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I'm so glad to welcome you to the Clark Howard Show, our inaugural show of 2026, where our mission is to serve you with advice and information that empowers you so you make better financial decisions in your life.

And if you're new to our show, welcome. Normally on Fridays, we start

with our Clark Stink segment, where I get to hear where I let you down. Got something wrong.

Miss some information. But don't worry, I'm still going to do Clark Stinks today. But because we, at the

beginning of every year, we have so many new listeners and viewers, we're going to do things

backwards today. We're going to start by talking about how you can rethink your buying decisions

in the new year. Then we're going to get to your questions,

followed by your Clark stinks. So some bad habits crystallized after being kind of like a side

issue this past Christmas shopping season. The banking industry is growing about how many people

they got to do paying for. By now, pay later. That they are hoping, and I'm hoping not, that they have changed the trajectory about how people

buy things. And so now we're at the real test. A lot of people during the Christmas

buying season feel stretched. They're buying something. Maybe their wallet can't handle.

And they give into temptation and they use these horrendous paying for products, buy now,

pay later products. And so what the banks are hoping is that they've gotten the serpent under the tent.

Is that the right expression? The elephant snows under the tent. Anyway, wherever the snake

fits in this, snake equals bank. Anyway, that they now have created this new habit in you,

and you're going to just do it routinely

throughout this year. I got to tell you, pay and four is a rotten, terrible thing. Paying four

now is being very heavily reported on people's credit reports.

A lot of people succumb to a pay in for at a cash register or shopping online.

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