NFCC.org - Get advice on debt management

There's a lawsuit in California right now that's concerned with junk fees not being revealed until after you get to the car rental counter. This makes Internet comparison shopping very difficult. The lowest price you see online may be fake because it doesn't reflect junk fees. With airfare, the actual price is usually about 20 percent higher than the advertised price. What kind of junk fees are most common? For air travel, the passenger facility charge (PFC) is a biggie. This is where the terminal charges you for walking their halls -- a completely bogus charge that they convinced Congress to approve. Then you have a charge per flight segment, a federal security service charge and others. When Clark rents a car, the junk fees are sometimes higher than the price for the car itself. Rental companies charge a fee for the rent they pay at an airport. In fact, local governments see out-of-town business travelers who rent cars as sitting ducks for being taxed without representation. On the hotel front, you need to know if there are any daily facility fees before you book. The reality is that the pricing environment is unfair, and there's not a lot you can do about it. So your job when shopping is to know what the ultimate price will be before you book. Expedia does good job at showing the base rate and then what you will really pay.

Today almost all businesses of mid to large size rely on cameras for surveillance. It's amazing how this sector of the loss-prevention industry has boomed. The cost to equip a store with camera equipment just 10 years ago was outrageous. But now the price has dropped drastically. Using the Internet, business owners can even monitor their cameras remotely from anywhere in the world. Even small businesses are poised to benefit from increasingly camera cheaper technology. AT&T is selling a system that costs around $200 for a single location. Internet monitoring for a single location will run you about $10 a month. That figure can go up to $40 for multiple locations.

The state of Florida is in a mess that illustrates something important about how each of us handles cash. Many of Florida's counties and school systems aren't able to meet payroll or pay bills. Some of their checks are even bouncing because the state got cute with funds from its local government investment pool. Municipalities were encouraged to put their money from taxes, fees and fines into this pool where they could earn interest until they needed the money. It was kind of like a money market fund for government. But the state tried to goose the returns by investing in risky weirdo mortgage things like CDOs and SIVs. When the local governments caught word of this unsound investment strategy, there was a run on the bank that prompted the state to freeze all investment pool funds. Now the municipalities don't know how they're going to pay their bills.

If your goal is to have cash for cash flow's sake, you can't have it flowing away. Sometimes you need a parking space like a savings account, a CD or a true money market fund. If even those options seem too risky, try a high-yield savings account from EmigrantDirect.com, INGDirect.com or HSBCDirect.com. You'd be surprised how well they pay. BankRate.com reports that the average savings account at a giant monster mega bank pays .4 percent. Emigrant, ING and HSBC pay more than 10 times that amount, plus they have no fees and no minimums! So go back to basics when you're analyzing your non-long term investment needs. Sometimes you want safe, not sexy. Just park it and get decent money!

Does your company still have a holiday party? If so, Clark has a word of advice: Don't get trashed during the festivities! At Clark's studio, there's a holiday party coming up this weekend. They won't be serving any hard liquor, but beer and wine will probably be flowing. More than a third of all companies no longer serve any alcohol at all. There's a very important reason why Clark is urging you to not drink at your holiday party. MSNBC reports that 1 in every 7 people have been fired because they got trashed and did regrettable things in front of co-workers and superiors. So drink the egg nog that's not spiked. Or fool your co-workers by drinking ginger ale and telling them it's Scotch with seltzer! Clark is not being a party pooper, he's just trying to help you with your career. Meanwhile, The Boston Globe reports that some companies are moving their holiday parties to January. This helps combat winter blues among employees and also saves money because facility and entertainment expenses are cheaper after the holidays.