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 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.

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.

You may remember Clark talking about “solo 401k” plans in the past. It’s similar to a 401k plan that big companies offer, but it’s only available to entrepreneurs and small business owners. You can have independent contractors working for you, but you can’t have any other employees. In other words, it’s a single-person business. So, if you qualify, you can put enormous amounts of money into a retirement account. For example, a business owner can put twice as much money per year into a solo 401k as they can into a SEP. The two companies that offer these plans are Fidelity Investments and T. Rowe Price. The third of the big companies – Vanguard – does not offer a solo 401k yet. But, with the other two, you pay nothing to have them set it up. And you can enter “no load” mutual funds or a number of other options. So, if you are an individual running a business, this is available to you and it’s a great opportunity. You want to go through T. Rowe Price or Fidelity to set one up. Just remember that you have to set it up before the end of one year to start it the next.

Clark can’t believe that school teachers are still getting ripped off on their retirement plans. We want our teachers to be outstanding in all ways, yet we saddle them with inferior and often-corrupt retirement plans known as 403b plans. Teachers unions are to blame for this travesty. These unions recommend crummy, high-cost plans that eat up teachers’ money because the unions get kickbacks from the investment companies involved. One recent incident happened in New York where a teacher’s union received $3 million from ING Direct. The union involved was the New York State United Teachers and the plans they sold teachers were horrible. Now, the LA Times reports that the teacher’s union there has to pay restitution. Teachers were paying 28 times the cost of the fees they’d have in a low cost mutual fund. Now the union will have to pay that back, we hope. So, if you are a school teacher or know someone who is, odds are that he or she is being ripped off. Clark has some homework for you. Find out what you’re paying for management fees and expenses. If you’re paying half a percent to one percent, that’s okay. It can be much lower than that, but half a percent is your goal. Now, if you cross that line, you are paying too much. Yes, two percent is too much. If you have access to TIAA-CREF, put your money there. The company does not pay kickbacks and everything is above board. If you can’t get into a plan with TIAA-CREF, go with Vanguard or Fidelity Investments. They should offer you extra low expenses that will help you get ahead in your retirement plan.

Would you believe that half of all teachers quit in the first five years of employment? It happens because teachers aren’t paid enough and because they burn out. But it also happens because teacher’s unions are ripping off their own members in their retirement plans, according to the LA Times. Teachers receive a special retirement fund called a 403b plan. And teacher’s unions are asking insurance companies for kickbacks in return for designating those companies as the teachers’ 403b company. One company mentioned in the article was ING. That in itself is shameful. But the teachers are the ones paying for it with huge management fees. Above board companies such as T. Rowe Price get 0.35 percent for management fees from teachers. On the other hand, companies that are in the union deals are charging teachers ten times that amount. In one union deal in California, teachers are paying 25 times that amount. Teachers can get out of these ripoff plans by doing a 1035 Exchange. Think about going with one of the lowest commission companies such as TIAA-CREF, Vanguard or T. Rowe Price. It will save you a ton down the road.

Have you heard of a “social contract?” It’s an agreement that used to exist at companies where workers spent their entire career at one company and got a pension when they retired. Somewhere along the line, companies decided they weren’t going to honor those agreements. As a result, taxpayers end up paying for pension benefits of companies that shirked their responsibilities. And that is causing problems at companies where bankruptcy is a possibility. The airline and auto industry are two that are on the line, for example. And some companies may not make it, meaning the pension goes away. It’s a time when the only entity you can trust with your retirement is you! Many people think of their pension as the cake they get at retirement. Clark wants you to think of it as the icing on the cake. Every dollar you save on your own is a dollar you have to live on when you retire, and that is a guarantee. No one can take that away from you. If you’re under age 50, social security is not going to do it for you. So, if you’re not in a 401k, a SEP or a SIMPLE, get in one today!

We say all the time how great people are who become teachers. These individuals work overtime to teach our children and very often get little in return. But teachers have been taken advantage of for as long as Clark can remember, especially when they retire. First of all teachers don’t have access to the same retirement plans that other workers do. Instead they are forced into 403b plans, which are inferior in nature to 401k plans. Even worse, they’re offered very few choices and most of them are horrible annuity plans. In the worst cases, teacher’s unions are handling the retirement plans and are taking kickbacks for putting teachers in a certain annuity. In New York, for example, the New York State United Teachers union gets a $3 million kickback to put teachers in these plans. If you’re a teacher, you need to know about this and take action. You can transfer your money tax free to two low-cost companies. The companies with the lowest costs are TIAA-Cref and Vanguard. TIAA-Cref is cheaper than Vanguard, but both are much better choices than any kind of annuity your union is pushing on you. If you have friends who are teachers, please let them know. Click here for the full story (free registration may be required).