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💵 Today’s Top Stories
Cruises, designer sunglasses, Easter candy, shoes and mulch are just some of the goodies that go on sale in April. Read more.
With average 30-year fixed mortgage rates hovering in the low- to mid-6% range, many borrowers are searching for relief. ARMs save you short-term, but can crush you in the long run. Read more.
A loyal Clark podcast listener makes sure to report all her spam or scam emails. Is she helping or just spinning her wheels? Read more.
Vacation clubs are the answer to an interesting Clark trivia question: what could possibly be worse than timeshares? Here’s why he despises them. Read more.
This company earns the Clark.com award for best Cell phone service for seniors. And right now, they are offering new customers their second month of service for free. Read more.
🐊 Crocs Celebrates 20 Years of One of the Most Famous Acquisitions
Twenty years ago, Crocs made one of the best small consumer-brand business acquisitions ever, buying Jibbitz for $10 million up front and a $10 million earn-out based on performance.
Jibbitz makes the snap-in charms that fit into Crocs’ signature holes. At the time, the accessory business looked like a small, bolt-on acquisition.
Fast forward to 2024 and Jibbitz was doing $271 million of high-margin revenue for Crocs, accounting for more than 8% of overall revenue. As of ’24, about 75% of Crocs customers bought Jibbitz to accessorize their clogs.
Cheap to manufacture, the bolt-on charms get sold at high markups, often in multiples. They generally cost $3 to $5 each and usually get sold in multipacks. The acquisition increased customer engagement, made Crocs more personal and helped redefine the brand as a platform for self-expression.
It also built a “razor and razorblades” model. The shoes are the base product and Jibbitz are the recurring add-ons.
Sometimes the best business moves are small and efficient rather than ultra-expensive and high-risk.
📊 Stat of the Day
📬 8%: The fuel surcharge the U.S. Postal Service will add to package deliveries starting April 26. It’s the first-ever fuel surcharge from the USPS. The announcement came after diesel fuel prices rose more than 43% in a month to $5.366 per gallon.
💰 Deal Alert: Today’s Top Deals
🎙 Podcast
Wes Moss breaks down a powerful financial "hack" involving the new Trump Accounts that could change the trajectory of your family’s wealth forever. By shifting the conversation to a "Year 0" savings plan, parents and grandparents can use these accounts to kickstart a child's financial life from the day they are born. It’s a dramatic shift in how we think about retirement, proving that the one thing we can truly control is the amount of time we allow our money to grow. Also, Wes tackles the growing divide between the "Retire Sooner" method and the popular FIRE (Financial Independence, Retire Early) movement, which over half of Gen Z now claims to follow. While the FIRE movement often requires hyper-lean budgeting, high savings percentages, and extreme deprivation to retire by 40, Wes argues for a more realistic and sustainable approach.
☎ 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.
