• carfax.com - used car check
• telestial.com - cell phones abroad

Clark wants to help parents talk more easily to their kids about money. How do you teach kids that there is only so much there? It’s even harder to explain when parents pull out their credit cards whenever they want to buy something. The Japanese have even invented a watch that allows people to pay for things through radio waves. You simply hold the watch up to a product and your account is automatically charged. What will happen if the watch malfunctions and you get charged for things you didn’t want to buy? And maybe the bigger question is how do we discipline ourselves not to buy things on impulse when there are so many ways to pay? The first thing to do is put yourself on an actual cash allowance. Pay for everything with cash, and get back on track.

Clark is a huge admirer of teachers. It’s a sacrifice financially and many teachers burn out because the work is so difficult. A lot of the burnout happens because of the environment in which teachers must work. Many schools are not set up to help children learn, and the bureaucracy that decides where kids go to school is inherently flawed. Every child is different and there is no “one size fits all” for kids. Nowhere is it worse than in Washington, D.C. Many kids there simply don’t have a chance because the schools are so poor. So, Clark was jumping for joy when Congress passed a voucher program for the Washington schools. People in the public school system were not happy about it, and many are now seething. Clark wonders why public schools are upset because kids get to choose which school they want to attend. he thinks it's a great thing. According to the Washington Post, the government held a school fair that allowed parents to find a “match” school for their kids. The parents had been chosen in a lottery and they showed up in droves, trying to get their kids into one of 44 private schools. Granted, many kids do fine in public schools. But we have to give kids a chance and a choice, especially lower income students who may never get another one.

Major appliances for the home have gotten much cheaper these days. That includes washers, dryers, refrigerators and stoves. Unfortunately, many people buy expensive, unreliable fancy appliances that break all the time just because they look good. What people don’t understand is that these fancy appliances are not tested enough. Therefore, the bugs have not been worked out and they end up breaking all the time. The reliability of an item increases as the production runs increase. Consumer Reports confirms this in its appliance issue, in which ultra expensive items are always rated worst in reliability. Most people are still looking for good deals on reliable appliances, however. The business has become super competitive with Lowes and Home Depot duking it out for market share. In the meantime, Sears is getting clobbered. Part of the reason is because Sears is located in malls, and most people don’t shop in malls anymore. As a result, Sears is going to open stand-alone appliance and electronics outlets that will carry very reasonable merchandise. According to reports, the most price-sensitive shoppers are upper- to middle-income buyers. These are people who make a substantial income but are looking for the best value on a dollar. Non-traditional players such as Wal-Mart and Costco are entering the business, so traditional appliance stores must compete for your business. Wal-Mart alone accounts for one in every $11 spent in the United States, so they mean business. And remember that if you were psyched to get one of those ridiculously expensive appliances, don’t! You’re wasting your money!

A new report from the Bureau of Labor & Statistics shows which jobs are going to be the most widely available over the next 10 years. The occupations have great growth potential in the years ahead, and, surprisingly, they are in better paying positions. The occupation with by far the largest number of openings is nurses, and specifically registered nurses. An RN typically earns just under $50,000 a year, and in many communities they make more. The job with the second largest number of positions is college professors and instructors. Colleges ramped up hiring during and after the Viet Nam war. Many of the people who were hired then are ready for retirement now, so jobs will need filling. The average salary again is about $50,000. Also on the list: managers (nearly $70,000); manufacturing and technical reps; business-to-business sales reps (about $43,000); truck drivers ($33,000); school teachers (just over $40,000). Other areas of growth are maintenance and repair workers, administrative assistants, supervisors, accountants, carpenters, auto mechanics, police officers, LPNs, electricians, computer analysts and special education instructors. So, you have plenty to choose from if you’re looking for a new career.

Clark is way into bargains, especially electronics and gadgets. He is by no means a cutting edge electronics connoisseur. But he likes things once they’ve been on the market for a while. Unfortunately, he’s been experiencing a problem with something known as “WAF” – the Wife Acceptance Factor. The quintessential WAF item is industrial-size speakers. Men want huge speakers for show because they see them as furniture; women want speakers that can be heard but not seen. And, it turns out that, for now, only the women’s opinion counts. Electronics manufacturers are creating electronics and computers that are small and colorful. Lime green, pink and baby blue are all very popular colors. It costs more to have them look better, but the wife will be much happier.

Clark has been incensed regarding the unethical behavior of banks over the past few years. Under current federal law, banks and mortgage lenders can offer a quote on a mortgage loan called a good faith estimate. But when you get to the closing table, they change the prices and rip you off. And it’s all legal. The Department of Housing and Urban Development had created new rules that require that a lender tell you the truth. If a lender told you your closing costs would be $1,200, he or she could not charge you more than that amount, plus 10 percent for errors. But the industry squealed like pigs about having to tell people the truth, and the feds backed down. Only a few big mortgage lenders now offer people honest quotes. The first is ABN AMRO, which has what’s called the “One Fee Advantage.” With it, they quote you one guaranteed price, and it doesn’t change. ING Direct is the other company. They are doing loans with no lender closing costs at all. But you’ll usually pay a nominal amount. The third company is Di-Tech, a division of GM. They’ve been charging a flat fee of $395, and that’s it. According to syndicated real estate experts, people are taking serious advantage of these offers. ABN AMRO has now closed $30 billion with its “One Fee” program. GM and Di-Tech have closed $60 billion in flat fee loans. So, obviously people care about getting an honest quote. Congress should get the message that people want truth in lending.