Should you sign the back of your credit card? (9 4 25)

Author

Sally McDonald
September 04, 2025

🎉 NEW: Clark Smart Investor Weekly Newsletter

Starting Sunday, September 7, we're adding a new weekly newsletter to your inbox focused on investing, building wealth and living well in retirement. You’ll get interesting investing news, tips, and education to help you save more and build wealth over the long run. We believe this new content will be a great complement to the money-saving advice you already love from Team Clark. If it's not for you, no problem — you will be able to easily update your preferences at any time.

💵 Today’s Top Stories
Sign back of credit card

Don’t ignore this crucial step when you get a new credit card. Clark explains why it’s a mistake to miss this. Read more.

Clark Howard streaming

Clark finally ditched his previous favorite streaming TV service after too many price hikes. Here’s how he replaced it, and how he’ll watch his beloved NFL football. Read more.

Squeeze toothpaste

No need to go to the store to replace these items. Use these simple tricks to get more life out of the products you have at home – and keep more money in your pocket. Read more.

Food delivery

Here’s how much money the average DoorDash driver makes per hour in 2025 according to Glassdoor. Team Clark also tested the app a few years ago. Read more.

Cell Phone Deals

The best deals include AT&T offering a super discount for seniors (55+), Boost Mobile scrapping hard for new customers, Ultra Mobile offering $10/month if you prepay and more. Read more.

💵 Today’s Top Savings Rates

Check out our updated list of Clark.com-approved high-yield savings accounts with the highest rates. Here are the top five APYs on our list as of September 4, 2025.

Savings Rates 082825
⛽️ Smart Ways To Save Money on Gas

Labor Day ushers forth a river of travel-related articles, including this one from Yahoo! on saving money on gas.

But our driving doesn’t start and stop on Labor Day weekend. Here are some of the biggest tips from the article.

Take advantage of Costco. You can find a difference of almost a dollar per gallon of gas.

Lighten your load. “Every extra 100 pounds in your car reduces MPG by about 1%.” Roof cargo, by the way, is worse. A large box “can cut gas mileage by 6 to 17% on the highway and up to 25% at interstate speeds.”

Drive efficiently. Every 5 mph over 50 mph “is like adding 29 cents per gallon,” so drive the speed limit. Also, avoid sudden braking and acceleration if you can, as that “can lower your mileage by 15 to 30% on highways and 10 to 40% in stop-and-go traffic.”

Be smart shopping for gas. Costco aside, you can use a proper rewards credit card. You can use an app like GasBuddy to comparison shop between gas stations. You can check the difference in price between states before you cross state lines.

📊 Stat of the Day

💼 38.1%: The labor force participation rate for U.S. citizens ages 55+. It suffered a big drop at the beginning of COVID-19 with a string of early retirement offers (40.5% in June 2019 to 38.5% in May 2020), but has since fallen further. More than two million extra retirees left the workforce in 2020-22.

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

Clark shares his personal streaming TV journey, just in time for football season! He reveals why he canceled YouTube TV, the service he switched to, and how he's saving money while still getting the games he wants. Also, Clark gives a critical warning about long-term care and nursing home bills. Learn how to protect yourself and your family from this deceptive practice and what to do if a collection agency contacts 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.

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