People have about a trillion dollars sitting in lousy checking accounts at banks. They're being hit with a lot of arbitrary fees for transactions and they're not getting a lot in return. The typical bank pays about .1 percent interest on such accounts -- that's one tenth of one percent. Bank of America, meanwhile, pays about .05 percent -- one twentieth of one percent interest! So Clark had been advising people to seek out a checking account from the online banks that pay higher returns. But if you don't like putting your money in cyberspace, Fidelity Investments and Charles Schwab are now offering great checking account options too. Fidelity pays three-and-a-half percent on its mySmart Cash Account, while Schwab offers four-and-a-quarter on its checking account. You don't have to be an existing customer of either firm to participate. These options are FDIC insured and offer no fees, no minimum balance requirements and no ATM fees. Meanwhile, Clark's beloved credit unions are in this respect much like the conventional banks; they also offer puny interest rates. His credit union does, however, have one free checking option that you must ask for -- and it pays four percent interest. The bottom line is that you should consider switching your checking account if you're not happy with how your bank handles it.

Finally, Clark wants to clarify a point he made a few weeks ago when he was explaining money-market mutual funds. Some people thought Clark was saying that all money market accounts are risky. That's not the case. Find out what kind you've got. If it's legitimate and follows the "don't break the buck" principle -- offering a fixed share price of a dollar per share -- it should be a safe option.