• freeloadpress.com - free text books online

States have been deregulating what the local monopoly phone companies can charge for phone service. Some folks see this as a bad thing. But Clark has no problem with states eliminating price regulation on phone service. That’s because phone companies have to deal now with competition from so many other sources out there. One out of every 14 homes has now disconnected home phone service and is just using cell service or VOIP service. In addition, more cities are getting “wired” with high-speed wireless service. It will happen in bigger cities and won’t spread very far out of town, but it is a third alternative for Internet service. Then, along with that, you get phone service through the Internet company. In San Francisco, Google is going to provide the wireless service. In other cities, it will be a different company. But the days of having to put up with set prices and “installers” who don’t show up on time are over.

Clark’s daughter walked out to her car this weekend to find it had been broken into. The crooks had snapped off the central console and taken the radio. They also got into the trunk, where her purse was. She didn’t have much money, but she had to replace all of her identification cards. The thing she was most crushed by was the loss of the radio, so she and Clark started looking in the paper for deals. Radios are not that expensive, so it shouldn’t be a big problem to replace, but imagine if she’d had a laptop in the car like her neighbor did. Identity theft is growing every year and the damage is much more long-term. It’s also important to never leave your purse in your car, whether in the trunk or elsewhere. Just remember that crime can happen anywhere and it happens to everyone. Try to be as careful as you can.

Clark gets very upset when innocent, hard-working people save money for their futures, only to see it sifted off by huge financial companies. Back-to-back stories were published today regarding this kind of thing happening at Prudential and at a former division of American Express, known as Ameriprise. In the case of Prudential, the company has pled guilty to criminal charges for helping key insiders do what’s called “after-market trading” in their mutual funds. Basically, it allowed preferred customers to scarf up all the profits while money was taken away from regular customers. The company is now paying $600 million to avoid criminal prosecution. With Ameriprise, the former financial advisor for American Express, one of the top brokers wiped out tons of bank accounts by putting people in bad accounts. The broker focused most of his energy on retirees from Exxon, who had large retirement accounts. American Express is trying to distance itself from the news and will not be penalized. But it is clear the two were affiliated. Granted, many commissioned financial salespeople are above board. But if you trust a commissioned salesperson with your money and something goes wrong, you are out of luck. Low or no-commission accounts are the smartest way to save. Get more info with Clark’s Investment Guide.