A lot of people hope to save money through the years and live on what they've amassed during retirement. In fact, people 65 and older are sitting on $15 trillion in cumulative assets. Sadly, however, many folks fall victim to supposed financial experts who swipe it from them in the golden years. These "experts" get into the lives and wallets of retirees and run off with the money. If you have elderly parents or are facing retirement yourself, don't fall for any of the seminars that offer free lunch or dinner along with complimentary advice on retirement or investing. These seminars are typically hosted by people with alphabet soup titles by their names that sound impressive. The New York Times ran an article that included some of these titles, such as certified elder planning specialist, registered financial gerontologist, certified retirement financial advisor and certified senior advisor. These are bogus credentials that can be obtained when you have some dough to pay for them. But it's hard to tell between the fake certifications and the real ones.

So Clark advises people against buying any investments or insurance from someone receiving a commission to sell to you. He's not opposed to commissioned sales people in general, but they definitely raise a red flag in the investment world. You should instead hire someone to advise you on investments on a fee-only basis, much like you would hire an accountant or a doctor for their learned opinion. As Clark says, there is no free lunch in investing. When somebody says they're going to give you free advice, they're picking both your pockets. The annuities market, where sales are up 30 percent in the last six years, is an area that is central to rip-offs.