Clark Howard

Curious parents in Illinois say, "Hi, Wes.

Long-time listener of Clark, and now you as well.

I haven't missed a Clark Howard podcast in years.

We know Clark has advised against the new Trump account, recommending a 529 instead for kids' education due to less favorable tax treatment.

Our son is seven, and we have $78,000 saved in his 529 plan.

We also max out our Roth 401[k] and do a backdoor ro- Roth IRA every year.

[upbeat music] Welcome to this week's Ask an Advisor.

I'm Christa Debias, here with Wes Moss, our advisor on The Clark Howard Show.

Hi, Christa Debias.

You've talked in the past about how we're afraid to spend money in retirement, a good problem to have, and there's some new research around that, right, which says we maybe should be spending, what is it, eight to-

Really, that's the premise of her book is that people don't sp- they're totally fine spending income.

They're, for some reason, not fine spending assets that otherwise would be income.

Here's a line from one of the researchers: "Having more of your money in the form of income rather than assets seems to give retirees a license to spend." Now, what they propose is that turning some of your money, now I'm going to use a four-letter word here on, on The Clark Howard Show, in some sort of fixed annuity, some of your retirement, turn it into a payment stream so you know you won't run out, and you will spend that mon- you'll be more willing to spend that money.

Now, there are downsides to that, because when you pass away, your heirs don't get any of that money, so there's some real limitations around it, and you can't access the money.

[upbeat music] I'm so glad you're with us here on The Clark Howard Show.

You know, our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you to make better financial decisions in your life.

And in today's episode, something I'm constantly asked about is how to outrun inflation without investing so heavily in stocks.

Hmm.

I would not even do that on a bet.

Sunet in Arizona says, "Clark said he virtually never needs his wallet when he's out and about because tap to pay is so common.

What about his driver's license? What if a cop pulls him over because he's driving too slowly-

[laughs]

Autumn Fisher is here.

George Clark is here.

Look at that, the plus one.

English Nick, who's actually a Doctrineer.

I feel like I'm out-clevering

the system.

You need to talk to Clark.

Talk to Clark Howard.

Luke in Virginia sent this one in: "I recently took the step to cancel my T-Mobile plan, cellphone and home internet, and after the, after the last price hike.

I discovered Visible from Clark.com and then went to them for the, on my phone, which is $29 a month, and I found another option for home internet, together lowering my bill by $38 from T-Mobile.

When I called T-Mobile to cancel and find out how to return my home internet router, I was told I would still have to pay the remainder of my bill for the month even though I won't be using their service.

I asked to speak to a supervisor, and she wouldn't budge.

This is pretty much universal now in the technology fields, that you pay from the minute you start breathing with them till the moment that last billing cycle ends.

So you can look and see when your billing cycle ends, and then about four days before it, give yourself time to get the, the cut over done, switch your cellphone, that kind of thing, so that you're not double-paying for any long period of time.

Pete in Nevada says, "Hi, Clark.

I have two credit cards, one Visa and one Discover.

I love talking about the happy retiree.

One thing I wanted to share today is some of the statistics that drive a lot of that work, because retirement can be really hard, and there's some statistics that it's time to share here on The Clark Howard Show.

And a warning, some of those statistics are very, very sensitive topics, so-

They're sensitive, yeah

Does it make sense to continue to max out our 457 contributions and pay the house off in a couple of years, or stop contributing now and pay it off in just over a year? Our interest rate is 5.5%, but our investments are doing much more than that.

Any advice is greatly appreciated.

I really enjoy your time on The Clark Howard Show.

It's a perfect fit.

We'll go to questions.

Patricia in Georgia, here you go, Clark.

"What is the least expensive way to tap into our home's equity?"

Oh, my goodness.

Yeah.

All right.

Mary in Wisconsin wrote in to you, Clark, about her car.

"My 2018 Subaru is paid in full, a great feeling.