Scams costing seniors millions (10 22 2025)

Author

Jennifer Hutcheson
October 22, 2025

💵 Today’s Top Stories
Senior Credit Card

Don’t get conned out of your hard-earned money. Learn the most common scams targeting seniors and what you can do to prevent these schemes. Read more.

Grocery

Save money on your groceries without too much effort. Team Clark has identified the five best money-saving grocery apps across a few categories. Read more.

T-Mobile

Connect by T-Mobile offers plans as cheap as $15 per month. Here’s the money-saving plan Clark recommends and how it compares to other bargain cell phone providers. Read more.

Shipping

UPS, FedEx and the USPS impose peak season surcharges for the holidays. Here are the dates, how much the charges cost and how to save money. Read more.

💳️ Is Chasing Credit Card Bonuses Worth It?

Matthew Palm, a 57-year-old TV producer from Illinois, has netted more than $40,000 through chasing credit card welcome bonuses.

“He opens only cards that come with a sign-up bonus: a reward of a few hundred dollars in points for new customers who reach a modest spending target,” the New York Times article about Palm and other credit card rewards chasers detailed.

Considered “churners” – credit card users who open cards, achieve the sign-up bonus and then churn out of the card – often don’t earn nearly as much as Palm. But he and his wife have opened 50+ credit cards in the last seven years. (Reward: Roughly $6,000 per year.)

This type of activity is like playing with fire if you’re not extremely careful.

If you don’t pay off your credit card statements every month, religiously, forget about it.

And you need to keep in mind the major factors that contribute to your credit score, including paying on time every month (even if you’re juggling many cards), having a low available credit to utilization ratio, your payment history and the average age of your lines of credit.

You’ve also got to be meticulous about following the rules for a credit card welcome bonus and making sure you aren’t missing out on typical 2% cash back rewards cards chasing a bonus you aren’t going to get or spending on a card once you’ve already achieved a bonus.

But for the right (super detail-oriented, great with bills) person, it could be worth considering as a side hustle.

📊 Stat of the Day

🦃 40: The cost of a 10-person Thanksgiving meal from Aldi. That’s $7 cheaper than last year and comes with 21 items, including “a 14-pund turkey, rolls, cranberry sauce, mac and cheese, stuffing, mashed potatoes with gravy, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole and pumpkin pie.”

💰️ Deal Alert: Today’s Top Deals
Costco
Sam's Club warehouse
🎙️ Podcast

For decades, your 401(k) has meant stocks and bonds — but that’s about to change. Wes Moss dives into a major shift coming to retirement investing: private equity entering your 401(k). Private equity could open the door to investing in the other 87% of the U.S. economy — but should you be excited or cautious? Wes explains what this new era of 401(k) investing might really look like.

☎️ 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.

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