Clark Brian Howard (born June 20, 1955) is a popular consumer expert and podcast host of ''The Clark Howard Show''.

Life and career

Howard grew up in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,7 ...

, Georgia. His parents, Bernard and Joy Garson Howard, were prominent members of Atlanta's Jewish community. Howard has three children, born in 1988, 1999 and 2005. He had been a nationally syndicated radio host since 1989, teaching consumers ways to "save more, spend less, and avoid rip-offs." The Clark Howard Show was heard every day on more than 200 radio stations throughout

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

, and aired from News/Talk WSB, WSB AM/ WSBB FM in

. He is a frequent consumer expert guest on other talk, variety, and news programs. Capt

Howard's first career was in the travel agency business. Howard attended

The Westminster Schools The Westminster Schools is a Kindergarten –12 private school in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, founded in 1951. History Westminster originated in 1951 as a reorganization of Atlanta's North Avenue Presbyterian School (NAPS), a girls' schoo ...

in Atlanta before graduating from the

American University The American University (AU or American) is a private federally chartered research university in Washington, D.C. Its main campus spans 90 acres (36 ha) on Ward Circle, mostly in the Spring Valley neighborhood of Northwest D.C. AU was cha ...

in 1976 with a BA in Urban Government. He went on to receive his

Master of Business Administration A Master of Business Administration (MBA; also Master's in Business Administration) is a postgraduate degree focused on business administration. The core courses in an MBA program cover various areas of business administration such as accounti ...

degree from

Central Michigan University Central Michigan University (CMU) is a public research university in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. Established in 1892 as the Central Michigan Normal School and Business Institute, the private normal school became a state institution and renamed Ce ...

in 1977. During Jimmy Carter’s presidency at the age of 25, when the travel industry was deregulated, he founded his travel agency business. Clark’s business quickly became successful and had several branches by the time he was approached by a large financial firm to acquire his travel business. In 1987, he was forced to retire during the sale of the travel agency business he founded six years earlier. He retired to

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

for a couple of years before returning to his home state of

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

. During his travels between Georgia and Florida, he was approached by a radio station to give guest travel advice to listeners. Not long afterwards, he began giving travel advice in guest appearances on Atlanta radio. In 1991, Howard also became a consumer affairs TV reporter for

WSB-TV WSB-TV (channel 2) is a television station in Atlanta, Georgia, United States, affiliated with ABC. It is the flagship television property of locally based Cox Media Group, which has owned the station since its inception, and is sister to ...

, the local ABC affiliate. In 1993, he founded the Consumer Action Center to have volunteers answer consumer questions off the air. Howard's website followed in 1997, and in 1998 his show went into syndication. Howard explained on air that he was joining the

Georgia State Defense Force The Georgia State Defense Force (GSDF, GASDF) is a professionally trained, volunteer component of the Georgia Department of Defense, serving in support of the national and state constitutions under direction of the governor and the adjutant gener ...

(an unarmed, non-federal branch of the Georgia Department of Defense) following the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commer ...

. He attended monthly training workshops around the state as part of his service, and performed medical evacuation work in

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

following

Hurricane Katrina Hurricane Katrina was a destructive Category 5 Atlantic hurricane that caused over 1,800 fatalities and $125 billion in damage in late August 2005, especially in the city of New Orleans and the surrounding areas. It was at the time the cost ...

. In 2009, Howard announced he was diagnosed with

prostate cancer Prostate cancer is cancer of the prostate. Prostate cancer is the second most common cancerous tumor worldwide and is the fifth leading cause of cancer-related mortality among men. The prostate is a gland in the male reproductive system that su ...

. He made it public on WSB-TV on February 18, 2009. He gave another update three months later on his website. In August 2017, Howard escaped serious injury from a car accident. While walking across a parking lot, he spotted a car backing towards him at high speed after hearing a woman screaming. Recalling a story he read in the news, he jumped in the air to lessen the severity of the impact and thus was only grazed by the vehicle, suffering only minor pain in his neck and shoulder, but no cuts or bruises.

Media personality

From 2012 to 2013, Howard was a co-host of HLN's '' Evening Express'', a daily news and lifestyle roundup that aired weeknights. Several years earlier, in 2009, Howard hosted a weekend program on HLN. The format was similar to Howard's radio show, in that the host gives advice to callers and provides tips on saving money. In 2012, he became one of several anchors on the daily HLN show "Evening Express," which aired from 5–7:00pm ET. Howard has also appeared elsewhere on HLN such as on '' Morning Express with Robin Meade''. Howard continues to regularly appear on WSB-TV in Atlanta, which is occasionally broadcast by other Cox Television stations nationwide. His TV appearances offer consumer scam warnings and consumer tips. He is syndicated by Westwood One. He started several civic programs in the community, such as Atlanta Volunteer Action, Volunteer Action, Inc., The Big Buddy Program, and Career Action. With help from his listeners, Howard began teaming up with

Habitat for Humanity Habitat for Humanity International (HFHI), generally referred to as Habitat for Humanity or Habitat, is a US non-governmental, and nonprofit organization which was founded in 1976 by couple Millard and Linda Fuller. Habitat for Humanity is a C ...

in 1996 to build houses around the Atlanta area. The year 2010 marked the 15th-anniversary build and "Team Clark" completed its 39th house together. In 2013, he built his 50th home for Atlanta Habitat for Humanity. In 2018, Team Clark completed its 75th Habitat home. In 2001, Howard created the WSB Radio Care-A-Thon which raises funds each July for the AFLAC Cancer and Blood Disorders Center at Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta.

Website and Consumer Action Center

Howard's website, is a consumer advocate website with financial advice provided by Clark, his team and others in the field. In 1993, Howard opened the Team Clark Consumer Action Center, a free call-in advice center for consumer questions.

Author

Howard is the author of several books on consumer tips and bargains. His most recent book: "Clark Howard's Living Large for the Long Haul: Consumer-Tested Ways to Overhaul Your Finances, Increase Your Savings, and Get Your Life Back on Track" contains tips to help navigate the economics of life in the US. Other books include his 2011 title ''Living Large in Lean Times''. This book features 250+ ways to "save more, spend less, and avoid rip-offs." Other books include ''Clark Smart Real Estate'' (2006), ''Clark Smart Parents, Clark Smart Kids'' (2005), ''Clark's Big Book of Bargains'' (2003) and ''Get Clark Smart: The Ultimate Guide to Getting Rich From America's Money-Saving Expert'' (2002). Howard's ''Get Clark Smart'' made it to No. 6 on ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' "Best Seller" list for "How-To Books." And his ''Big Book of Bargains'' made it to No. 7 and No. 11 on ''The New York Times'' "Best Seller" list for "Business Books".

Honors

In 2011, a Golden Palm Star on the

Palm Springs, California Palm Springs (Cahuilla: ''Séc-he'') is a desert resort city in Riverside County, California, United States, within the Colorado Desert's Coachella Valley. The city covers approximately , making it the largest city in Riverside County by lan ...

, Walk of Stars was dedicated to him. In 2015, Howard was voted into the National Radio Hall of Fame, to be inducted November 5. In 2016 he was a recipient of the "Good and Faithful Servant Award" from the Peachtree Christian Hospice.

Books

* * * * * * * * Each book was written with coauthor Mark Meltzer.

References

External links

Clark Howard's website

Clark Howard's official book site

750 WSB Radio
– Clark Howard's "home" station

{{DEFAULTSORT:Howard, Clark 1955 births Living people American talk radio hosts American finance and investment writers Jewish American writers American television talk show hosts Radio personalities from Atlanta Television personalities from Atlanta American University alumni Central Michigan University alumni Cox Radio The Westminster Schools alumni 21st-century American Jews