pro mover if you go to moving.org that's trade association for the legitimate moving industry but even that's not enough there are certain movers that agree to abide by a code of ethics that is called the pro mover code of ethics and you can see that if you go to moving.org that's number one number two your move estimate needs to be what's known under federal law as a binding estimate now you're not going to believe this in the moving industry if you receive an estimate and you think that's the price it means nothing a mover is allowed under federal law to change the price as much as they want to your move the binding estimate doesn't mean anything it must be a binding estimate it was a binding estimate that's the price they're allowed to charge you not a penny more period second you must buy insurance to ensure your items is even an honest decent mover with all the things they move for so many people and item of yours can get lost an item of yours can be damaged an item of yours can be destroyed and the mover does not provide coverage to you you have to buy coverage from them for your items or from your own insurance company for the possessions you have I recommend that you only buy replacement value coverage so if they break something you're not arguing about what its depreciated value is you don't have that item anymore it's not usable anymore they give you the money to buy a new one that's number one number two take a deductible to lower the cost of that replacement value insurance where the first couple hundred dollars of whatever goes missing or broken or is unusable after the move you sort the first couple hundred dollars is a deductible then after that you have replacement value coverage if the date of delivery is very important for you they to pick up date of delivery that needs to be specifically in your moving contract if you do those four steps your move will be so much better than all the calls we get Krista surely in California says I've decided you know that movie reference airplane I do know that I've decided to set up electronic bill pay instead of writing checks after listening to your horror stories about the bad things that can happen when checks are mailed should I open a new checking account at a new bank to do this so fraudsters can't take extra money I keep in my current bank accounts is this step necessary or overkill that's overkill you know electronic bill pay is a very safe process it stood the test of time it doesn't have the vulnerabilities we've talked about with the payment apps like cash app Venmo and Big Bad Zell that you should never use under any circumstances Zell out of your life so electronic bill pay is good it's reliable it's overwhelmingly safe and your funds are protected in the event that you did have a problem with the financial institutions electronic bill pay Susan in Colorado says we're less than 10 years from retirement due to 25 years of service in the military thank you for your service we didn't purchase a home until we retired and started a second career outside of the military we still have $300,000 mortgage at 2.375 percent in addition to making catch-up contributions on our 401k target date fund we've been making an extra principal payment on our mortgage in hopes of having it near paid off when we retire should we change our strategy and put that extra mortgage payment in a savings account there is 4% add more to our 401k target fund or stay the course since our mortgage balance is still high we are still behind in our retirement goal and only have about three months of liquid emergency savings so any alternative other than pre-paying on the mortgage is a good idea your mortgage rate at 2 and 3.8 percent is so extremely low that under no circumstances do you want to pre-pay on that mortgage you want to pay as agreed even though that will mean even in retirement you still have a balance there because there's so much more benefit to you over the years putting more money into the 401k and putting more money into a rainy day account the mortgage even though it's great to have a home paid off when you are fully retired in this case it would be an inefficient strategy for you to continue to pre-pay on the mortgage and instead just pay that 2 and 3.8 percent as agreed because you can't get money like that anymore you may not ever be able to get money like that again Brian and you test is I recently got my first job out of college and my employer offers an HSA through a company I'm not gonna read the name right now and contributes a hundred and fifty dollars every month on my behalf however there is a 0.03 percent fee every month if I choose to invest the money I would like to max out my HSA and treat it like a second Roth IRA however I don't like the idea of a monthly investment fee I'm thinking about opening another HSA at fidelity that I'll contribute my own money to do you think this is the best option or is there something I don't know so Brian just got out of college and you already are fully aware of a health savings account HSA phenomenal you're already putting money in a Roth I mean man you had some great teaching growing up this is fantastic and you've absorbed the lessons because doing this right out of college means down the road you're gonna have tremendous independence in your life and financial security I am so proud of you and so impressed I'm also so impressed that you realize that a lot of employers don't know how to pick an HSA company for the HSA money that employees are putting aside or the employers putting aside for them you have an employer who's doing so right by you giving you money to put it in HSA and then harming themselves is an owner of the business and harming the employees by being with a rip-off HSA provider so having money infidelities HSA is a much better choice because the money that you're investing for the long-term it's pre-tax dollars going in the money grows tax-free you spend it later in life tax-free the HSA actually is the one thing that's better than a Roth IRA and I'm the man from Roth and I got to tell you the HSA is great so yes diverting money into fidelity and their HSA is a superior choice and when you have enough time at the employer that you feel like you can open your mouth without them saying who are you why are you telling us how to do something when that time comes making them aware about how much better having the employees HSA's at fidelity is than whatever crummy company that the employer has ended up at because just because they don't know they didn't do it to hurt you they just don't know any better about all these rip-off HSA plan providers what about the eighteen hundred dollars a month that the employer is eighteen hundred a year a year sorry so there are provisions where you can move money from an existing bad HSA plan into a good one if you talk with the specialist at fidelity and their HSA department they will help you with being able to move the money you're allowed to move and you invested at fidelity at a fraction of the cost there would be through one of these not very good HSA plan companies you know if you think about the college 529 savings plans when those first came along the plans were very expensive and not very good and then over time the plans became better and better and better and our 529 plan guide shows that plans are fantastic now one after another after another for some reason that same thing has not happened over the years with HSA's most of the HSA administrators continue to be high fee high cost providers with very poor return on people's money and fidelity is kind of a lone ranger out there providing fantastic HSA's so I wish that the HSA thing had followed other investing kind of cycles to better and better costs so far not happening I want to thank you very much for joining us today I want you to remember that we serve you around the clock every day at the year at Clark deals calm and at Clark calm and then for over 30 years we provided one-on-one free advice information and guidance at our team Clark consumer action center then serving you since February of 1993 available 30 hours each week for one-on-one free advice money through Friday 10 in the morning Eastern time till 4 in the afternoon Eastern time if you want that free one-on-one advice give them a call at 636-49-CARP ♪♪