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♪♪
It's my pleasure to welcome you to the Clark Howard Show
where our missions deserve you and empower you
to make better financial decisions in your life.
As a poster on Clark Stinks pointed out,
I like to talk about credit scores on this show
of a warning for you today about how to get your credit score
more important, how not to get it.
Also, some new research has shocking stats
about the content of supplements many of us take.
So, Google is a great search tool.
Google's competitors, people don't use a lot like DuckDuckGo,
which doesn't track you like Google does
and other smaller ones like Microsoft has, things like that.
They're great up to a point.
Criminals, con artists, scamsters have learned
how to manipulate search results.
And one of the areas that has been rife with cons and frauds
and just plain out people taking advantage of you as well
is when you search for credit reports or scores,
because people will be in a situation in their lives
where they got denied for something
or they're looking to do something,
they don't know how to keep track of their score report
and so they'll Google it.
And what ends up happening is two possible trees of problems.
By far, the most common is when you just get ripped off.
You end up at some site that signs you up for a subscription
you don't want or a high fee that you don't want to have to pay.
To find out something simple, the temperature of your credit.
How are you doing?
Where are you ranked compared to other people?
And is there something out there that you forgot about
or didn't know about that is really harming your credit
reputation?
And it's so typical that we will in fact
do a search online when we're trying to find something.
But this is an area for as long as I can remember,
has been a real source of problems for people.
So again, number one is the ripoff.
Number two will be the frauds, where somebody is using
getting your personal information that you have to give
when you're trying to get a credit reporter's score.
And they pretend to be a legitimate outlet.
And what they've gotten is they've gotten what they needed
from you, including your social security number,
to then engage in identity theft.
So you've got to be really, really careful
where you go get this information.
If you're a longtime listener, you
know I've advocated setting up a credit karma dashboard.
What you trade off with credit karma,
where all the information is free, is they know about you.
And they target offers to you that they then
get commissions from if you sign up for them.
A new credit card, a personal loan, a car loan, whatever it is,
that's how credit karma makes its money.
So it's a trade off of your privacy
versus what you get from them, which
is free credit monitoring, free credit scores,
and free credit reports, in addition to other things.
It's a pretty wide marketplace they offer.
But you don't even have to do that.
If you have existing credit cards,
remember virtually every credit card out there.
Now, if you sign into your account or you have the app,
will instantly show you your credit score either
on the FICO scale or the alternative, which is vanished,
90% plus of lending decisions are made on FICO.
FICO itself is now offering, for the first time,
a process where you can see your FICO score for free.
I'm not recommending that yet because I don't know
how it's going to play out.
I can tell you that if you go to the websites of Equifax,
TransUnion, or Experian, they're
going to try to sell you incredibly overpriced credit
scoring things, where you have a subscription,
and you don't want to do any of those.
Do not waste your money and allow Equifax, TransUnion,
or Experian to take advantage of you.
So much of this information is now
available for free legitimately that you don't want
to pay any of these terrible fees and credit monitoring.
I don't want you ever paying for credit monitoring.
Remember, the most valuable tool is free.
If you're worried about identity theft,
and that is credit freeze, easy to set up, doesn't affect
any of the credit you already have,
and easy to thaw when you do need to do an application
for credit, or sign up for a new cell phone
plan, or something like that.
But Google searches in so many areas
have become dangerous.
I just recently talked about why you never
Google a customer service number for a company.
Because if you do so, really ugly things can happen.
Krista, you have some unusual questions you told me today.
Yeah, we do.
You're really going to see if you can do some brain twisters
on me.
Yes, we're going to start with this one from Trung in Indiana.
I'm planning to start my business in about two years.
I was recommended by a CPA firm to use my 401K plan
as a savings vehicle to stash the money that I will use
to fund the business using ROBs.
Rollover for business startups.
I want to clarify that I'm not taking money from my 401K
that I save for retirement to fund the business.
But instead of putting the money in a simple savings account,
I just max out the 401K contribution
and use that additional amount to fund my business.
I understand that using the ROBs method
will be beneficial from a tax deferment standpoint.
Currently, I only contribute up to the match
and put the rest of the money into a simple savings account.
What are your thoughts?
So this has been controversial for the last 15 years
doing a ROBs account because it's not in the spirit
of what a retirement account savings was designed for.
Your CPA has recommended this to you,
and your CPA probably also mentioned to you
that because the IRS is skeptical to hostile to this
as a method of funding a business,
a rollover for business startups,
that it is recommended generally
that you seek a private letter ruling from the IRS,
which is something your CPA would do for you,
to make sure that you're complying with the rules
involved for a 401K.
So this is possible,
but you need that private letter ruling
because the tax bomb you set off,
if the IRS later invalidates your ROB setup,
is really, really bad,
and that's why this has to be done the right way up front.
The reason people do these, Krista,
is they don't have ready access to funds
to fund their business,
but they've got money in the 401K and they're like,
okay, that's what I can use for it.
They don't want to trigger early withdrawal penalty,
and they don't want to trigger ordinary income tax,
so they do this complicated arrangement,
but if it's not done exactly right,
you're going to cause all those problems
you were trying to avoid in the first place.
I love that Trung is planning so far ahead too.
That's awesome.
And this one's from Ron in Florida.
As a small business owner,
I use the very common accounting software QuickBooks.
I purchased the 2020 desktop,
not online version from Costco for about $130
about three years ago.
Even back then, it was becoming obvious
into it really wanted to push us
toward the online version with subscription fees.
Recently, I received a pop-up message in the app
stating it will no longer be supported after May of 2023,
meaning that things like bank feeds
are going to require manual entry
and no new security updates.
The newer versions of QuickBooks Online
with similar functionality are $55 a month.
As into it.
Think about that.
The original software was,
how much did you send?
150.
150 bucks.
And now you'd run that in less than three months.
Has Into it.
By the side of its small business customers,
do you have any suggestions for alternative accounting software
that doesn't require subscription fees
or putting business finances online?
What do you use with your business?
So we use QuickBooks.
And I don't like the fees involved.
It's what's integrated with the CPA firm
that we use for the companies.
For us, it's an expense that causes into gesture
but we absorb.
And I'm not aware of viable alternatives.
I think QuickBooks so owns this marketplace.
This is probably the ground floor
on what fees are going to charge
until somebody else comes along and says,
hey, this is a big, plump, profitable business opportunity.
And I'd love it.
Could we get suggestions for business owners?
How would we do that?
You could just write in using our form
on the Ask Clark form on the site.
And tell us what works for you.
I'm sure there are other software
depending on the size of your business
and how much you're doing.
I'm sure there are ones out there.
Give us some suggestions.
We'll check them out and then we'll do an update on this
because obviously this is the culture at Into it
is to figure out how to get people the subscriptions.
I was just talking about with the credit bureaus
is get you into subscriptions,
get you hooked on their software
and then run those fees up.
And it's tough enough to make money in business right now
to have your software that you bought in good faith
and expected to be able to use for years to come,
go dead on you.
That's a problem.
We can also do a poll in our newsletter,
kark.com slash newsletters.
And if you're not signed up already
and on our social media channels.
So if you're subscribed to any of those,
look for our question on that.
And this one's from Pavel in Nevada, Nevada.
Nevada.
Nevada.
I would like to buy a new car, a Kia.
They currently offer 2.9% financing.
I understand that the car would be more expensive,
but even online banks pay 4% interest.
Is it not better than to pay cash
and invest the money instead?
Okay, so what a great question.
So you want to find out what Kia is offering
is cash back or the 2.9.
So if the cash back is meaningful
and you have cash to buy the Kia,
just pay cash for the Kia
and take the cash back against the deal
or the incentive direct to deal or for you paying cash.
Now as an alternative,
if you don't want to lay out the cash for the vehicle,
go to a credit union.
There are so many credit unions in Nevada,
particularly because of the huge casino industry.
There are a lot of credit unions in Nevada,
both in the Reno area and course in Las Vegas area.
And see what a credit union will write you
alone for on the Kia.
Compare those two and the cash back that might be offered.
And that's how I'd make the decision.
But it's not the worst thing in the world.
If you're offered a 2.9,
there's not a good equivalent cash back
to take the 2.9
and take that cheaper financing.
Because obviously Kia is subsidizing that
because their cost of funds
significantly higher right now with higher interest rates
than the 2.9 that you would be getting.
Coming up ahead,
you're in Vegas,
you're staying up,
you're gambling all night,
you might be taking some kind of supplement
in order to stay awake.
Is what's on the bottle,
really what you're getting from that supplement?
More often not than yes.
I'm gonna talk about a new study
looking at one of the most popular items
that we take as herbal remedies or dietary supplements
and how little what's on the ingredients list
is actually what they have.
Did you know the term financial advisor
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I'm Don McDonald
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Congress generation a half ago decided that there was
a wonderful industry growing up in the United States
for alternative medicines.
And things that are not traditional pharmaceuticals
can be sold in the marketplace without a long expensive
federal review by the FDA.
It's wonderful these products can come to market
at lower cost because they don't have to go through the gauntlet
of all the federal oversight review and regulation.
On the other side of the equation,
the problem is a lot of stuff being sold
when you buy an herbal remedy, dietary supplement, whatever,
aren't at all what they say on the label.
The American Medical Association has the journal
JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association.
And recently they tested 25 of the most popular melatonin.
They were being sold in the marketplace
from different manufacturers, 25.
And they were checking them to see did they
have what it said on the label?
Did it have stray ingredients?
Did it have things that were not in it
that it said were on the label?
And then most important since you were buying melatonin,
did it have the amount of melatonin it said on the bottle?
OK, so get this.
90% of them were different than what it said on the label.
The crazy thing, 4% of them didn't even
have melatonin at all, even though it said it on the label.
But the ingredients were not what they said
over and over and over again, 90% of the time.
One of the melatonin products being sold had almost four times
the amount of melatonin that it said on the label.
Others had less than it said on the label.
And this has been the problem.
And it's been an ongoing problem in the dietary supplement
or the herbal remedy industry because it's
left for people to do the right thing.
So this has really caused a reputational concern
for the manufacturers of herbal remedies and dietary supplements
who are doing the right thing that are responsible in the products
they make, market, and sell.
And so it's led to the creation of three different independent lab
organizations that check that what's on the label
and what's being marketed is actually what you're getting.
And if you shop at places for herbal remedies,
there's really no explanation of this for you.
So I'm going to give you one.
The most common to look for is USP.
If it's got USP on there on the side with the ingredients,
USP is an independent lab that tests
to make sure that what's being told to you and sold to you
is what you're actually getting.
Another NSF and the third consumer lab,
although USP is the most known and recognized
there are three of these.
Now, most sellers, manufacturers of herbal remedies
and dietary supplements, will not
have their products submitted for independent verification.
Why?
Because they know they're not doing what they're supposed to do.
And so you're doing these things to improve your health
or protect your health, improve your quality of life.
You don't want to end up with a big problem.
Listen to this data from the Journal of the American Medical
Association.
Melatonin, in particular, has led among children
because a lot of parents, if a kid's wired at night,
they'll give them a child's dose of melatonin.
You go to any store that sells herbal remedies, dietary
supplements, a pharmacy, whatever, discount store,
warehouse club.
They'll sell children's dose melatonin.
Well, again, if you don't buy one that's properly checked out
by an independent lab, who knows what you're getting?
What's amazing is that calls to poison control
for kids with melatonin up 530% in a decade,
28,000 emergency department visits,
4,100 hospitalizations, 287 known intensive care unit
admissions, just from a kid taking a melatonin to deaths.
I mean, that's crazy, right?
Number one, you want to make sure these bottles are away
from where a kid can reach them because they're so often sold
as gummies for the kids.
And kids like eating gummies.
And to them, it's just like a gummy bear candy.
So make sure those are away from where a kid can reach them.
Sometimes it's an OD kind of situation.
But others, it's the problem with impurities or dosage.
And so the recommendation of the Journal of the American Medical
Association Writers is that you really
be careful before you give melatonin to a child
and that you talk to the pediatrician first before you do.
Why do they test melatonin in this journal story,
Journal of the American Medical Association?
Because it's one of the most popular of all herbal remedies
or dietary supplements.
But as I've shared over the years,
the problem was impurities and mislabeled ingredients
has been a long-term plague for herbal remedies
and dietary supplements.
And that's why I want you to look for the laboratory labels
on these things that they've been independently verified
before you buy and before you take any of these.
Now I take two of these dietary supplements a day.
You take 27.
Yeah, I take several.
Yeah.
Can you even count how many?
Yeah, oh yeah.
But I mean, I take the same consistent things,
like a vitamin B complex, vitamin D, things like that.
And I make sure they have that label on them, the NSF usually.
But then melatonin, I just realized, like I rarely,
I only take it when I'm traveling
and I've gone to different time zones to help my body adjust.
Because I've also heard you should not
take it consistently because your body will stop
producing melatonin.
But I do feel like it's been so inconsistent.
Like sometimes it does nothing for me.
Sometimes it helps.
So I need to check the bottle we have of that
and see and get something new, I guess.
That's pretty scary, especially with the kids.
And I guess if you have a little kid,
you never want to have the gummies.
No, I remember my daughter ate a dishwasher pod
when she was little.
She found her to sink because it looked like a gummy
and we had to call poison control and she was fine.
But do you remember that when kids were ending up
in the emergency room in the worst case dying
from eating those laundry pods?
Yeah, the tide pods.
Yeah.
Well, this was.
Because they look so colorful, they look fine.
That was what this was.
Yeah, very similar.
Okay, we'll go to questions now.
Matt in Wisconsin says,
my former girlfriend has several years.
Ademy is an authorized user to her Costco credit card.
We are no longer together as of almost one year.
She refuses to answer any communication.
Call email text from me in regards to removing me
from it.
It is still showing up on my credit report.
The balance is roughly $4,000.
This amount has not fluctuated much since us being together.
What am I to do?
I have no idea how to have this removed from my name.
Okay, so the Costco credit cards issued by Citibank.
And as you do any time you're an authorized user
and you don't want to be an authorized user anymore
and the person who added you as an authorized user
doesn't want to cooperate virtually every card issuer
requested by an authorized user
to remove them as an authorized user will do that.
So you want to contact Citibank
and you don't have to get into the whole relationship saga.
You just say, I'd like to be removed
as an authorized user on this account.
You've got the account number.
It should be pretty easy.
If they ask you, again, don't give them the full soap opera
version of what happened with your relationship.
Just say, we broke up.
I've been unable to reach her to talk about this.
I just would like to be removed as an authorized user.
The credit card companies are generally very cooperative
on this because they don't want someone to say,
all right, they're leaving me there.
I'm gonna do some revenge spending here
because you don't get stuck with the bill
as an authorized user, the person who added you does.
And so the credit card companies want to prevent that
and that's why they're generally cooperative.
Sorry about that Matt.
Hopefully you're in a better place now after a year.
Mark in Nevada says, I realize the potential problems
with debit card transactions online,
but are there similar concerns when using debit card
or e-checks for online payments to such things as utilities
and other monthly or recurring bills?
Should I use a credit card for these transactions as well?
Depends on who the recurring bill
or the payment would be too.
You're paying a utility company.
You're paying a credit card bill.
You're paying different routine bills fine.
Recurring bills is where the problems can occur.
And I'll tell you, there are certain places
that end up being a real problem.
Number one of all fitness centers.
Fitness centers seem to get amnesia when you cancel
and continue to debit your checking account
after you're no longer a member.
So if the fitness center allows for those monthly payments
to be automatically charged to a credit card,
do that because you have far more protections
than you do otherwise.
You think of some other examples?
Oh internet service.
Sure, I would say with anything, even utilities,
don't you always want to default to using a credit card?
You want to default to using a credit card with any of them,
but some of them now charge a discriminatory monthly price
because they're paying those huge credit card fees
to the Visa MasterCard cartel.
So they don't want to take those credit cards
and give you the choice,
hey, you want to pay with a credit card pay us more?
You got to make that judgment based on
how you feel the cultural environment is,
who you're doing business with.
And I can tell you the biggest risk
all through the years has been the fitness centers.
Okay, Michelle in Ohio,
so should I ensure my car is in home with the same company?
Normally, yes, because you get what's called tying.
You know, companies want to tie you to them
and they give you a lower rate for a combined business
and it means that it becomes more complicated
when you want to fire them for one thing or another.
So you find you have to move both to whoever you move to.
So if you do want to move on,
just know that's harder when you have both tied in
with the same company,
but that's why they offer you the lower combined price,
the double discount,
if you have both lines of business with the same company.
So I want to thank you so much for being with us today.
Remember, we serve you around the clock.
The sun never sets on Clark.com.
And we broadcast right from the Team Clark
Consumer Action Center and the phones are active right now.
People are hard at work right now as we speak,
answering your questions for free one-on-one,
just as we've done for now approaching 31 years
of free one-on-one advice, guidance, and information.
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You can call in for that one-on-one advice.
It's 636-49-CART. Have a great day.
♪♪♪♪