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Like most radio show hosts, Clark took the last couple of weeks off to enjoy an extended vacation. Now that he's back, he wants to express his gratitude to every listener who helped out during the Christmas Kids campaign. Donating your money or time is a great way to teach children that the holiday season is about giving, not receiving. Clark and his wife began their vacation in Las Vegas where she spent hours at the Hilton's Star Trek: The Experience. Clark, meanwhile, went around town with his brother Gary. Christa asked Clark to play $1 in the Three Little Piggies nickel slot machine. When he hit $1.05, he quit and netted Christa 5 cents worth of profit! Gambling is an activity Clark totally doesn't understand. People work for years to save money and then they lose it in a flash. But all the money that's lost subsidizes the luxurious surroundings in Sin City, not to mention Clark's $10/day Thrifty car rental and $82/night price for a 910-square foot hotel suite. After the Vegas trip, Clark and his family went to their Florida beach house. He didn't read much like he usually does, but he did stay faithful to his exercise regiment. Looking ahead to 2008, Clark promises to equip you with the tools you need to navigate the difficult financial trends on the horizon. He vows to deliver occasional post-mortems on presidential rhetoric that's not backed up by hard financial numbers, plus he'll help you stay on even keel now that oil has crossed the $100/barrel threshold.

Over the holiday break, Clark's executive producer Christa was in a car wreck. While she's fine, her SUV was injured. This is the same vehicle that she bought used and paid for in full about 4 years ago. While the SUV was being repaired, her insurance company gave her a minivan to run around in.

Christa is one woman who normally wouldn't be caught dead in a minivan. But after driving it for 3 weeks, she fell in love with the roominess and safety features it offered for parents with young children.

She phoned Clark in Las Vegas and asked him if he thought it was a good idea to buy a minivan. Clark didn't think so, nor did Christa's husband Mike. Then she saw an article in the paper about how buying 2007 minivans is a smart move right now. That's partly because this is the last year manufacturers will make surplus vehicles; going forward they'll be making them only when orders come in.

When Christa looked at the byline on the article, it said Clark Howard! Turns out Clark wrote this article several weeks before the holiday season and didn't remember his own advice!

So mama went ahead and got herself a Honda Odyssey minivan. She went through the Sam's Club buying service and loved the no-haggle process. She also got credit union financing that was just under 5 percent, and then the dealership was able to match the rate and offer additional incentives. But now she has a 60-month loan, which definitely pains Clark to hear!

We're in the midst of the season for New Year's resolutions. Yet only 8 percent of people achieve their resolutions, and half actually fail before January is through. Almost no one makes investment resolutions. Instead people usually focus on getting fit, losing weight, being nicer, etc. Apparently, people don't feel guilty about not getting their finances in order. So what's your investment plan? Do you have one? Do you even have any money to invest? Clark recently read a story in Smart Money magazine about how people who buy mutual funds from full commission stock brokers like Merrill Lynch get ripped. Most of us lack the willpower to invest in our future or we're intimidated by the concept. So we hire others to do it for us.

What is a mutual fund? Essentially it's when people pool their money and invest together. They benefit from strength in numbers. But you pay a manager to manage your mutual funds whether you go the no load (aka no fee) route or full commission. So why pay a broker on top of that?? Meanwhile, full commission mutual funds can be loaded with hidden charges like 12b-1 fees. So what's the solution? Well, it's now very easy to pick your own mutual funds through Vanguard, Fidelity and T. Rowe Price. For example, Clark has the annual report from the Vanguard Star Fund. Once you get past all the government disclosures, there are roughly 8 pages of info that explain in plain English what you're buying into. So Clark wants you to re-think the ideas that you don't know about this stuff and you're not interested in it. The bottom line is you want your money working for you. If nothing else, do a targeted-retirement fund at work to get your investment strategy off the ground. This stuff is not rocket science -- even though some financial types want you to think it is!

AT&T has finally made good on their promise to offer naked DSL. For those of you who are unfamiliar, naked DSL is a term originally coined by Qwest to describe having high-speed Internet without a landline. AT&T was required to offer naked DSL as part of their agreement to buy BellSouth. Naked DSL typically appeals to younger generations like his college-age daughter or his 23-year-old producer Joel. For years, the monopoly phone companies resisted giving people the chance to have high-speed Internet without a telephone line. But technology has a way of making things inconvenient for monopolies. Clark still has a landline at home that his wife refuses to give up. Even after finding the best deal, they still throw away $360/year -- even though they only use it about 2 minutes/month.