Should you stop contributing to your 401(k) or other retirement account and sell everything you've got? That's a question that Clark hears from people multiple times a day.

Barron's recently ran a story comparing our current market situation to the 1930s. These kinds of stories create anxiety that is not necessarily a bad thing when it comes to investing. During the last 20 or 30 years, we'd gotten to a place where we practically expected that money will grow if you just pop it in the market. This is now the first time many investors are experiencing rough seas.

Retirees are particularly scared about their holdings declining before their eyes. So many people at the studio have asked Clark to talk to their elderly parents and set their minds at ease. Clark's own mother-in-law even calls him a Pollyanna!

If you're still in the working years, the antidote for anxiety is simple. Stop trying to figure out if we've hit the bottom and stop trying to find safe havens for your money.

As an aside, Clark says the speed with which oil and gas prices have declined is actually a negative indicator. It may feel good when we fill up at the pump, but the decline is not for a good reason. A good reason would be that we have a new economical method to fuel our vehicles, and he still believes this will happen.

So why would the penny-pincher still encourage you to put money into your retirement plan month-by-month and paycheck-by-paycheck? Even in the darkest days of the '30s, people who continued contributing eventually made big money. They simply bought more shares at lower prices.

One tip for our older listeners who have retired: Do not sell out all your holdings. If you are truly worried, try doing reverse dollar cost averaging. That's where you take out a little money each month. By still leaving the bulk of your money in the market, you won't miss the recovery. But you will lower your exposure in increments and that may give you some psychological peace.

Clark talks so much about the Roth IRA that Christa often refers to it as his "girlfriend." But only 19% of Americans have a Roth account -- despite the penny-pincher's enthusiasm. The benefit of a Roth is that you put money in and it grows tax-free until you spend it tax-free in retirement. This is markedly different than a regular IRA or a 401(k), both of which will be taxed in your golden years.

Clark is always upset if an insurance salesperson sells someone an annuity when the customer hasn't put a single penny into a Roth. You always want to max out your Roth before thinking about other places to put your money.

In general, you can make Roth contributions of up to $5,000/year -- unless you're over 50, in which case you can contribute up to $6,000. Most Americans are eligible to do a Roth -- unless they earn more than $100,000 as a single person or more than $159,000 as a married couple.

Some employers also offer an option called a Roth 401(k). If you're a saver, you can put in your after-tax dough up to the regular limits of your 401(k). By doing this, you increase the amount you save per year by about 35%

Clark also wants to make you aware of a unique tweak available at the moment called a non-deductible IRA. This year, you can contribute the max before Dec. 31. Do it again next year, and then in 2010 you can convert the $10,000 (or $12,000 if you're older than 50) into a Roth that will never be taxed.

If you make less than $100,000/year, right now you can convert your IRA to a Roth and pay tax on what the account is worth in today's market. This is, perhaps, one of the few advantages of the current market decline.

Are you afraid to open your own mail for fear of seeing your 401(k) statement? Clark recently spoke to one man who referred to his plan as a 301(j) because it keeps going the wrong way!

The Financial Times of London reports that every mutual fund company is seeing people pull money out with all the market volatility. American Funds saw a 7% decline in assets during the last 90 days, while Vanguard has seen a 4% decline.

Why is this happening? People fear a loss twice as much as they enjoy a gain. It's part of being human. We're backwards creatures; when stocks roar along, people pour money into them. So we're always paying too much on the way up and getting too little on the way down.

No one can time the market. Rather, it's time in the market that matters. Clark has 3 rules of thumb to help you maximize your money over the years.


Avoid these 3 gotchas and you'll have more money over time. Just don't try to figure out when to sell and when to buy. Keep buying every month through your 401(k) or other retirement plan.

Time in is more important than timing. People are always asking Clark, "Is it time yet to get back in the market?" His standard reply is, "I never got out."

Clark is very impressed with young people who open a 401(k) when they first start a job. Years ago, few people even knew what a 401(k) was!

But a new study from Fidelity reveals that just under half of all 20somethings and 30somethings cash out their 401(k) accounts when they change jobs.

That's like snatching defeat from the jaws of victory.

As regular listeners know, retirement savings need time to grow. That idea is well illustrated in Clark's retirement chart.

Know that the money you cash out of your 401(k) gets hit with penalties of about 40%. So Clark's special challenge to younger people is for them not to cash out. Instead, think about rolling your money over to your new employer's 401(k) plan.

RIP-OFF ALERT: If you've spent a lifetime working for one employer and built up a sizeable nest egg, you don't want to be targeted by a 401(k) predator.

401(k) predators are those stock brokers or insurance companies that promise great wealth if you move your 401(k) from your ex-employer over to them.

Business Week recently did an investigation into the lives of those who made the transfer. In most cases, their life savings were destroyed.

One stock broker got $320,000 from a retired factory worker and reduced it to $57,000. The broker did so by running the money through bad investments with giant commissions. The factory worker had to come out of retirement and work as a school janitor for $9/hour to avoid impoverishment.

This is an extreme example, but so many people like this are profiled in Business Week. Clark was recently speaking to a man who took his retirement savings to a broker he knew socially. The result? An 80 percent loss of his money.

There are many fine, reliable, honest and decent people in the brokerage industry. The problem is that brokers don't have "fiduciary duty" to you. That means they're not required to put your interests first. Instead, they're allowed to put you in high-commission investments that are generally "suitable" for you and get away with it.

The Business Week report also shows that those free lunch and dinner seminars where they push trashy annuities are terrible rip-offs.

If you need some investment advice, Clark prefers that you seek out a fee-only financial planner. They don't earn any commission from steering you to a certain product. You simply pay them for their advice.

So often, Clark gives general "one size fits all" advice about your retirement savings. But FinancialEngines.com can be used to analyze your specific situation. This website takes a very granular look at your retirement plan. Using Monte Carlo simulation, it generates a worst case, best case and intermediate case scenario for your money down the road.

Meanwhile, FinancialEngines.com recently surveyed 1 million people to get a better idea of how we're planning for retirement. Unfortunately, 70% of us have our money fouled up in a 401(k) plan with too little or too much risk.

In addition, some 40% of us have huge money tied up in employer stock. Clark says that should be more like zero percent! But people trust the company they work for and take the path of least resistance when making investment decisions. The downside is there's great risk having all your eggs in one basket. If you think not investing in your company stock is disloyal, throw them 10% at the most and call it a day.

Diversification is the key. You have to spread your money out to lower your risk. A lot of people make the mistake of taking all their money and putting it into a stable fund or a guaranteed fund. Those options may sound like a sure thing, but they basically tread water.

Clark prefers that you have money in the Total Stock Market Index, where you own pieces of thousands of companies. Sure, it's not as "sexy" as putting it all into a single company and letting it ride. But investments should be about long-term security, not the dazzle factor.

If you're a younger person, you know there are very few pensions out there and Social Security won't be around to sustain you during the golden years. Yet a new report from the Investment Company Institute reveals that only a little more than 1 in 10 people will open an IRA in 2008. If you're under age 40, there's no way you'll be able to retire unless you start saving now.

The problem is that people don't understand some of the basics about retirement planning. The AARP reports that just about half of Americans have no idea what an IRA is. Does it stand for the Irish Republican Army? No, it's an individual retirement arrangement in IRSpeak -- also known colloquially as an individual retirement account. There are so many kinds of IRAs that it's easy to get confused.

Here's what you need to know: The average person is eligible for a Roth IRA -- unless you're bringing in more than $100K individually or $150K as a family. You can open an IRA and pop in as much as $5K this year. That money will grow tax-free and it will be spent tax-free in retirement. Do you want to work forever? Probably not, so you've got to prepare financially to live long into your retirement.

Don't use a bank to open an IRA. Banks are strictly for short-term parking of your money. In the long run, you want to be in mutual funds. That's where you essentially pool money with other investors and put it into stocks and bonds. Clark's 2 year old son Grant has a Roth that was opened after he received a handsome check after being featured in a commercial. Clark put the money into a target retirement fund 2050, which means the investments will automatically adjust from risky investments to less risky ones as 2050 approaches and Grant gets ready to retire at age 44 -- lucky boy! For more on retirement planning, check out Clark's investment guide.

The latest market developments have left a lot of question marks. People who have money invested are worried; people with 401(k) investments want to know if they should do a U-turn; and people with no money invested at all want to know if any of this should mean something to them.

If you're under the age of 50, the fact that stocks are really stinking it up actually benefits you. You can buy more stock with the same amount of money you put in every paycheck via your 401(k) or IRA. You may want to invest a part of your money internationally. The truth is that there will be stronger economic growth overseas than here in the United States in the coming years. That's going to be especially true of developing countries throughout Asia; to a lesser degree in former Communist Europe; and possibly in South America and Africa. We here in the United States have 4% of the world's population, yet more than a third of the wealth. So we'll continue to be a very rich country. It is important to be an owner in capitalism. You can be an owner through mutual funds and index funds available via your 401(k) or IRA. Right now, things may be tough for you and your retirement/investment strategy. But over time, ownership is a sure way to create wealth for you and your family.

Are you in it for today? No, you're in for the long haul. Take a look at Clark's investment guide for pointers. The simplest approach to investing may be a targeted retirement fund. Clark also likes Fidelity's 4-in-1 fund. The key is to spread your money out and continue to contribute to your retirement savings through the tough times. When it comes time to read your 401(k) quarterly statement, you may want to get some generic antacid -- you sure won't be able to afford the name-brand stuff!

The majority of people don't have a penny invested, though. So should any of this matter to them? Well, we as a country and individuals have been borrowing money we don't have. That means the economy is slowing down. President Bush hopes we're not in a recession, but really we're in a consumer recession. We're all in this together and we'll all get out together. There may be some pain, even if you didn't have a penny invested. But there's also great opportunity for the 30% of us who are in good financial stead at this time. The other 70% of us will have to tighten our belts, which is something politicians don't want you to do -- at least not before the November elections. On the other side of the ledger, you have active traders who got burned in hedge funds. Clark's advice is to stay away from doing trades with leverage, which is a fancy term for borrowed money. All you want to lose is what you put in, not 100 times what you put in. So only put in what you can afford to lose and still sleep at night. Be safe and smart, and don't play it too cute.

Do you want a free pass to financial trouble? Try being among the more than 50 percent of Americans who does not have a will! In a surprising twist, Forbes recently revealed that 1 in 3 wealthy Americans doesn't have a will either. What's going on, people? Clark wants to guilt everyone into having a will. Did you know that if you have minor children and don't have a will, the state can take your kids away at the time of your death and decide who gets them? They could go to a stranger or a relative who can't get their life together. Likewise, the state can decide who gets your money if you die and don't have a will. It could go to a family member you don't like, while your spouse may only get 10 cents on the dollar.

If you made a will years ago, you may need to dust it off and update it. You can do this yourself if your financial situation isn't too complicated. You can also go to a site like LegalZoom.com or try the highly respected WillMaker software. But you should go to a specialist if you have substantial money to protect. Retirement savings really need close attention. The beneficiary designation on your 401(k) or IRA accounts will trump whatever you have in your will. So check those designations carefully! One final note: California may be the exception to the rule that living trusts are not useful and should be avoided. That's because the Golden State has a very corrupt probate system. Some lawyers have even been able to arrange guaranteed revenue for themselves as a percentage out of someone's estate. If you own real estate in California and live elsewhere, you may want to hold it in a trust to avoid these corrupt probate courts.

Did you know that half of all American families haven't saved for retirement? Of those who have, 25 percent have stockpiled living expenses for one year of retirement. The problem is that we have not adjusted to the changes in retirement savings since Social Security is weakening and employer-provided pensions are going away. The average Social Security benefit is $11,000/year. Very few people can live on that alone. So the bulk of retirement savings has got to come from you. Over the last year, employers gained the right to automatically enroll you in a 401(k) plan and even step up your contributions every year. Laura Tyson, the former chairwoman of the Council of Economic Advisers, recently wrote in a Wall Street Journal editorial that someone forced by their employer into a 401(k) plan will save an additional $200,000 to spend in retirement. Meanwhile, 75 million adults work for companies with no retirement plan at all. Of those millions, only one in 10 saves for retirement. But Clark thinks we need to move away from depending on the government to provide for our retirement. Congress is planning to make small employers establish an IRA auto-deduction policy for their employees. That way the employees of small businesses will automatically be saving for retirement. The bottom line is that we need to be more self-reliant. Clark believes that having the discipline to save for retirement builds the character of our country.

More than 70 million Americans have no option for saving for retirement at work, according to The Los Angeles Times. And what happens when we don't have options? We don't do anything about it. One reason is inertia. People just can't get motivated to do things on their own -- so they get stuck. But another reason is because all of the plans can be quite confusing. Clark calls it "Alphabet Soup." The good news is that you can now set up an automatic draft program to fund a Roth IRA. TIAA-CREF and Vanguard have great plans. So, set it up and then you can forget all about it. Just make sure it becomes automatic for you.

Clark says he needs to get better about talking in "shorthand" -- using specific industry terms without fully explaining them for the average listener. He sometimes forgets that most people just aren't as familiar with these words. This is especially true on the topic of investing. One example is the term "asset allocation"-- less than one in five people knows that it means to "diversify" your funds, or, not put all your eggs into one basket. Clark wants to define these things more clearly for listeners in the future. "Bonds" are another topic not fully understood. Here's how they work: A company or organization needs money and issues some bonds. People buy the bonds, get the interest promised, and ideally, hold onto them for the life of the term in order to get the purchase price back at the end. But let's say you have a bond that promises 5% interest, and now interest rates are at 6%. The issuing company would have to discount the initial price of the bond to get people to buy them. On the other hand, if a bond is paying higher interest than the current interest rate, it's worth more, and will therefore cost more to buy. So, as interest rates go up, the value of bonds go down, and vice versa. Another misunderstood topic is Roth IRAs, which are investments that allow you to save money tax-free. But if all these terms bore and confuse you, read Clark's online investment guide. He lists what he feels are the best companies and services that can help make retirement investing much, much easier for you.

More than 70 million Americans have no option for saving for retirement at work, according to the L.A. Times. And what happens when we don’t have options? We don’t do anything about it. One reason is inertia. People just can’t get motivated to do things on their own so they get stuck. But another reason is because all of the plans can be quite confusing. Clark calls it “Alphabet Soup.” The good news is that you can now set up an automatic draft program to fund a Roth IRA. TIAA-CREF and Vanguard have great plans. So, set it up and then you can forget all about it. Just make sure it becomes automatic for you.

Congress has cut a deal on a new tax bill that is almost certainly going to be signed into law. It’s mostly just a Band Aid on the current tax code, but it affects people who may be eaten up by the Alternative Minimum Tax. The AMT was developed in the Viet Nam War to target rich people, but it hasn’t morphed with inflation. So, what was a rich back then is now a decent living, and people are getting caught up in this tax. The new legislation gives people a break on that tax until about 2010. In addition, the law will allow people to convert money from a regular IRA into a Roth account. Many taxpayers can’t do that right now because of all the income rules and limits. Converting now will save you money on tax rates. Plus all the money you’ll earn from now until you retire will grow tax free. So, as soon as the law is on the books, Clark will tell you how to proceed.

A research report from the Investment Company Institute shows how well Americans are doing at saving. It seems most of us believe that the future will take care of itself. But that’s simply not true. Only 17 percent of Americans have a Roth IRA, the smartest investment tool out there. As an individual, you can put up to $4,000 into a Roth. If you’re 50 or over, you can put up to $5,000. So, if you’re married to someone over 50, that’s $10,000 a year socked away. The money you put into Roths is invested tax free, which mean you spend it tax free. You are not eligible for a Roth if you make $95,000 or more and as a couple if you both make $150,000 or more. For help, check out Clark’s Investment Guide.

You should be getting your “open enrollment” benefits package at work in the next few weeks. It’s the time when you decide whether you are going to contribute to a 401k plan, how much you’re going to contribute and if you are going to take out life insurance. It may be an extremely short list or an exhausting list. But you want to pay attention to some things very closely this year. First of all, employers are drastically changing the options available to you and how you enroll. There are also new rules coming with Flexible Spending Accounts (FSAs) as well. People have been reluctant to take advantage of these plans because they have had a “use-it-or-lose-it” clause. But if you enroll next year, the amount will roll over to 2007. So you have roughly 15 months to spend your money. In addition, for the first time you’ll have access to a Roth 401k. It works like a Roth IRA in that you put after-tax dollars in your 401k plan. For most people, doing a Roth 401k will be more beneficial for you over time because you pay no tax when you retire. You can also put in much more money - $15,000 compared to $4,000 into a Roth. And you can mix and match these two.

Parents are saving for their kids’ college education in very large numbers these days. That’s a great thing, except if you’re doing it in place of saving for your own retirement. According to Allstate insurance, half of parents are saving equally for retirement and college. And one in seven are saving only for their children’s college and not at all for their own retirement. This is not a good idea. If you’re putting off saving for yourself, you not have had enough time to build up what you’ll need. There are no scholarships or financial aid in retirement, and you need your money to compound over time. So, as long as you’re putting the max you can into your retirement account, feel free to save for college. If you could be putting more into your retirement plan, put off the 529 plan until you get a good nest egg going. Don’t be scared by the statistics about how much college will cost. You’ll make it happen.

Clark saw a story recently entitled, “Why it’s Good To Be Rich.” Financial writer Jonathan Clements wrote the article and he lists 25 reasons why it’s so great to be rich. What was interesting about the article is that just about anyone can do the 25 things if they just put their minds to it. The No. 1 thing to do is pay off our credit cards each month. But people just don’t do that. Roughly 2 out of 3 people have an outstanding balance on credit cards, and they’re throwing money away as a result. The second reason is that you can send your kids to school without taking out student loans. The third reason is you can trim insurance costs by raising deductibles on policies. Rich people can also take advantage of tax-favored accounts such as Roth IRAs and 529 plans. The list goes on and on. But anyone can do these things and it will lead to wealth. It’s not just rich people who can make these things happen.