Yelp.com - An online repository of customer reviews
FightingChance.com - Get a "coach" when shopping for a new car
Zenni Optical - Get discount prescription eyeglasses online or call 1-800-211-2105 (Editor's note: This website was down at last check)

Clark and his wife consulted a website called Yelp.com to figure out where to eat and what to do when they recently visited San Francisco. It just goes to show that the opinions of our fellow consumers have become so important in our choices. Yelp.com was like a cheat-sheet for Clark and his wife. Nowadays we're always looking online to benefit from collective knowledge to help us make better choices. Similarly, Clark loves another opinion site called TripAdvisor.com when he's picking a hotel. But he usually ignores the opinions of people who complain unjustifiably and European travelers. The Europeans generally have lower hotel expectations than Americans.

A recent Deloitte & Touche survey revealed that two-thirds of us read online reviews before we buy, do, go or eat anywhere. Over 80 percent said it affected their buying decision. Various media companies have been trying to launch new online consumer opinion sites like Kudzu.com, Citysearch and others. If you run a company, you need to pay attention to these important developments. Businesses that don't heed customer postings are at a disadvantage. Very often CEOs don't want to hear bad news. But you'd better listen up when a customer goes on a message board and tells you that you stink. Customers are a better source of information than the corporate yes-men that surround many CEOs. The Internet world is like a truth serum for businesses and consumers alike.

People sometimes balk when they learn that Clark is a member of AARP. But he's not interested in their political lobbying efforts; rather he's just a member for the discounts. AARP actually consists of two branches under the same name. There's the non-profit organization for seniors, and then there's a second for-profit branch that sells insurance, investments and much more. The Los Angeles Times' syndicated personal finance writer Kathy Kristof recently did an analysis of AARP's for-profit financial products and found that they are not necessarily the best deals. The assumption is that you must be getting a great deal if you're a member and you're being solicited. But that isn't always the case. Clark has long felt that Congress should outlaw the practice of non-profits setting up for-profit subsidiaries and selling products or services in an effort to cash in on a legacy name. Please note that Clark is not saying AARP is ripping you off with their financial products. Instead he just wants to people to know that the deals they're being offered may not be the best ones out there.

So many of us are overly brand conscious. Clark recently spoke to a group of eighth graders and noticed that some of the kids were wearing brand-name tennis shoes that cost between $115 and $130. He drew mostly blank stares when he asked the kids if they'd rather spend $15 bucks on shoes and have a hundred dollars in their pocket. Sometimes we're so focused on fitting in that we can't see another way. Similarly, a British man named Neil Boorman felt he was suffering from what he called "obsessive branding disorder." He decided to live without brands for a year and vowed to only buy things based on their practicality. He banned himself from all single-brand stores -- such as Niketown, Armani, Gucci and Versace -- and even bought generic foods. The end result was that he felt so much freer in his life.

That may sound weird and hokey, but even personal finance expert Suze Orman talks about the emotional addiction we get to our purchases. Clark often reminds people that branding usually has nothing to do with quality. It's all about imaging. Contrary to popular belief, Clark wears name brand clothes -- they're just from the private labels of the big warehouses clubs (things like Kirkland Signature from Costco, for example). Clark's price point for casual shirts is to not pay more than $9.99. With dress shirts, he won't go over $15. Retailers actually love when you buy generic because they make higher profits on their in-house brands. Try not going into stores if you're looking for other ways to beat brand addiction. Clark once interviewed a couple for a TV story who agreed to only go to the supermarket for perishables once every other week and to only get non-perishable food items every six weeks. They paid off a mountain of debt in a very short time using this method. Different people like to take different approaches. But the central question remains: Do you want to be controlled by the items you buy or are you the boss?

Several weeks ago, Clark told you that Consumer Reports rated the best and worst credit cards in America. The single best card was the USAA Federal Savings Bank MasterCard, while all cards issued through credit unions came in at No. 2. Meanwhile, the big banks that issue the bulk of cards in America got stinky scores. Now there's a new survey out from J.D. Power and Associates that corroborates the findings of Consumer Reports. The J.D. Power tally focused on the big names only and is topped by American Express and Discover. On the bottom of the heap, J.D. Power says HSBC is the worst, followed by Bank of America and Capital One. That's very similar to what Consumer Reports said in ranking Capital One as the worst followed by Bank of America. Meanwhile, Citibank, Chase, Washington Mutual and Wells Fargo all got lousy scores from J.D. Power even though they came in near the top of the tally. So the important thing to note is that you should get your credit card through a credit union if you have access to it. Don't go through one of the giant monster mega-banks. Size does not equal quality in the world of credit cards.