Give.org - Investigate a charity of your choice before donating
CharityNavigator.org - America's largest charity evaluator
easyCruise.com - Provides unique holiday experiences to independently minded travelers
EvaluateLifeInsurance.org - Estimates "true" investment returns on any cash value life insurance policy

If you get a phone call from a charitable organization seeking your money to help veterans, be careful! The Boston Globe recently reported on an organization that uses this tactic as a scam. This group is called The Veterans' Charitable Foundation, and people were told that their money would go to buy wheelchairs and pay the medical expenses of veterans and their families. But the money was not going to the veterans at all! In fact, it was being siphoned through a company in Florida and only 2 cents out of every dollar was reaching vets; that's 98 cents on every dollar that went in the pocket of some scammers.

Always make sure that the money you're giving is making its way where you intend it to go. Clark has a few pieces of advice: First off, never promise money over the phone. Secondly, when you're being asked for money, you should ask for literature from the charity to determine if they are legitimate. Finally, you should only give donations to charities you know of first-hand. If you're in doubt about the legitimacy of a charity, there are several sites listed in the "Websites/phone numbers mentioned" section above that can help you vet out who is for real and who is a phony. The minimum requirement a charity should meet is that three-quarters of the funds they collect should go to direct-service delivery. And be wary of charities that collect on behalf of fallen police officers and firefighters. Many of these solicitors are professional fund-raisers who may not have the best interest of our fallen heroes in mind.

One scam that has become more sophisticated recently is the "pump and dump" scenario. In this scam, you will get a phone call, e-mail, letter, or fax offering you a tip about a hot stock. The tip is false! Many companies fall on hard times but fill out a public registration statement so that they can issue the stock to the people. They are worthless -- a "shell" company. Criminals will buy stock in such companies and put out false press releases, phone calls and e-mails about the investment opportunity. People will then buy this stock, and the price will rise. Then, the criminals sell their share for many more times what they paid. However, there was one "pump and dump" scam that was so over the top that the criminals got caught. In Florida, the criminals called and left voicemails around the country, pretending that the call was for someone else about an insider tip. So when you get information touting a hot stock, be on guard! You might just get scammed! Instead, Clark says you always have to do your homework and research a company thoroughly before investing.

An oldie and mostly baddie is back -- car leasing! Clark thought the practice had gone the way of the dinosaur since manufacturers, dealers and consumers all got burned by it. The question now is, "When does it make sense to lease a vehicle?" There are really two such situations. The first is when you're talking about luxury automobiles. Luxury brands don't want to give discounts and cheapen their image, so they do it in a hidden way by subsidizing the lease. BMW is a great example of this -- almost two-thirds of their vehicles are now leased. Jaguar and Audi are other luxury brands that are very into leasing. The other situation where leasing is OK is if you like new wheels all the time and you don't mind that depreciation is demolishing your wallet. Then leasing a new car every 24-36 months is understandable.

But be honest with yourself. Make sure your lease doesn't come with an exceedingly low mileage allowance and beware of excessive wear-and-tear assessments in the future. The average leased vehicle gets hit with wear-and-tear charges to the tune of just under $2,000. When you get a leased vehicle, you should take extensive photographs of the interior and exterior so there's no question when you return it in top shape. And if you do spill something in the car or tear the upholstery, fix it before returning the car. It will be one-fifth cheaper for you to pay to have it repaired. Finally, before you return the leased vehicle, make sure you've gotten a third party to do a thorough inspection of the car. This alone could save you up to $1,500 in unnecessary turn-in fees.

Have you ever dropped food on the floor and picked it up to eat it? Clark sometimes thinks it’s OK for parents to let their kids do this because it builds their immune system. There's the five-second rule, which holds that anything on the floor for five seconds or less is OK for human consumption. Yet the FDA says that the five-second rule is bogus. Meanwhile, The Washington Post reported that if the fallen food in question tastes good -- like a cookie or piece of cake -- people will even push it to 15 seconds! But stomach aches and other intestinal distress can be associated with this practice, so be careful. The book answer is that it's not a good idea to eat food off the floor, but people probably won't be changing their ways anytime soon!