There are tons of great deals in January!
December 31, 2023 | Read Online | | | | Advertisement | | | Later in this email, find out why 2024 should be a better year for potential home buyers. | | 💵 Today’s Top Stories | | | Get next year’s Christmas stuff for dimes on the dollar. If that’s too boring, it’s a great month to buy warehouse club memberships, organization and storage supplies, TVs, appliances and more. Read more. |
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| | | Going on an international trip and trying to figure out your phone situation? Here’s Clark’s advice depending on which carrier you do business with. Read more. |
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| | | Popular budgeting app Mint is shutting down for good in March. Here are some free and paid alternatives that Team Clark recommends instead. Read more. |
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| | | Freezing your credit is the best thing you can do to protect yourself against identity theft. Here’s how to do it at Experian, Equifax and TransUnion. Read more. |
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| | 🏠️ Expect the Housing Market To Improve for Potential Buyers in 2024 | A spike in housing prices followed by the fastest interest-rate increases in decades made the last three years some of the toughest for potential home buyers in a generation. | However, as inflation gets closer to the Fed’s stated 2% target virtually every month, there’s hope that 2024 will get better for buyers. | The market is anticipating several small interest rate cuts in ’24. That has helped mortgage rates fall for nine consecutive weeks. | A 30-year fixed-rate mortgage fell to 6.61% at the end of last week. Not long ago, that number sat above 7%. | That rate is based on borrowers who put 20% down and have excellent credit. It would not be a surprise to see those with excellent credit able to get 30-year mortgage loans under 6% particularly in the second half of this year. | Clark has predicted that the housing market will go sideways for a few years after the huge run-up in value caused in part by COVID-19 supply issues and what were historically low interest rates. | The vehicle market has slowly moderated and is becoming fairly normal. It may take a year or two for the housing market to do the same – and we probably won’t see anything close to the 2% mortgage rates some were getting – but for now, expect steady improvement. | | 📊 Stat of the Day | 💸 $100 million+: Revenue Costco made by selling gold bars during its most recent fiscal quarter. The 24-karat bars weigh one ounce. Customers pay a fraction more than the gold spot price and are limited to two per person. |
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| | 💰️ Deal Alert: Today’s Top Deals | | | | | 🎙️ Podcast | | Do you use autopay for credit card bills? If so, Clark has a warning for you. | | | ☎️ Need Money Help? | The Team Clark Consumer Action Center is a free helpline that can help you navigate your money questions. Call 636-492-5275. Visit clark.com/cac for more information. | | Advertisement | | | | | |
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