Top 10 value cars in 2024 (8 13 24)

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Anthony Hazzard
August 13, 2024

Have you ever wondered about how the Michelin star system works for restaurants? Find out more later in this email.

💵 Today’s Top Stories
Car

U.S. News & World Report issued its category awards for the best cars based on price, five-year ownership cost, safety rating, published reviews and more. Read more.

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Here’s how to calculate your net worth. We also reveal what you can learn about your financial health by calculating it once a year. Read more.

Flipp

This free app is a cheat code for comparison shopping on groceries. Organize your grocery list, find the best deals in your area and more. Read more.

Smartphone

Lifeline, tied to income requirements or select government assistance programs, offers discounts on cell phone and internet service. Here’s how it works and how much money you can save. Read more.

📣 Today’s Top News
🍽️ The Business of Michelin-Star Restaurants

Getting one, two or three Michelin stars is one of the highest honors in the restaurant industry.

Have you ever been curious to know why Michelin publishes restaurant guides for some cities and states and not others?

The first requirement is that the city must be a serious food destination. That’s subjective, of course. The second requirement? The state and city tourism boards need to get involved. (Read: cold, hard cash.)

Michelin will be publishing a much-anticipated Texas guide later this year. That’s after Houston First, the city’s tourism board, agreed to pay $90,000 a year for three years ($270,000 overall) to support the guide.

Considering Michelin also will visit Austin, Dallas, Fort Worth and San Antonio, presumably collecting checks from each city (and probably the state), the price tag is relatively high.

To be fair, Houston offers more than 11,000 restaurants. It takes some serious resources to offer Michelin ratings. And food represents 32% of day-trip expenses for those visiting Houston. So it seems like a logical expense for the city.

Visit Florida paid $150,000 for a 2024 guide that includes Orlando, Miami and Tampa. California became the first state guide in 2019 with Visit California shelling out $600,000.

It’s not the only such food-related marketing expense. For example, Top Chef reportedly got hundreds of thousands of dollars in the early 2010s from many states and even received $3.5 million in tax breaks from Kentucky in a recent season.

Why is a French tire company rating restaurants in the United States and dozens of other countries worldwide?

French brothers Andre and Edouard Michelin founded the tire company and the food guide followed early in the 20th century. The food guide initially was a strategy to encourage motorists to go on road trips (and therefore increase demand for tires).

📊 Stat of the Day

🩺 $2,735: The average amount that UnitedHealth added per home visit to Medicare recipients conducted by their nurses from 2019 to 2021. That’s according to the Wall Street Journal, which found that the insurance company pushed nurses to make additional diagnoses – many of which were “outright wrong or highly questionable” according to WSJ reporting.

💰️ Deal Alert: Today’s Top Deals
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🎙️ Podcast

Many of us, including Clark, are receiving solicitations from the Giant Monster Mega banks to open accounts to get a big bonus. Should you do it? Clark explains who should consider taking advantage of the opportunity. Also, Clark has long talked about buying store brands. For example, Costco’s Kirkland Signature sells really well in the warehouse club. But the Sam’s Club Member’s Mark brand is starting to catch up!

☎️ 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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