Clark Howard

Did you know that one in four American homeowners pay condo or homeowner association (HOA) fees?

Lately, these fees have been rising at about 5% a year. Generally speaking, that is a fair amount higher than inflation, and it is starting to become a financial burden on people.

Even worse, many condo association fees are skyrocketing at a much higher rate. In a number of states, it’s not unusual to see condo fees shooting up 10% to 15% annually. These fees are becoming a real problem for long-time residents.

Why Fees Are Skyrocketing

Amenities Creep: You may have bought into a neighborhood when it was a more modest community or condominium project. Over time, however, the newer buyers tend to be more affluent, and they are driving “amenities creep.” They want fancier recreation facilities, they want the pool completely redone, and they want who knows what else — all on your dime.

Legislative Changes: Law changes are also driving up costs. Take Florida, for example. The state passed new laws that have led to a massive increase in condominium fees. For years, many condos in Florida weren’t doing proper ongoing maintenance or funding their reserves. Now, it’s all catch-up time all at once. What used to be a minor monthly expense is quickly becoming a budget buster.

Don’t Forget the HOA Rules

On top of the rising costs, you also have to live with the rules.

You have to know upfront what you are agreeing to. Remember: an HOA or condo board is essentially another taxing authority. Except with this one, you may have even less control than you do with your local government’s property taxes, because these associations rarely have a normal appeal process.

The Power of the Board

Now, some people specifically gravitate toward condo communities because they don’t want to worry about maintenance — they’d rather just pay for it. Others love mandatory HOAs for the strict enforcement of rules regarding what yards have to look like, what a fence can look like, or what color you can paint your front door.

But you must realize that mandatory HOAs have a massive amount of power. They can fine you, and in many cases, they even have the legal power to foreclose on your home for not following rules regarding the exterior appearance of your house and land.

If you like that kind of structure: Go for it.

If you don’t: Know that there is still plenty of opportunity for you to live independently. You don’t have to buy a condo or live in a mandatory HOA community. As an example, in a lot of the country right now, you can buy what is known as a fee-simple townhome instead of a condominium townhome. With a fee-simple townhome, you own the land and are responsible for what goes on outside your dwelling, but you aren’t tied to a traditional condo association.

Don’t Just Complain — Get Involved

If you already live in an HOA community and you feel like the board has run amok, you have to organize.

Think of it just like a local community getting mad about something happening in their school district. What do they do? They rally. They organize. They go to school board meetings, and they run for the board. You need to do the exact same thing in your condo or HOA community.

I have been a board member of three different associations over my lifetime. To be frank, being on the board is mostly a thankless task. But I did it because I needed to protect my financial interests. That is why I got involved, and I ran for the board at different times so I could help make things better in those communities.

That is your responsibility as well. Don’t just sit back and say, “Look at what they are doing to me.” If you don’t like what the board is doing, get organized. You are the one who can make the difference.

Final Thoughts

A home isn’t just about the purchase price anymore. In many parts of the country, HOA or condo fees can add hundreds of dollars to your monthly housing costs, and those fees may keep climbing over time. While it can be difficult to find homes without mandatory associations in parts of the South and Southwest, buyers in other regions often have more options. And thankfully, fee simple townhomes are becoming more common nationwide. Whether you choose an HOA community or not, go in with your eyes open. And if you’re already part of an association, remember that you have more influence than you may think. The people making the decisions are your neighbors, and getting involved is often the best way to protect your investment.

The post Why Your HOA Fees Are Skyrocketing appeared first on Clark Howard.

A podcast listener recently reached out to me with a great question. They received an email from their local community bank promoting a free service called PropertyFraudAlert.com. The service monitors the county recorder’s office and alerts you if someone fraudulently records a document against your home.

The listener wanted to know: Is this a legitimate service worth signing up for?

My answer is absolutely yes.

What Is Home Title Theft?

Let’s be clear: Home title fraud is rare, but it is beyond ugly when it happens to you.

Title theft occurs when a criminal steals your identity, falsifies documents, and transfers the ownership of your home into their name. Once they control the title, they can:

Take out a massive loan against your fully paid-off home.

Sell your home right out from under you without you ever knowing.

Suddenly, you could find yourself facing foreclosure or even being evicted from your own home. Because people lead busy lives, most have no idea this is even happening until the damage is already done.

The “Easy Button” for Title Protection

With a title alert service, you will be notified the moment any “funny stuff” starts with your title, hopefully giving you enough time to shut it down.

Right now, Property Fraud Alert is active in roughly 15 to 17 states. This feels like the early stages of another site I have recommended for years and years: MissingMoney.com. That site started off in just a small handful of states and eventually spread across almost the entire country. I expect this property alert concept to grow the exact same way.

Many people ask me, “Can’t I just register for alerts directly with my local county recorder’s office?” Yes, you can! Many counties offer their own free registry alerts. But the reality is that registering county-by-county is a step most people just never get around to. That’s why I love a centralized site like PropertyFraudAlert.com — it acts as an “easy button” for protecting your home.

Avoid the Expensive Commercial Traps

As best as I can tell, Property Fraud Alert is completely free to use. Do not be fooled by the non-stop commercials and ads you see for private, paid title fraud protection companies.

These private companies will try to charge you crazy amounts of money — sometimes hundreds of dollars a year — to protect your title. Here is why you shouldn’t pay them:

The crime is brutal, but it is incredibly rare. It does not justify a costly monthly subscription.

The information lives in public databases. You shouldn’t have to pay a private company to monitor data that should be easily and publicly accessed for free.

Final Thoughts

If your state or county is covered by Property Fraud Alert, go ahead and sign up. If it isn’t available in your area yet, take a few minutes to check your local county recorder’s website to see if they offer a free direct notification service.

Protecting your piece of the American dream shouldn’t cost you a dime.
The post Is Property Fraud Alert Legitimate? Why You Should Sign Up for This Free Service appeared first on Clark Howard.

Plenty of parents wonder if they’re saving enough for their kids’ college. Far fewer stop to ask the more important question of whether they’re saving too much for college at the expense of their own retirement.

It happens more than you’d think. A parent opens a 529 the week the baby comes home, funds it faithfully every month, and meanwhile contributes just enough to their 401(k) to get the match, or less. On paper, it feels responsible. In practice, it can leave you with a fully funded education account and a retirement shortfall.

Money expert Clark Howard and fiduciary financial advisor Wes Moss have both spent years talking families through this exact tradeoff. Their advice points in the same direction, and it gives you a simple way to test whether your priorities are in the right order.

Why Retirement Should Come Before College Savings

Clark’s position on this has been consistent for decades: “Don’t save a penny for education until you’re saving everything you can for your own retirement.”

The logic comes down to which goal has a backup plan. A student who arrives at college with an underfunded 529 has options. In-state tuition, community college, scholarships, grants, work-study and federal loans all exist. A 65-year-old with an underfunded retirement account has none of those.

Wes Moss, a fiduciary financial advisor and host of Ask an Advisor on the Clark Howard Podcast, puts it this way: “You can’t get a loan for retirement. Your kid can always get a loan, a scholarship, a grant, or a payment plan for college, but there’s no financial aid office for your 65-year-old self. That’s why retirement savings has to come first, every single time.”

Clark has also seen how this plays out on the other end for parents who got the order wrong. In a recent column, he wrote: “Let me be blunt: Parental guilt can be a self-destructive motivator. There are so many college options available at so many different tuition levels. Yet, I see it all the time: Parents stop contributing to their own retirement accounts just so their kid can go to an ‘It’ school.”

The bitter irony, in Clark’s telling, is what happens decades later: “Then, way down the road, when the parents are in retirement and don’t have enough money to live on, those exact same adult children look at them and say, ‘Gosh, Mom and Dad, you really should have done a better job saving for retirement.’ They develop amnesia about the massive financial sacrifice that got them their degree in the first place.”

Underfunding your own retirement to pay for college doesn’t just put you at risk. It can eventually put the financial burden right back on the child you were trying to help.

The 15% Test

So when is it OK to start saving for college? Wes uses a specific checkpoint.

Saving less than 15% of your income for retirement? Prioritize retirement.

Saving 15% or more? Consider adding money to a 529.

Already doing both? Great, but keep retirement as the priority if money gets tight.

Wes explains, “Saving for college is a balance — your own retirement is the anchor, college is the stretch goal built around it.”

If 15% isn’t realistic today, don’t let that discourage you. Save what you can, increase your retirement contributions as your income grows and treat 15% as a target to work toward over time. Making steady progress is more important than trying to fully fund every financial goal at once.

If You Pass the Test, Start Early

Once retirement is on track, the best thing you can do for college savings is start as soon as possible, even with small amounts.

“If you start setting aside even a modest amount when your kids are still in diapers, say $200 to $300 a month into a 529, you’re far more likely to hit both goals than someone who waits until their kids are 15 and tries to play catch-up on both fronts at once,” Wes says.

The math backs him up.

Starting at birth? Investing $250 per month from birth could grow to roughly $107,000 by age 18 (assuming a 7% annual return).

Waiting until age 10? You’d need to save about $850 per month to reach the same balance.

You can run your own numbers with our investment growth calculator.

The 529 Rules Removed the Biggest Excuse

One old objection to 529s was the fear of overfunding an account your kid might never use. That risk is much smaller now. Under current rules, up to $35,000 of leftover 529 money can be rolled into a Roth IRA for the beneficiary over time, subject to annual contribution limits.

Clark calls this the ultimate 529 backup plan. If your kid earns scholarships, skips college or doesn’t use all the money, the balance “gives your child an incredible, tax-free head start on their retirement savings before they even hit their twenties,” he writes.

But the rollover option cuts both ways. It makes a 529 safer to fund, not a reason to fund it ahead of your own retirement. A $35,000 lifetime rollover cap is a nice consolation prize for your child. It is not a substitute for the hundreds of thousands of dollars you may need in your own accounts.

What If College Arrives and the 529 Falls Short?

That’s okay. An underfunded college account at 18 is a solvable problem.

Clark’s favorite solution is the community college transfer strategy. Have your child spend freshman and sophomore years at an affordable local school, knocking out prerequisites, then transfer to the target university for junior and senior years. Transfer admission is generally less competitive than freshman admission, and the diploma comes from the school where your child finishes.

Clark is also direct about the conversation many parents dread: “It is completely okay for you to look at your teenager and say, ‘We can’t afford that college. Period.’”

A Quick Self-Check

If you want to know whether you’re overprioritizing college savings, ask yourself three questions.

Are you saving at least 15% of your income for your own retirement? If not, redirect college contributions to your retirement accounts until you are.

If you’re contributing to a 529, did retirement hit 15% first, or did the 529 get funded ahead of it? The order matters more than the amounts.

Does your college savings plan assume you’ll fully fund four years at any school your child chooses? Partial funding combined with smart school choices, scholarships and student contributions is a legitimate plan, and it’s the one that protects both generations.

The goal isn’t to fully fund every financial objective at once. It’s to put them in the right sequence.

Final Thoughts

You don’t have to choose between your retirement and your child’s future, but you do need to save for them in the right order. Build your own financial security first, then put extra dollars toward college. A child can borrow for school, earn scholarships or choose a lower-cost path. Your retirement doesn’t come with those options. Once you’re ready to save for college, Clark recommends choosing a direct-sold 529 plan. You can see which plans make Clark’s Dean’s List of low-cost options in our 529 plan guide.
The post How To Balance College Savings and Retirement appeared first on Clark Howard.

If you’re thinking about early retirement, the Rule of 55 may be the most useful IRS provision you’ve never heard of.

This rule allows you to withdraw from your 401(k) penalty-free if you are laid off, fired or resign from your job starting in the year you turn 55. That’s nearly five years earlier than the standard 59½ threshold.

“The Rule of 55 is a cool rule if you can swing it,” says Wes Moss, a fiduciary financial advisor with Capital Investment Advisors who answers reader questions in our Ask an Advisor series. Wes considers it one of the most underused tools for people who want to retire sooner, and his research supports making the leap earlier when the numbers allow it: “My research consistently shows a significant jump in happiness and overall well-being for those who transition from working to retirement.”

In this article, we’ll explain how the Rule of 55 works, its fine print, and whether it’s a good idea for you to use it.

What Is the Rule of 55?

Normally, if you withdraw from a 401(k) or IRA before turning 59½, you’ll owe the IRS a 10% early withdrawal tax penalty on top of regular income taxes.

There are several exceptions to the 59½ withdrawal age. Perhaps the most notable is the Rule of 55.

If you leave your job during or after the calendar year you turn 55, you’re eligible to take early withdrawals from that job’s 401(k) plan without the penalty. Note the phrasing: the calendar year you turn 55. If your birthday is in November and you leave your job in March of that same year at age 54, you still qualify.

It doesn’t matter how you leave. You can quit, get laid off or take a buyout, and you’re still eligible.

So why isn’t the rule more widely used? Wes says it comes with layers of fine print that trip people up. “Think of it as financial tiramisu,” he says. “Delicious, but with distinct layers.”

Limitations of the Rule of 55

Here are those layers. The Rule of 55:

Applies to 401(k) plans (and many 403(b) plans). IRAs aren’t eligible for early withdrawals via the Rule of 55.

Works only with the retirement plan at your most recent job. If you have other 401(k)s from previous employers, you won’t be able to withdraw from them penalty-free under the Rule of 55. You’ll need to wait until you’re 59½.

Doesn’t obligate employers to offer early distributions. Your 401(k) plan can allow early withdrawals under the Rule of 55, but it doesn’t have to. The good news: Moss cites research indicating that roughly 85% of plans permit it. But your company can decide to pay you only via a one-time lump sum if you want to withdraw early, which can lead to negative tax and investment consequences. Check with your plan administrator.

Disappears if you roll your money into an IRA. This mistake is permanent. The moment you roll your 401(k) into an IRA, the Rule of 55 no longer applies to that money and you’re back to waiting until 59½. Plenty of people leave a job, follow the standard advice to roll everything over, and unknowingly lock the door on penalty-free access.

Doesn’t excuse you from paying income taxes on your 401(k) withdrawals. The Rule of 55 exempts you from the 10% early withdrawal penalty. But any money you take out of a traditional account counts as ordinary income you’ll need to report when you do your taxes.

Includes mandatory withholding for taxes. Many lump-sum distributions from employer retirement plans are subject to mandatory 20% federal tax withholding, even if your eventual tax bill is lower. Your actual tax liability may differ, and you could receive a refund or owe additional taxes when you file your return.

Rule of 55 Can Be Rule of 50 for Public Safety Employees

If you’re a public safety employee and you meet certain criteria, you may be able to withdraw 401(k) funds penalty-free starting the year you turn 50.

Public safety employees include:

Firefighters

Police officers

Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs)

Correctional officers

Air traffic controllers

How To Use the Rule of 55 To Fund Your Early Retirement

If you’re interested in making penalty-free withdrawals between the ages of 55 and 59½, make sure you’ve thought through the implications and potential snags.

Here are a few things to consider before you put this plan into motion:

Make sure your employer supports early withdrawals. Companies don’t have to allow early withdrawals under the Rule of 55, and some only allow lump-sum withdrawals. Confirm both before you build a retirement date around this rule.

Consider rolling any old 401(k) funds into your current 401(k) before you leave. Until you turn 59½, you can withdraw penalty-free only from the 401(k) at your most recent job. Consolidating first puts all that money under the rule. Not all employers accept rollover contributions, especially from retirement plans that aren’t workplace-related.

Wait at least until the year you turn 55 to leave your job. If you leave or lose your job in the year of your 54th birthday, you aren’t eligible for Rule of 55 withdrawals.

Consider waiting until January the year after you retire to withdraw. Taking money out of your 401(k) adds to your taxable income. So if you retire mid-year, you may want to wait until the start of the next calendar year to withdraw. That way, you’re not stacking withdrawals on top of a year’s salary.

You can return to work while continuing to withdraw penalty-free. Once you start using the Rule of 55 to take money out of your most recent 401(k), you’re allowed to start working again, part-time or full-time. You can still withdraw without paying a penalty, but only from the same 401(k) you’ve been tapping for income.

Should You Take Advantage of the Rule of 55?

As the saying goes, just because you can do something doesn’t mean you should.

It’s generally a good idea to leave your retirement account alone as long as possible. Withdrawing your 401(k) money early can sink your future retirement income, especially if the stock market has a couple of down years while you’re taking early withdrawals.

If you retire early, one option is to find freelance or part-time work to bridge the gap before you can start taking Social Security benefits at age 62. That way, your 401(k) investments have more time to grow. (Money expert Clark Howard recommends you wait to take Social Security benefits as long as you can.)

That said, Wes pushes back on the idea that later is always better. His research on retiree happiness points the other way for people who have saved enough: The transition out of work tends to come with a measurable improvement in quality of life, and the Rule of 55 is one of the few tools that makes that transition possible before 59½ without a penalty.

There are a couple of situations where using the rule makes sense:

You’re in a safe position to retire early. If you’re considering retiring early and using the Rule of 55 for income, make sure it’s financially prudent for you. Consider talking to a financial advisor first.

You’re being strategic about your taxes. Withdrawing from a taxable retirement plan during a low-income year could save you some tax money. This is especially true if your taxes may be higher in the future when you plan to take withdrawals.

More Information on Rule of 55 Tax Strategy

It’s a good idea to talk to a financial advisor or a Certified Public Accountant (CPA) specializing in taxes before implementing an early retirement plan.

There are other potential tax reasons to be strategic with early withdrawals.

The IRS says you must take Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs) from your 401(k) starting at 73 years old. The more money that remains in your 401(k), the higher your RMDs will be each year. That could push you into a higher tax bracket.

It may be better to roll some of your 401(k) into a Roth IRA than to take early withdrawals from your 401(k).

You’ll owe immediate taxes on the money you take out of your traditional 401(k), just as you will on any funds you roll into a Roth IRA. Money converted from a traditional 401(k) to a Roth IRA is generally subject to a separate five-year holding period before converted amounts can be withdrawn penalty-free if you’re under age 59½.

IRS Publication 575 provides more guidance on the Rule of 55.

The tax implications of retirement accounts can get complicated quickly, so don’t hesitate to seek professional advice.

Other 401(k) Early Withdrawal Exceptions

Several other circumstances will allow you (or your beneficiary) to withdraw from your 401(k) account before you reach 59½ without paying a 10% penalty.

Some of those include:

The Rule of 72(t). This lets you take penalty-free withdrawals from an IRA or 401(k) at any age through Substantially Equal Periodic Payments. It’s the main option if you’re under 55 or your savings are in IRAs, but it locks you into a payment schedule and requires professional guidance to set up.

Total, permanent disability

Death

Medical expenses that exceed 10% of your Adjusted Gross Income (AGI)

IRS levy

Qualified disasters

Qualified military reservists who are called to active duty

Final Thoughts

The Rule of 55 won’t make an early retirement affordable if you haven’t saved enough. But if you’re already financially prepared, it can give you more flexibility over when you retire by allowing penalty-free access to your current employer’s 401(k) years earlier.

Before you base your retirement plans on this strategy, confirm that your employer’s retirement plan allows Rule of 55 distributions and think through the tax implications of taking withdrawals. If you’re unsure, a financial advisor or tax professional can help you determine whether this approach fits your overall retirement plan.

For many people, leaving retirement savings untouched as long as possible is still the smartest move. But if you’ve done the hard work of building a strong nest egg, the Rule of 55 may be one of the most valuable tools for making an earlier retirement possible.
The post The Overlooked ‘Rule of 55’ Could Unlock an Earlier Retirement appeared first on Clark Howard.

If you have the Chase Freedom Flex® Card in your wallet, be ready for some changes in the months ahead.

On July 15, Chase sent a notification to cardholders explaining the following benefit adjustments to the cash back card:

Cell Phone Protection will cover eligible losses incurred through September 19th, 2026, and will be discontinued on September 20th, 2026.

The card will have no foreign transaction fees starting September 20th, 2026.

So, in short, Chase is taking away the card’s cell phone protection on September 20. And, in exchange for removing that benefit, they’re making this card a no foreign transaction fee card from that date moving forward.

It is rare for a no annual fee credit card to offer no foreign transaction fees. This perk, which greatly benefits cardholders who spend outside of the United States, is usually reserved for travel credit cards that have annual fees.

The current policy is 3% of the amount of each transaction in U.S. dollars.

Is The Chase Freedom Flex Card Still Worth It?

Chase Freedom Flex®

Learn More →

Annual Fee:

$0.00

Rewards Program Details:

Earn 5% cash back on different categories like gas stations, grocery stores (excluding Target® and Walmart®) and select online merchants on up to $1,500 in total combined purchases each quarter you activate.
Earn 5% on travel purchased through Chase TravelSM.
Earn 3% on dining at restaurants, including takeout and eligible delivery services.
Earn 3% on drugstore purchases.
Earn 1% on all other purchases.

The popular no-annual-fee card offers 5% cash back on rotating categories for up to $1,500 in spending per quarter.

Cardholders who successfully juggle these spending categories can earn up to $75 per quarter and $300 per year in cash back by maxing them out.

The difficulty in this comes with the unpredictability of the boosted spending categories and the level of usefulness those spending categories may have in your day-to-day life.

If you have followed money expert Clark Howard’s advice to secure an unlimited 2% cash back credit card in your wallet, this card could serve as a supplemental option for dining (3%), drugstores (3%), select travel (5% via Chase Travel portal). and then 5% back when the rotating categories are in your favor.

Do you have the Chase Freedom Flex Card in your wallet? We’d love to hear your reaction to this news in the Clark.com community.

All information about Chase Freedom Flex® has been collected independently by Clark Howard, Inc. and has not been reviewed or provided by the issuer or provider of this product or service. Chase Freedom Flex® is no longer available through CardRatings.

The post Chase Makes 2 Major Benefit Changes To Popular Rewards Credit Card appeared first on Clark Howard.

Most retirement planning content answers one question: Do you have enough money? Run the numbers, check the withdrawal rate, stress test the portfolio. If the math works, you’re done.

Except you’re not. Plenty of people reach the finish line financially and then freeze. The savings are there. The mortgage is paid. The spreadsheet says yes. And they keep working anyway, sometimes for years, because a second question sneaks up on them that no calculator can answer.

Should you actually do it?

Do People Regret Walking Away?

Wes Moss, managing partner at Capital Investment Advisors and host of Ask an Advisor on the Clark Howard Podcast, has spent years surveying retirees about what makes retirement work. We asked him whether people who leave work sooner than they have to tend to regret it.

“If you can retire early, the real question isn’t ‘Can I?’ It’s ‘Should I, and what am I retiring to?’” Wes says. “My research shows about a 21% jump in happiness once someone is able to honestly say ‘Yes, I’m retired or could retire if I wanted to,’ and very rarely have I seen people regret that decision.”

That finding cuts against a common fear. The worry that you’ll walk away from a career, get bored in six months and wish you could undo it turns out to be rare in practice. When the money is in place, regret is the exception.

But notice the condition buried in that answer. The happiness jump comes to people who retire to something, not just away from something.

You May Not Get To Pick the Timing Anyway

There’s another reason to take the question seriously once your numbers work. Workers consistently plan to retire later than they actually do. The median worker expects to retire at 65, but the median retiree actually left at 62, and about 40% of retirees say they left earlier than planned, often because of health problems or layoffs rather than choice.

That changes how you should read your own situation. If you’re still working, the money is in place and the decision is entirely yours, you’re in the position most people assume they’ll be in and many never reach. Telling yourself you’ll work three more years and then decide assumes those three years are guaranteed. For a lot of people, they aren’t.

When Walking Away Works

Wes uses the phrase “money green zone” to describe the financial side of readiness. Your savings, income sources and spending are aligned well enough that the plan holds up without heroic assumptions.

“When the money fundamentals are in place and you’ve built a life with purpose, community and core pursuits, leaving work a little sooner tends to add joy, not take it away,” he says.

“Core pursuits” are the hobbies and activities you’re genuinely invested in. Golf, volunteering, travel, a part-time passion project, grandkids. Wes’ research on retiree happiness has consistently found that the happiest retirees have several of these, while the unhappiest have one or none. Work fills 2,000 hours a year. Something has to replace it.

Money expert Clark Howard has made the same point. “Being retired is about more than just dollars and cents. What do you do after you retire? Do you have hobbies you love?” Clark says. “Because if you’re not fulfilled, retired days become not as much fun as you’d think.”

When It Backfires

The picture is different for people who clear the financial bar and nothing else.

“Where early retirement backfires is when someone has just enough savings but no vision for how they’ll spend their time, so they trade a stressful job for a different kind of unhappiness. Lack of community, boredom, isolation or anxiety,” Wes says.

This is the trap for people who have spent decades defining themselves by their work. The job provided structure, social contact and a reason to get up. Remove it without a replacement and the freedom you were chasing starts to feel like a void. You didn’t solve the unhappiness. You swapped it for a new brand.

How To Know You’re Ready

If the numbers work and you’re deciding whether to go, the useful questions are mostly about time, not money:

Can you name what Tuesday looks like? Not the first month, which feels like vacation. Month eight. If you can’t describe an ordinary week, you’re not ready yet, and that’s fixable while you’re still working.

Do you have friends outside of work? For many people, coworkers are their social circle. That circle largely disappears when you leave. A community that exists independently of your job is one of the strongest predictors of a happy retirement.

Is your spouse on the same page? Retiring into a house with someone who has a different vision for this phase of life creates friction fast. Talk about it before you resign, not after.

Have you covered health insurance? If you’re leaving before 65, you need a bridge to Medicare, and it’s one of the biggest challenges of retiring before then. ACA marketplace coverage works for many, but price it out first, because it can run four figures a month depending on income and subsidies.

Final Thoughts

Reaching the point where you could retire is an accomplishment in itself. But the decision to stop working isn’t just about whether your portfolio can support you. It’s about whether you’ve planned a post-work life that’s worth stepping into.

Research suggests that people who retire after achieving financial independence rarely regret it. In fact, many report being happier, especially when they have strong relationships, meaningful activities and a sense of purpose outside of work.

If your finances are solid and you’ve already started building the life you want beyond your career, waiting for one more raise, one more bonus or one more year may not change much. Money buys security, but time is the one asset you can never earn back. The best retirement plan isn’t just having enough to quit — it’s having something meaningful to retire to.
The post If You Have Enough To Retire Comfortably, Should You? appeared first on Clark Howard.

If you like saving money on groceries, Aldi is the place to shop. This discount grocer features rock-bottom prices on the most popular grocery items as well as organic meats, milk and specialty cheese.

In addition to its fantastic prices on all your favorite grocery items, Aldi features special deals each week in its Aldi Finds ad. This week’s ad features home decor, pet products, back-to-school deals, and more!

These items are available in limited quantities while supplies last, so you’ll want to shop early to get the best selection! If you’re an Instacart+ member, you qualify for free curbside pickup and delivery on orders of $35 or more. This includes Aldi’s middle aisle items!

Note that the start dates of the ad may vary slightly by location, but you can input your zip code here to find the exact date these items will be available at your store. See all the deals at Aldi this week here!

Save With the Best Deals From “Aldi Finds” Available Right Now

Heart to Tail pet splash pad for $9.99

Help your pets beat the heat! Find a similar pad at Walmart for $26.99.
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Give your cat a fun place to play and nap! Compare to an exclusive cat tower at Tractor Supply for $69.99.
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This fun cat scratcher will entertain you both! Find a similar style at Amazon for $15.99.
Crofton Back-to-School lunch box assortment for $5.99

This lunch box is a great deal for back to school! Compare to a similar box at Amazon for $11.99.
Crofton 4-pack ice sheets for $9.99

These fun sheets will keep your lunch cool! Compare to a similar item at Target for $26.49.
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This beautiful bread oven will make quite a loaf! Find a similar bread oven at Wayfair for $42.90.
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You get 2 matching rugs with this deal! A 20.1″ x 39″ runner and a 2′ x 5′ accent rug. Compare to $34.09 at Walmart for similar sets.
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For even more great deals and discounts, sign up for the Clark Deals daily newsletter!The post The Best Deals of Aldi’s Middle Aisle in July appeared first on Clark Howard.

Travel credit cards get a lot of marketing hype.

It’s easy to watch a commercial for one and envision easy value with promises of flashy perks like big sign-up bonuses, miles multipliers, points you can transfer to airlines, hotel upgrades and lounge access.

But the reality is often different for infrequent travelers.

Once you factor in annual fees, how points are actually redeemed in the card ecosystem, and the risk of point devaluation, many people end up with less value than they expected. Sometimes a lot less.

In this article, we’ll take a closer look at why your rewards might not be delivering what the marketing promises. And I’ll give a few tips for what you can do about it.

The Mind Game of Points and Miles vs. Simplicity of Cash Back

Let’s start with an explanation of how travel credit card rewards can get confusing for the average consumer.

Most travel rewards cards allow you to earn “points” or “miles. ” These generally have a “base value” that is compared to cents. (Ex. one mile may be “worth” one cent of redemption value in the card’s travel portal.)

But the effective value of those points or miles varies significantly depending on your redemption method.

Which flight or hotel room did you book? And on what day? Did you use it in the card portal or transfer the points to an airline or hotel? What was the cash price of that flight or stay if purchased outside the portal ecosystem? How does that line up with the number of points they’re charging me?

You’ll be presented with all kinds of redemption options. Your choice can make or break the value of your accrued points.

It can be an opportunity to grab a great deal on a flight or hotel room when the value is right, but it also can end in confusion with travel portals, inefficient redemption, and ultimately a lower valuation for your points.

The difference between those outcomes is hard to spot with a novice eye. You’ll need to spend time familiarizing yourself with airline and hotel rewards programs and studying their pricing models to protect the value of your redemptions.

For this reason, money expert Clark Howard strongly suggests that infrequent travelers stick to cash back credit cards for a straightforward experience.

Our most frequent suggestion is simply using a no-annual-fee credit card that offers unlimited 2% cash back on all purchases. This effectively ends in a very predictable 2% discount on all of your spending. No gimmicks, just cash in your pocket.

Common Ways Points Are Being Devalued

OK, travel credit card enthusiasts. If you’ve managed to get a handle on the way they gamify your points or miles, as we discussed above, you still have some work to do to make sure you’re getting the value you’ve been promised.

You must fight point devaluation.

There are common ways in which your card’s issuing bank and its partner airlines and hotels seemingly conspire to keep you from getting the most out of your rewards.

They raise the award pricing, which reduces your redemption power. This is the most common trick. You earn rewards at the same rate, but the number of points you need to book a trip can go up. This devalues your rewards without directly “devaluing” your points. Airlines and hotels frequently increase the number of points or miles required for the same flights and stays. (Ex. A flight that used to cost 50,000 points might now require a 70,000-point redemption.)

Most airlines and hotels have shifted to “dynamic pricing” for rewards redemption. Many airline and hotel rewards programs have moved away from predictable award charts to variable pricing that spikes during peak times or high-demand periods. This can make redemptions far more expensive and unpredictable than they used to be.

Reduced award availability as a means of devaluation. Airlines and hotels control how many of their seats or rooms can be assigned to rewards redemption. So, while they may not directly “black out” a date, popular routes and dates can become harder to book with points. This forces you to either use more points or settle for less desirable options.

Tips for Maximizing the Points You Do Have

Every credit card and its corresponding rewards program has its own tricks for maximizing the value of your points.

But there are some general rules you can follow that should help you no matter which airline, hotel or generic travel card is in your wallet.

Redeem your points quickly. Clark is always encouraging people to avoid hoarding their credit card rewards. They hardly ever go up in value. So, as a general rule, the sooner you use them … the better. It’s often smarter to lock in trips instead of letting points sit and lose value over time.

Transfer points strategically instead of defaulting to portal redemption. Moving points to airline or hotel partners often delivers significantly higher value per point than using them directly for travel bookings through your credit card issuer. Keep an eye out for bonus point opportunities offered for transfers (ex. 20% boost for moving points to X airline or Y hotel.)

Consider booking your award travel early. If you’re able, you may have better redemption value and more redemption options by booking when the award travel first becomes available. Airlines and hotel chains can restrict the number of seats or rooms they make available via rewards redemption, so being at the front of the line can pay off.

How do you handle your credit card rewards redemption? We’d love to hear your strategies in the Clark.com community

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The post Your Credit Card Rewards Are Probably Worth Less Than You Think appeared first on Clark Howard.

Trump Accounts opened for business on July 4. Babies born between 2025 and 2028 can get $1,000 from the federal government, which can be invested in a low-cost S&P 500 index fund, and the money will grow until adulthood.

You can debate the merits of the accounts themselves. Money expert Clark Howard already has. His advice is simple: “Take the free money.” But he recommends against adding your own contributions because he believes there are other places you can put that money that offer greater tax advantages. You can read his full breakdown in our Trump Accounts guide.

Politics aside, Trump Accounts give millions of American children the one investing advantage no adult can ever buy back: time.

That head start is the lesson everyone should take from Trump accounts. Let’s look at the math.

Scenario 1: $1,000 and Nothing Else

Say the government’s $1,000 goes in at birth and nobody ever touches the account again. No birthday contributions, no grandparents chipping in. Just $1,000 earning the stock market’s long-term average return of about 10% a year.

At age 18, the account holds about $5,560. Respectable, but nobody’s retiring on it.

Now leave it alone until age 60. That same $1,000 grows to roughly $304,000. Leave it there till full SS retirement age of 67 and you’d have $593,000

The first 18 years turned $1,000 into $5,560. The next 42 years turned $5,560 into $304,000, and the final 7 years ADDED $289,000. Compounding is slow at first and dramatic at the end.

Scenario 2: Add $500 a Year, Then Stop Forever

Now suppose the family adds $500 a year until the child turns 18 and never contributes another dime. That’s about $42 a month, totaling $9,000 out of pocket over the full 18 years.

At age 18, the account holds about $28,360.

At age 60, with no further contributions, it’s worth about $1.55 million. At age 67, it’s over $3 million.

The total principal invested across both sources is $10,000. The $1,000 seed plus $9,000 from the family. Everything else is growth. And nearly all of that growth happens after the contributions stop.

You can use our investment growth calculator to run your own numbers.

The Investing Lesson of Trump Accounts

The real story of Trump Accounts isn’t the politics, the rules or even the free $1,000. It’s that time is one of the keys to success in investing, and you can’t get more of it than starting at age zero.

Every big number in this article came from the same ingredient. Not a hot stock pick, not perfect timing, just ordinary market returns stacking on top of each other for decades. A child born this year has more of those decades ahead than any adult can buy at any price.

Final Thoughts

If your child is eligible to receive the $1,000 government seed money or matching grants from employers or philanthropists, take advantage of it and let that money start compounding. However, Clark believes there are better places than Trump Accounts for many families to make ongoing contributions.

The bigger lesson applies no matter where you invest. Whether it’s a Trump Account, a 529 plan or a Roth IRA for a teen, starting early gives compound growth its greatest advantage.

Choosing the right account matters. But getting money invested while someone is young may matter even more. Decades of compounding can turn relatively modest contributions into life-changing wealth.
The post The Biggest Investing Lesson From Trump Accounts appeared first on Clark Howard.

Credit cards can be a financial tool or a financial burden. And, unfortunately, many consumers are experiencing the latter in 2026.

Between high APR interest and ever-evolving rewards programs, many people find their cards are working harder against them than for them.

The good news is that you can flip that script with a quick checkup on the cards in your wallet.

In this article, I’ll walk you through a simple checkup you can do on your current credit cards to assess if you need to make some changes.

Credit Card Checkup Check List

Let’s do a “wellness check” on your wallet to ensure that your credit cards are working for you, not against you.

1. Are You Regularly Carrying Balances with Your Credit Card?

First, let’s address the elephant in the room: The interest rate on balances for credit cards can be crippling.

In fact, the national average is 23.79% APR, according to data from Lending Tree.

That’s why money expert Clark Howard says it is imperative to pay your balances in full each month if you’re using the cards to earn rewards. Missing just one “in full” payment will dwarf the value of the rewards you received.

(Ex. You could receive 2% back for spending a dollar, but would pay 23% APR on the interest if you carry it forward as a balance.)

So, if you’re spending for rewards … pay the bill in full or don’t use a credit card at all.

If you find yourself in a position in life that requires borrowing money, you’ll likely find that your credit card isn’t the best option for borrowing. We recommend checking with your local credit union for more favorable borrowing terms. But if you need to use a credit card for the short term, we have recommendations for credit cards with 0% APR terms and cards with low APR.

2. Are You Paying an Annual Fee That Doesn’t Make Sense?

Many travel credit cards are well marketed on television, online and on social media to portray the ease and convenience of their travel perks and benefits.

But many of them have also upped their annual fees to fund these privileges. Some top-tier credit cards are asking for annual fees of up to $900 per year.

This can make sense for frequent travelers, but it can be a real money pit for infrequent or aspirational travelers.

I recently tackled this topic in an article urging people to stop paying for credit cards they barely use.

My recommendation is to take a hard look at your spending habits and perk usage with your annual fee cards over the last 12 billing cycles. If you don’t see an easy path to value relative to what you’re paying for the right to use the card, it may be time to downgrade or dump it altogether.

3. Do Your Spending Habits Match Your Card’s Rewards Program?

One of the key pieces to making a credit card work for you is ensuring you’re optimizing the value of the rewards you can earn with your spending.

Making sure you’re paying the bill in full and not paying unnecessary annual fees are the first steps, and then the next is checking your rewards program to ensure you’re being properly compensated.

For years, Clark has recommended carrying a no-annual-fee credit card that offers unlimited 2% cash back on all spending. This is a solid rate of return and can be considered a good catch-all card for everyday spending.

If your card pays you less than 2% back on your spending, you may want to consider finding a new card that levels you up.

And if you already have a card that rewards you with 2% back, you can enhance this further by finding supplemental cards that offer even more cash back in the categories where you spend the most.

This means you could earn 5% back or more on specific spending categories like gas, dining or groceries.

Team Clark offers a cash back credit card tool to help you get started.

4. Are You Getting Dinged with Fees with Your Current Cards?

Beyond annual fees and APR interest charges on balances, there are a few other areas where a credit card could be working against you.

If you’re an international traveler, you likely know the value of a credit card that offers no foreign transaction fees. If you don’t have a card that offers it, you’re like being charged 3% or more on every swipe you make while outside of the United States.

Other fees to watch out for include:

Using your credit card for a cash advance (Don’t do this!)

Late fees (Always set calendar reminders to ensure on-time payments … this can hurt your credit score!)

5. Is Your Credit Utilization Too High?

If you have your cash back rewards, annual fees, and bill payment habits in check, the last area you’ll want to review to ensure your credit cards are working for you is their impact on your credit score.

Making regular, on-time credit card payments is a great way to increase your credit score over time. But they can also have a negative impact if not handled properly.

The biggest dings come from missed payments and delinquent balances, but you could also hurt your score if your credit utilization is out of alignment.

Credit utilization is calculated as a percentage: the amount you owe divided by the total amount of credit available to you. It’s best to keep this under 30%, with a target of under 10%.

So if your total credit line (across all your credit cards and other loans) is $10,000, it’s good to owe less than $3,000, and great to owe less than $1,000.

You can help keep this formula in check by paying balances in full as quickly as possible. But you can also request a credit limit increase to change the math in your favor. Using these two in tandem is likely to produce the best credit score results.

How is your credit card situation shaping up in 2026? We’d love to hear your thoughts in the Clark.com community.
The post Is Your Credit Card Working Against You in 2026? appeared first on Clark Howard.