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Clark spent the weekend with his youngest daughter Stephanie. They played at the beach, went out to eat and went to the Dollar Store, something Stephanie had been saving to do. She had $5 saved up and was ready to buy some cool toys. But, at the first store, she only found two things she wanted. So, instead of just spending the cash, she asked if they could go to another store. At the second store she found about nine things she wanted, but she knew she had to whittle it down to just three. And she did! Clark is very excited about the fact that she is learning the value of money and the importance of finding a bargain.

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Kimberly, one of Clark’s producers, also had an interesting weekend. She was at a craft fair and saw a booth that had an advertisement for a product with a picture of Clark next to it. It was as if the owner of the booth was implying Clark endorsed the product. Clark does not endorse products. So, if you see someone using his name or likeness, do not do business with those people. Do the opposite of what they’re trying to get you to do by using Clark’s name, and spend your money with another company.

Clark never opens an e-mail if he doesn’t recognize the sender. He misses some e-mails that way, but he’d much rather that happen than get a virus. And getting a virus is happening to a lot of people in the wake of the London terrorist bombings. The e-mail is entitled “Terror Hits London,” and people are opening it because it appears to have footage of the terrorist attacks. But what it really does is attack your system, which is called a “Trojan Horse” program. Clark is appalled that someone would use the tragic deaths of people to infect unsuspecting users’ computers. But it’s happening. And what you need to remember is to never open attachments from someone you don’t know. Even if you know the person, it may not be a good idea to open the e-mails. And, if you use Outlook as your e-mail client, there is a setting you can change so that the program does not automatically open attachments. That’s how some computers are getting infected. So, do what you can to prevent it.

What’s a townhouse worth these days? How about a traditional home? Well, in Nevada, California, Florida and Washington D.C., housing prices are going up more than 20 percent a year. The end result is that those areas may be in a “bubble” that is about to burst. Economists and those in the housing industry agree overwhelmingly. So, what happens to the bubble? Does it eventually burst or just slowly deflate? Well, the New York Times wrote a related story about Denver, which has been experiencing rising housing values for years. Home values there were escalating at a tremendous amount, and then it stopped all of a sudden last year. The bubble hasn’t burst, but the values have not changed. In some areas, they have gone down. But in most areas they’ve stayed the same. So, how does that affect people? If you have an adjustable rate loan, you may find yourself in a tight spot. People with a fixed rate can ride it out. But those who bought homes in the last phase of the bubble could face the worst of it. If you are in a bubble market and you have a risky loan, refinance to a safer loan. Homes in Denver are now sitting on the market for months. In addition, builders are cutting the price of houses and offering tons of incentives. So, it could take a while to sell your home. If you’re in a speculative market, figure out how to pull back from the cliff.

When you go to a store or restaurant and use your credit card, there is a fee that the merchant pays on each transaction. And, credit card companies have been pushing up those fees, which are ultimately passed on to you. Some have accused the credit cards of price fixing, and Visa is the company under the gun right now. Visa started a “prestige” card called “Signature Visa” that has even higher merchant fees. Visa and Master Card set the price on those merchant fees, which some consider to be price fixing. The matter has now moved to the courts, and it’ll take a while before we know if the company has done something really wrong. You may want to check what the merchant fees are on certain cards. It won’t help a lot, but it’s nibbling at the problem. And if you think it’s free to use your credit card, think again.

Clark has been talking for months about buying a locking mailbox, but he puts it off about every weekend. Well, this weekend, while he was away, his wife went ahead and bought one. The main reason is because identity thieves often steal mail to accomplish their crimes. They look for bank statements, pre-approved credit applications and similar items to forge your identity and then they spend all of your money. It’s growing even more because of the addiction many people have to methamphetamines. You wouldn’t think the two would have anything to do with each other, but meth addicts have gotten wise to stealing identities as an easy way to get money and buy drugs. So, lock your mailbox if at all possible.