• fidelity.com - mutual fund help
• nolo.com - Willmaker software
• consumerfed.org - have your insurance policy evaluated
• insure.com - shop for life insurance
• ambest.com - shop for life insurance
• vanguard.com - retirement planning advice

Clark has heard a lot of buzz lately about hedge funds. What is a hedge fund? A bunch of people get together, put in a heavy upfront fee and then invest in a product without any normal government filings. They are popular among the wealthy because they are unregulated. And for some reason they carry a cache that implies a person has “made it.” Really, they are terrible for your wallet. If the hedge fund company makes money on the investment, you make money but they take a big cut. And if they lose money, the participants eat all the cost. So, it is a stacked deck against you. One recent hedge fund group chose the natural gas industry and tried to guess whether the cost would go up or down. Well, investor organizers guessed wrong and lost $5 billion. Stay away from hedge funds!

You’ve probably heard that people who put money away for longer periods of time earn more money than those who put away money for a short period of time. It’s called an “inverted yield curve,” and it’s typical in investing. Well, right now things are upside down and backwards. The 10-year Treasury is paying much lower interest rates than it was 4 months ago with rates at about 4.6 percent. That’s important to you because the treasury directly affects what mortgage rates people can get. And people aren’t thinking about refinancing or filling out paperwork around holiday time. So, it’s a great time for you to take advantage of the slow down. You can shop your refi all over right now – both online and at banks and credit unions. If your credit is rock solid, you can get a loan in the five-percent range on a 30-year loan right now. Many are paying more than 6 percent, but it is possible. For 15-year loans, you can get below 5.5 percent. Even if you don’t have great credit, you can still get a good deal. Also consider a home equity loan if you have a second mortgage. Rates on HELOCs are great at credit unions, if you’re willing to borrow for five years and you have good credit. So don’t sit on your hands. Take advantage of this opportunity.

If you’re thinking about changing up your life insurance policy, Clark strongly suggests that you shop around for term life policies. There are 20-year, 30-year, and 40-year level term policies, plus a few more. Level term means you buy insurance for a set number of years depending on your age and who is in your family. For example, if you have young kids and you want to provide financial security for them until they are adults, you would want a 20-year term policy. If you’re 35 and it’s just you and your spouse, you probably want to provide for the remainder of your spouse's life, if you die. So, you’d probably want a 30-year term. The prices keep getting cheaper because life spans are getting longer. As a result, you’re in a position to buy insurance at a much lower rate. Just make sure that when you’re buying this insurance, you get enough to take care of all your loved ones. Usually, a good bet is 10 times your current income. If you make $100,000 a year, for example, you need a $1 million policy. You can shop online now and compare quotes from several companies. One site Clark likes a lot is insure.com. Just be sure you go with a company that gets either an A+ or an A++ rating from AM Best.