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Tattoos are something that used to be limited in popularity, but today more than 1/3 of people age 18-40 have them, according to recent surveys. Clark thinks that companies that develop tattoo-removal technology might just be good investments going forward! However, visible tattoos can hurt you in many workplaces, or keep you from getting the good job you want. So if you're thinking about getting a tattoo, consider keeping it in a place most people won't notice. It's just Clark's opinion, but he thinks it's a practical suggestion.

A few years ago a French inventor came up with the technology for an automobile that runs on compressed air! It generates no pollution at all, costs about $2 per fill up, runs 125 miles on a tank, and can go up to 70 mph. It looks like a micro-mini van, with a sliding door. Clark loves the idea. But so far, even though they're bringing 6000 of them to India, no one wants to bring them to the U.S. So until they're available here, Clark is considering getting a "GX", a car from Honda that runs on natural gas, the kind of gas that heats your home. It creates almost no pollution, costs about $1.20 a gallon, and about 97% of the gas supply would be from domestic sources. Honda is only bringing about 1200 in per year (to New York and California only) to see if there's a market for them. To fill up, you install your own gas station at your house and plug into it overnight. On road trips you'd have to do your homework to find out where natural gas filling stations would be. But Clark is really excited about these cars, and would even consider breaking his own rule of avoiding costly "new" technology in order to be an early adopter.

Clark says he needs to get better about talking in "shorthand" -- using specific industry terms without fully explaining them for the average listener. He sometimes forgets that most people just aren't as familiar with these words. This is especially true on the topic of investing. One example is the term "asset allocation"-- less than one in five people knows that it means to "diversify" your funds, or, not put all your eggs into one basket. Clark wants to define these things more clearly for listeners in the future. "Bonds" are another topic not fully understood. Here's how they work: A company or organization needs money and issues some bonds. People buy the bonds, get the interest promised, and ideally, hold onto them for the life of the term in order to get the purchase price back at the end. But let's say you have a bond that promises 5% interest, and now interest rates are at 6%. The issuing company would have to discount the initial price of the bond to get people to buy them. On the other hand, if a bond is paying higher interest than the current interest rate, it's worth more, and will therefore cost more to buy. So, as interest rates go up, the value of bonds go down, and vice versa. Another misunderstood topic is Roth IRAs, which are investments that allow you to save money tax-free. But if all these terms bore and confuse you, read Clark's online investment guide. He lists what he feels are the best companies and services that can help make retirement investing much, much easier for you.

Clark is constantly amazed that so many companies think that it's OK to treat their customers horribly, with what he calls Customer No-Service policies. "Customer care" employees are given almost no power these days to fix problems, and in some cases, are actually ordered to try to sell you new services and products when you're calling with a problem. Another stupid thing they do: they only offer good deals to new customers. Businesses should reward customers for their loyalty, but that's not the way it is. According to a survey in USA Today, Customer Service is the #1 reason people choose to stay with a company long-term. (Product quality is a distant second, and price a distant third.) It sometimes seems that these companies are following in the footsteps of the dinosaurs...the bigger they get, the smaller their brains get. And we know what happened to the dinosaurs!