Vanguard took in more than $76 billion in deposits and crossed the $1 trillion mark in total assets during the past year. That's more money than Doctor Evil can get his arms around! Clark has long been a Vanguard fan. They're probably the world's largest cooperative; when you invest with them, you become a part owner of the company. All the money that normally goes out to traditional shareholders instead comes back to you in the form of expenses that are one-tenth what some competitors charge. Clark would love for you to look at them if you want to open a Roth account or have a 401(k) rollover from a former employer. Vanguard is self-serve, which means you must make your own decisions about what to do with your money. If you still want to use a commissioned person, the American Funds family is your best bet. Though their fees are substantially higher than Vanguard, they're still less than most other commission-based places. If you make more than $100K/year, consider putting your idle cash in a municipal bond fund, also available through Vanguard.

Other no-commission companies Clark likes include T. Rowe Price and Fidelity Investments. They both have fund managers who select mutual fund investments for you. Vanguard's specialty, meanwhile, is index funds where you buy slices and dices of many companies, like a Total Stock Market Index. Regardless of where you invest, you should consider putting a portion of your money in foreign capitalist markets. There are both established international funds and emerging market funds available -- known as BRIC investing (Brazil, Russia, India, China). Clark has not gone down the traditional BRIC road, but he has put 5% of his stock holdings in other third world countries. Fidelity, meanwhile, allows you to own the world in one purchase. Their 4-in-1 fund owns big companies, small companies, international companies and bonds. So if you don't want to think too much, this is simple one-stop shopping where you can put your money.

One caveat: Most of the investing world thrives on trying to use confusing language that impresses and intimidates. The goal is to make you feel incapable of making basic investment decisions. But Clark is all about trying to make things clear for you. Sometimes he succeeds, and other times he doesn't. Yet the first thing to do is spend less than what you make. There's no investing if there's no money left from your paycheck at the end of the day. That's the great American challenge right now.