Maclaren is recalling one million umbrella strollers after twelve children have lost fingers because of a design defect involving the hinges.
The British stroller company will provide customers with a retrofit kit of hinge covers to remedy the problem. But they have not handled the debacle well in the press and have even seemingly blamed parents for the injuries to children. "If you operate the product properly, your child is not at risk," the company's CEO told The Financial Times.
Maclaren typically sells its single strollers for anywhere between $115 to $245. A comparable single umbrella stroller can be bought at Wal-Mart for $10 to $15.
Too often, parents think that they can make their kids safer by spending more money. But Clark does not believe this to be true; low-priced products do not automatically equal unsafe. In his mind, you're better off saving the money!
Senior citizens are taking on debt levels that are just eye-popping, according to new numbers that Clark has seen.
Those 65 and older increased their debt by 26 percent between 2005 and 2008. Meanwhile, there's been virtually no increase in the debt level of people aged 35-64 over the same period.
So what's going on here? Seniors are most likely trying to maintain lifestyle on a fixed income as the earnings on savings have deteriorated.
These stats are for the middle class only -- they're not for seniors rolling in dough who simply have a little less of it now. The reality is that people who were getting by before now aren't.
Clark guesses these aren't seniors making frivolous choices with their money; they're paying for meds, putting food on the table and dealing with the daily expenses of life.
That's where you can help, according to Clark. Be nosy with your parents or elderly relatives. Too often pride gets in the way and they won't ask for help.
Realize there's no insta-answer here either. Those seniors who are able to may have to go back to work part-time. Others are not well enough to work or may not be able to find employment.
Again, that's where you come in. Some kids have amnesia about what their parents did for them through the years. If that's you, try to get beyond it and see if you can be of help now.
Finally, Clark says the credit cards pushing through rate increases before the new consumer protections fully go into effect are only complicating matters for seniors.
Do you cut your own hair or color it yourself? The Wall Street Journal reports this is a big trend around the country.
Sales of home haircutting kits are way up. The RoboCut and the Flowbee, which combine vacuum suction and electric scissors, have both seen big upticks in particular.
Meanwhile, haircare chains report their customers are disappearing. The parent company that owns Supercuts and Vidal Sassoon has reported its first negative annual same-store sales in 87 years.
But is it really a good idea to cut your own hair? Well, just go on YouTube and you can see people making fun of their own botched attempts at it. Judge for yourself!
Clark gets his haircut more often than he'd care to because of his HLN TV show. He used to go about six times a year. But now he's doubled his expenses because he has to go 12 times a year. Hmmm...sounds like he needs an HLN pay raise just to pay for all those extra haircuts!
What happens to your accounts, usernames and passwords when you die? A recent Time article titled "How to Manage Your Online Life When You're Dead" addresses this thoroughly modern dilemma.
DeathSwitch.com is a service that repeatedly prompts you for your password to make sure you're still living. If you fail to reply to multiple prompts, the system will then e-blast out a message you've pre-composed (containing usernames, passwords, special messages to loved ones, etc.) to let others know of your untimely demise!
But what if you sign up with one of these services and they go bust? What becomes of your sensitive info? There is no clear law in the United States to govern this. In similar instances, user info has even been sold to make creditors whole!
Obviously, there's no perfect solution yet. If you're a braniac, there's a great business idea here, Clark promises you.
And how does the consumer champ handle this dilemma? He's chosen to go a very analog way. Clark has given one of his lifelong friends an envelope that has all his usernames and accounts in the event of his death. If his friend is not trustworthy, he could be broke in a minute!
Is it appropriate to ask your guests to foot the bill for a lavish wedding? The Atlanta Journal Constitution recently ran a story about couples who are spearheading this new and controversial trend.
Clark, for one, is appalled. But he may not be alone; a recent Brides.com survey found that almost 80 percent of those questioned had viewpoints in line with the consumer champ.
Clark has in the past talked about some couples who request cash for a home down-payment in lieu of gifts and he's OK with that.
In addition, another woman once called in to the show to explain how her wedding was paid for by sponsors. Her flowers had ads for a local florist, her dress had a sign with the maker's name on it and so on.
Clark is comfortable with both of those thrifty approaches. But to have a fancier reception on your guests' dime and bill them as if they're customers?!
Whatever happened to a simple wedding in your backyard or at your local church? Borrow a dress, rent one or wrestle with other brides at a $99 wedding dress sale to get one. Remember, a wedding is not a coronation. It's about the love you have for each other.
However, if you absolutely want your reception to be a coronation, then marry as cheaply as you can now and renew your vows with an extravagant blowout when you're more financially secure.
Worried about how you'll pay for Christmas shopping this holiday season? Historically, many Americans have gone into credit card debt to do so. It was as if debt was almost a prerequisite for having a cheerful holiday season. But paying for Christmas with credit will never have a storybook ending.
In this new era of thrift, old ideas are becoming new again. Last season, some credit unions started promoting savings clubs for Christmas. These kinds of arrangements have traditionally been known as Christmas clubs.
The basic idea is that you divert money each pay period into an account. Whatever balance you have as you start your Christmas shopping becomes your budget.
BrandWeek.com reports Sears and Kmart are now offering their own Christmas club. A minimum opening balance of $5 is required. Sears and Kmart will offer an additional 3 percent on your balance as an incentive. All money must be used at Sears and Kmart stores. One caveat: Should these retailers go bust, your money goes bust too.
Advance planning is the key to surviving holiday shopping. Prepare now so you don't spend yourself into debt. That's the best gift you could give your wallet.
Do you have trouble talking to your significant other about money? You're not alone.
New research from Fidelity Investments shows that more than 80% of spouses disagree about major issues in planning for retirement. We're talking about things like when to retire, whether or not to work part-time in retirement, lifestyle expectations during retirement, etc.
Other disturbing stats from the research show that 4 out of 10 couples don't know if they have an annuity. And only 1 in 3 couples have ever talked about what investments they should have as a couple.
That's just not healthy.
Perhaps the most telling stat of all is that only 15% of respondents said they were confident their spouse could handle the finances in the event of their death.
Couples generally only start to talk about finances and retirement when there's a problem. That's too late.
Executive producer Christa and her husband like to have what they call "money movie night" each Friday where they put a film on for their children, fire up a frozen pizza and go over their finances using Mint.com to track spending.
Make an appointment with your spouse to discuss what you have, what you want and what your goals are. This should be an ongoing discussion -- not just one talk -- but just get the ball rolling.
Imagine going 2 weeks without spending a single penny on anything at all! That's the goal blogger Katy Wheelock and her husband set for themselves late last year.
Katy told Clark about the experience and what she learned from it in an exclusive interview today. First, though, let's lay down Katy's ground rules: She and her hubby continued paying all their regularly scheduled bills (mortgage, cable, Internet, etc.) during the 2-week period, but they cut out extras like gas money, food money and any discretionary funds.
Their food needs were already met before the experiment began; the family (which also includes 2 children, ages 5 and 7) had a pre-paid membership to a local farm coop. That means they received a bag of vegetables every week, along with milk and eggs.
They held off buying gas for as long as possible until her husband needed it to go to work one day. Likewise, Katy does admit that one night she broke down and spent $6 on some special snacks she needed for her medically necessary eating regimen. But that was it. So in the end, they spent $6 plus the cost of a tank of gas during an entire 2 weeks.
By Katy's estimate, her family saved $1,300 by cutting out unnecessary spending. The experiment ended shortly before Thanksgiving, and the Wheelocks found they didn't even have a desire to shop on Black Friday!
In fact, they're much more conscious about their spending now. Previously they might, for example, go and grab a coffee without even thinking about it if they had a lag in their day between appointments. No more.
The CPSIA will require testing of children's toys and clothing for dangerous amounts of lead and phthalates. As a side-note, the single most dangerous category is costume jewelry for young girls.
Charities, yard sales and second-hand stores are beginning to worry that they'll be driven out of business overnight when the CPSIA goes into effect. After all, there are fines of $100,000 per violation if a potentially dangerous toy or article of clothing is sold.
But now, the thrift stores and others can breathe a sigh of relief -- testing won't be required of them. As Clark says, the problem is not with thrift stores or church sales, it's with the major retail chains who buy high-production volume goods.
The Consumer Product Safety Commission will be charged with enforcing the CPSIA. They've been mum so far on the question of whether small businesses that make handcrafts will be put out of business by the CPSIA. But again, Clark wants to emphasize that the reality is the CPSIA was not written with small business in mind. It's more for the Wal-Marts, Targets and Toys R' Uses of the world.
Negotiating frivolous spending with your spouse or significant other is particularly important in a tight economy.
Take the example of Christa and her husband Mike. Mike is known as "Name Brand Man" on the show for his love of overpriced products -- particularly pricey shaving accessories. Mike feels comfortable spending $140 on a razor handle. That's a far cry from Clark's efforts to make a single 17-cent razor last for a year!
One of Mike's recent purchases was a bottle of NXT shaving gel that has a light-emitting diode packaged directly in the clear plastic bottle. Christa was about ready to call 911 when she first saw the glowing light coming from her shower late one night. She thought there was an intruder with a flashlight in her bathroom!
Name Brand Man paid around $5 for a 7-ounce bottle of NXT. Not too bad, says Clark. But that's still 9 times more than the penny pincher paid for a larger bottle of budget shaving cream at the dollar store.
With every couple, you have to choose your battles. Christa knows she probably can't change Mike's spending habits. Each person has to decide what to let slide and what needs to be negotiated.
One word of advice about negotiating spending in a relationship: Always open the conversation by volunteering what you spend on that can given up before pointing fingers at your significant other's spending.
And if you live alone, you've got to look in the mirror and have the conversation with yourself.
Organic food is something that's not relevant to Clark's life. His wife buys it for herself or the kids, but he's not into this particular food movement. Maybe that's because organic food prices are suffering from massive inflation -- even more so than non-organic grocery items. The New York Times found that while regular bread can be around $1.19, organic can be up to $3.19. Regular eggs may be $1.34-$1.50 versus $4.75-$6.39 for the organic version. Regular milk can be $1.99, while you may pay $3.99-$6.79 for organic milk.
So what can you do to dial back the price? Get your store's in-house brand of organic food instead of buying a brand name. Most retailers in the food business have private label organic food available. You can also try shopping at Wal-Mart. Clark knows the monster mega-retailer is anathema to a lot of green shoppers. But the reality is that they offer better deals on organic food than other places.
There's no doubt that organic food is gaining in popularity. Yet only 3% of food sales in the United States are organic. A whopping 97% of our food dollars still go to non-organic items. People can argue about the health value of organic vs. non-organic, but this is a dollars and cents issue. Right now the dollars you spend for organic make no sense!
Have you ever felt down in the dumps and used shopping as a pick me up? Well, now a journal called Psychological Science confirms what we've long heard anecdotally. People do tend to spend more when they feel down. Are you prone to spend money when you're blue? Clark suggests trying to break the cycle by finding a new response. Go for a walk or go to the park if it's a nice day. Clark likes to exercise when he's feeling down. If you have a conditioned response that's bad for you, you've got to work to change it. This touchy feely kind of stuff is more something that Clark's friend Suze Orman would talk about. But you know what? She's 100% right about this stuff.
New stats from the Census Bureau show that Americans are not as mobile as we once were. In a time of economic dislocation, there's been a longstanding tradition in our country to migrate for opportunity. That usually means relocating for a better job. But apparently that's not what's going on right now.
Jobs have steadily migrated to low-tax/low-cost states, which is a smart decision for any business. Think about this in your own life. If you're in a tough job market -- especially like Michigan -- the opportunities are hollowing out. So it might behoove you to move.
Some of us aren't moving because of the housing market and the current difficulties in selling a home. But that's just a small sliver of us. So Clark is rather surprised about these new stats.
For almost the last 50 years, we Americans have lived according to the "freeway exit" rule: We've driven out as far as necessary until we reach a point where the houses are affordable. This worked well to bring people into the middle class lifestyle for nearly 3 generations.
But right now, Clark believes we are at a time when we're turning back inward. People don't want the long commute or to have to deal with a yard on the weekends. There's a boomerang effect among baby boomers that are now empty nesters. Meanwhile, people who came of age in the last 10 years are becoming "new urbanists."
These new urbanists have a car but feel disconnected from the suburbs and crave the interaction of a city. Of course, today's high gas prices provide a direct economic incentive for new urbanism.
If Clark is right about people turning back inward, that means price appreciation will dwindle in the distant suburbs. In-town neighborhoods will have the greatest increase in value, followed by close-in neighborhoods. In some extreme cases, suburban homes may not even keep up with the inflation rate.
There are also some serious implications for public transportation here. In short, cities like Dallas, Houston, Atlanta and Charlotte have growth corridors that could support more of it. This is separate from the issue of energy.
The price of gas will not necessarily trend upward forever like the headlines proclaim. But even if energy prices decline, Clark still thinks that in the long run you may want to look closer in if you're thinking of real estate as an investment.
RIP-OFF ALERT: Most of us do not tell our loved ones what we want at the time of our death. Is it cremation, burial, a fancy casket, a cheap pine box? We may try to bring up the topic, but our loved ones may not want to hear it because it's painful.
The funeral industry has gone through major changes in last 2 decades. Large national chains like SCI and Stewart have bought up ma-and-pa businesses, yet they haven't changed the old names of the funeral homes. That way they give the illusion of still offering the personal hometown touch. The Funeral Consumers Alliance of Greater Kansas City surveyed 74 funeral homes in their area to compare prices. Prices ranged from $3K to over $7K for the exact same services and products. The most expensive homes were owned by the major funeral chains. Curious about what inflation will look like in 2040? Go to a chain funeral home, Clark says!
Of course, you can avoid costly funeral arrangements at the time of your death by planning in advance through a nonprofit memorial society like Funerals.org Clark has been member for 31 years. You get the benefit of group buying power for prices that are at a 70% discount. If you join, be sure to tell your loved ones and give them the necessary paperwork you've filled out.
Most people, however, won't join a memorial society. So if you're faced with a sudden death in the family, you may want to contact EverestFuneral.com. For a fee of $500, they'll negotiate the best prices on your behalf. That can amount to a savings of thousands of dollars. Finally, be sure your loved ones know about your organ donation wishes. A new study finds that more than 90% of Americans want to donate their organs, but only about 25% are signed up to do so.
Talk about a real belt-tightening time. If you're single, you just have to worry about yourself and your spending habits. But if you're married or have a partner, both of you have to be on the same financial page. Christa's new blog chronicles how she and her husband handle money. Right now they're on a mission to stop making frivolous purchases and take better care of what they already have.
Some challenges have popped up along the way. For starters, the family's new puppy recently chewed up many of Christa's beloved shoes. So what did Imelda Marcos do? She resisted the temptation to buy new ones and has instead been wearing cosmetically damaged heels. Check out her blog for pictures! Meanwhile, her husband Mike (aka Brand Name Man) temporarily derailed the dynamic duo's money-saving efforts when he bought a whole case of Gatorade's new Tiger Woods-branded thirst quencher.
How do you negotiate these kinds of financial challenges in a marriage? Well, you have to let some things go, according to Christa. Compromise is important in marriage -- though talking about Brand Name Man's purchasing follies on the air may shame him into better choices going forward. However, Clark has a different vision of Team Christa's future. He hopes that the next time Mike buys a case of Gatorade, it's some failed athlete's brand on deep discount!
There's new data from the census bureau on the fastest growing metro areas. Dallas is the top city and added 160K+ people in a year; Other cities include Atlanta (No. 2); Phoenix (No. 3); Houston (No. 4); Riverside, CA (No. 5); Charlotte, N.C. (No. 6); Chicago (No. 7); Austin (No. 8); Las Vegas (No. 9); and San Antonio (No. 10). Clark finds it very telling that 5 of top 10 cities are all located in places with no state income tax. Texas, in fact, has 4 of those cities. The Lone Star State offers affordable housing, flexible labor laws and low taxes all around. Weather is also a big factor in growth; Chicago is the only cold-weather town on the list!
The bottom line is that if you tax too heavily, you run the risk of making people flee. High-tax states provide for their citizens, but at what cost? High taxes harm long-term economic growth. Clark predicts that you'll see Congressional seats evaporate from high-tax states and migrate to low-tax one. Yet it's so odd that representatives from low-tax states get to Washington and start spending money like they don't remember where they've come from. Must be something in the water on Capitol Hill!
Clark is one man who lived a true bachelor's life before getting married to his wife Lane in 1995. At that time, all he had in his home was used or damaged furniture he'd gotten at repossession sales. Over the years, his wife purged every piece of used furniture except one -- a little love seat that she still lets him keep. Life involves compromise. Clark came into the marriage with "cheap" stitched across his forehead. His wife was the exact opposite, preferring taste over budget pricing. They've each had to learn to tone down their natural inclinations a bit over the years.
Recently they were looking for a comforter set for their 2 year old, who is transitioning from a crib to a bed and really loves trains. So Lane was online and had found a train comforter that cost $320. Clark was about ready to croak over the price. He asked his wife if he could look online for a few minutes on his computer. After visiting the usual closeout/clearance sites, he found a similar train comforter set for $39. His wife looked at it, loved it and told him to make the purchase.
That's the spirit of compromise. You have to look for a place where you can meet in the middle. There was recently a story about "financial infidelity" in the media. It's so common that couples hide things from each other about money, which in turn creates distance in other areas of their lives. It's not a good idea. While Clark and Lane don't need each other's permission to spend, they try to be respectful of one another when it comes to joint purchases like those for the house. It isn't always easy; Lane believes in taste, while Clark believes in price and has no sense of taste!
For years, Clark has been warning parents about the dangers their children face when using MySpace and Facebook. Recently both of the social networking sites stepped up to the plate with procedures and initiatives to safeguard minor users. Just as parents across the country breathed a collective sigh of relief, a disturbing study done by the University of New Hampshire was published in the Journal of Pediatrics. The study found that kids are in greater danger from predators in chat rooms and via IM than on the social networking sites.
As a parent, you need to monitor what your child is doing online. The rule in Clark's house has been that his teenager was not allowed to have a computer in her room until she turned 16. Meanwhile, his 8-year-old is only allowed to surf websites that are on a favorites list that he and his wife set up for her. Be sure to control your child's buddy list when it comes to IMs. You have to know and approve of every person on there to keep your child safe.
The nation is buzzing about the Iowa caucuses, and talk radio listeners are very engaged as they tend to be more political and more involved than the general population. Part of being a candidate is talking about problems and offering solutions. But slur campaigns and dirty politics make it seem like there's so much negativity. One commentator recently wrote that 85 percent of all Americans are happy with their own lives, yet 75 percent are unhappy with the direction our country is heading.
But it's important to remember that we as a country as far wealthier today than just a generation ago. With so much talk about income inequality among the middle class, keep in mind that we're still far more affluent in terms of health, housing, creature comforts and more. For example, there are not nearly as many fires to fight because houses are built so much safer today. Ditto for highway design, air travel and automobile travel, which are all safer than ever. We live in a golden era and don't recognize it. That doesn't mean we don't have problems. There's a saying among journalists that goes, "If it bleeds, it leads." Bad news is what makes the news -- not good news. So the news we digest tends to make us more pessimistic than we should be. Yet the average American lives 25 percent longer than in the 1940s. In this political year, remember that our country is the most successful in the history of humanity. Free enterprise lets you take risks and potentially achieve great wealth for you and your family.
When you give someone a gift, do you think it's OK for them to re-gift it or sell it online? U.S. News and World Report says that 70 percent of people think it's acceptable. Some 50 percent admitted to actually doing this. Clark believes there's nothing wrong with re-gifting or selling a gift if you don't want it. But be careful; he once actually re-gifted something back to the initial giver! So make sure you know who gave it to you before you go giving it back to them. When it comes to doing a return, retailers may require you to have a gift receipt because they're trying to crack down on internal theft rings. So when you give a gift, try taping the gift receipt to the gift itself -- not just to the wrapping paper. Clark's key rule about doing returns is do not go back to the stores until the first week of January. The return lines are maddening and the merchandise is actually pricey between Christmas and Jan. 1.
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.
With Christmas fast approaching, Clark wants to tell you how to manage your holiday shopping list without going over budget. But first he has a dirty little secret to reveal: Half of all holiday shopping you do when they're supposedly shopping for others is actually for you! While this isn't true of everyone, this is a very typical pattern. So be honest with yourself and come up with a holiday shopping list that includes everyone you want to shop for and yourself. How much money can you afford to spend on yourself and others for Christmas? Decide what the total dollar amount is and stick to it. That way you'll avoid that January hangover effect when the credit card bills come due. Once you have your list and the grand total, you've got to put a dollar amount down for each person. When push comes to shove, you may have to drop people off the list or reduce the dollar amount by each name—including yours—until it fits within your intended budget. Bring this list with you when you shop. Consult it when you make a purchase. If you overspend one on person, cut somewhere else. If you spend less than you anticipate on someone, you have more money left to spend on somebody else. Clark loves it every season when people come up to him in the stores and show him their lists! One last hint: You may also want to purge the plastic from your purse or wallet and try paying for holiday shopping with cash only. When there's no cash left, there can be no more purchases. Clark recently spoke to a credit counselor who sees tons of clients by March because they can't handle their holiday bills. Don't let this be you!
People often assume the house you own is a ticket to wealth. But the reality is that the more you spend on your home, the less wealthy you'll be in the long run. Houses depreciate, they do not appreciate. The land they sit on may go up in value, but the houses themselves decline. One of the keys to gaining wealth is trying to keep your housing expenses low. Forbes has analyzed all the major markets in the nation and come up with a unique list of the Most Affordable Places To Live Well. The emphasis on the last three words is what's really important here. These are all places that offer affordable housing, great cultural opportunities, exceptional quality of life and a low cost of living.
So what's the top city? Minneapolis! The editors at Forbes obviously don't know about the winter in Minnesota! Indianapolis, Cincinnati, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Pittsburgh and Columbus, Ohio also made the cut. So that means 7 of the Top 10 selections are Midwestern cities. Several emerging Sun Belt cities also round out the list. Houston, Dallas and Atlanta -- 3 of the nation's fastest growers -- are unlike the others in that they come with some traffic and air pollution problems. The one common link among all 10 cities is that housing is a deal. Being wealthy involves limiting the amount you spend on the roof over your head, the taxes on that roof and all the assorted utility bills every month.
Many people are getting ready for daylight-saving time to end this week. Clark's 8-year-old daughter will probably be much harder to get out of bed in the mornings for school. She must take after her father, who admits to having seasonal-affective disorder (SAD). The switch back to standard time will take place across the nation -- except in Arizona, Hawaii, throughout the Navajo Nation, Puerto Rico, the Virgin Islands, Guam and a select few other spots. The reason for the annual time change is to save energy by having extra daylight time. That's because people use less energy in the early evening hours. Clark thinks it's interesting that our clock is controlled by economics. He probably needs to be a two hemisphere kind of guy -- he should move to South America during the winter to take advantage of their opposite seasons! There is one person who is even more affected by the time change than Clark -- that's Mike, the husband of Clark's executive producer Christa. When daylight-saving time ends on Nov. 4, he'll say we're entering "The Tunnel." If you're wondering why daylight-saving time was pushed back a week this year, it's so that kids across the country could do their early Halloween trick-or-treating in sunlight. One word of caution to all drivers: Dusk is the most difficult time to see children in the streets.
Clark often confuses people with his talk about choice in schools because they think he's getting political. But he sees it as an issue that's simply about giving every child an opportunity to succeed -- regardless of their family's socioeconomic background. Monopoly schools and arbitrary zoning either sentence kids to a stinking school or reward them with a good one based on where they live. That's pretty much the norm across the country. But some states like Arizona have been very innovative with allowing school choice and having an active charter school movement. Clark grants that there have been financial scandals in some of the Arizona charter schools, yet he thinks they're on the right track. He also likes the idea of vouchers, which are like gift certificates where you take the public money that would have been spent on a student and give it to them to subsidize private school tuition.
Parents who home-school their kids really impress Clark. There are nearly two million kids who receive this kind of education. Clark admits that he doesn't have the intestinal fortitude to home-school his own brood! Yet home-schooled kids are usually overachievers. Colleges once shunned them because they have non-traditional transcripts and grades. Now The Washington Post reports that nearly 85 percent of colleges have formal evaluation policies to come up with a class rank of sorts for home-schooled kids. There's even a whole cottage industry of learning materials that have sprung up around parents who home-schools. Clark sees the teaching materials for sale at stores in August and September. With home life being such an important factor in a child's education, Clark wants to salute parents who home-school.
One of Clark's staffers was recently on vacation for four days. While in San Diego, she spoke to some Europeans who laughed at her meager "holiday" time -- they were abroad for eight weeks! The Wall Street Journal recently reported that only one in seven American workers takes a "long" vacation of two weeks at a time. In fact, people don't even use all the vacation that they've accrued. More than one in three forfeits vacation days. Then there's also the working vacation trend, where you go away but spend most of your time working remotely. Clark thinks people are better as workers and family members when they take some time to chill out. He sees a lot of people with "emperor syndrome," where they think that the company can't survive without them. "Impostor syndrome" is also common. That's when people become afraid that the company will realize they're not necessary if they're out on vacation. These kinds of insecurities can really drain your productivity over time. Clark advises people to get away when they have the chance and turn off their "Crackberry" devices. The world won't collapse if you take a few days to enjoy yourself. Yahoo! recently sent around an internal e-mail trying to compel staffers to take their vacations. The employees were outraged by the move, and the company had to back down and make vacation a voluntary thing. There is, however, a ray of hope on the horizon; members of Generation X (those born between 1965-1978) tend to take 100 percent of their vacation time. When's the last time you took a week off from work?
In the time-honored tradition of the "What I Did on Summer Vacation" essay, Clark opened the show today by talking about how he spent the summer break. This summer found Clark and his family at their beach home in Florida quite a bit. They also took a trip to San Francisco, where Clark and his wife visited relatives and did a lot of walking. Now that his family's vacation time has winded down, reality has set in especially hard for his teenage daughter. She's off at college for the first time this year. Unfortunately, she got a $77 parking ticket during her first day on campus because she didn't have a parking pass. Talk about the school of financial hard knocks! On a related note, Clark often chides his daughter when he sees her with bottled water. There was a recent study that compared the cost of drinking bottled water to the cost of drinking tap water. Consuming tap water will run you about 49 cents for the entire year, while drinking the same amount of bottled water will burn a $1,400 hole in your wallet! Many people still prefer bottled water to tap water because of taste and/or safety issues. In fact, Clark's beach home has notoriously bad tasting tap water. His solution? Just use a relatively inexpensive filtration system to clean up your tap water and make it taste great. Clark wants everyone to consider this option -- especially as more and more brands like Aquafina and Dasani are revealed to just be tap water in a fancy bottle with a huge price markup. Who wouldn't want to save $1,400 a year?
Not very long ago, Clark mentioned that people from the United States are now going to Mexico for dental care. That discussion sparked some unfriendly response. Now London's Financial Times has done a report about the medical tourism trend. People are going overseas to Thailand and India to save money on surgeries. The number of Americans going overseas is rising 20 percent per year, according to the report. The savings can be extraordinary -- up to 75 percent. The big question is, "What kind of care will you get overseas?" While the quality does vary, many third-world countries have first-rate hospitals that cater to foreigners. The Financial Times reports that Singapore is the best place to go for overseas medical care that is roughly equal to American care. You'll still save substantial amounts there -- up to 50 percent off -- and have a private nurse for 24 hours a day. While Clark admits that he is a medical idiot, he does believe that if you are grappling with the cost issue alone you should consider this option. There are now medical tourism businesses that handle accommodations, finding doctors and all the other logistics of getting care abroad. Be sure to vote in our new poll when you visit our homepage and tell us what you think about this emerging trend!
Did you know the average wedding today costs around $30,000? If you go back just two generations in this country, you'll discover that people routinely got married for under $100. But if you've planned a wedding anytime recently, you know that the price tag associated with every aspect of the big day has been ballooning. Some brides have been known to pay $2,500 (and even up to $35,000!) for their dresses. Thankfully, there are a number of inexpensive wedding dresses available on the market. Retailers like Target, David's Bridal and Filene's Basement offer them in the $100-$200 range. As Clark says, your special day is not about the dress, the caterer or anything else; it's about picking the right mate. It's a day that should be about having a big heart, not a big wallet.
If you're a longtime listener, you may know that Clark absolutely hates traffic and lengthy commuting. He's made the choice to live about 10 minutes away from where he works just to avoid it. But most average Americans live along a freeway at an exit where they can have the house and lifestyle they want, which usually means living in the suburbs. Yet commuting from a suburb to a city can be grueling. In fact, there's now a backlash against the suburban lifestyle. Call it the Death by Suburb phenomenon -- that's the title of a book and accompanying program that's been making its way around suburban churches. Clark believes the real angst of life in the 'burbs comes not from the distant location, but from the fact that many parents pack their kids' schedules too full. A little downtime for children is healthy, according to Clark; there's nothing wrong with unstructured free playtime. Kids are having the spontaneity drained from their lives with busy schedules that can include tae-kwan-do, sports, ballet, gymnastics and more. Stop and think about the treadmill you're putting your kids and yourself on when you have to run them around endlessly everywhere. Just some food for thought!
On his recent book tour Clark met a gentleman who was about to become a refugee from corporate America due to company downsizing. He decided that buying a franchise was the right way to go from here. Clark asked him what he knew about the industry, and he said "nothing." He said the franchise company promised incredible profits, but you can't always trust their word. Clark asked what his previous field was...he answered computers. Clark asked him why he wanted to go into a field that had nothing to do with his business experience...was he burned out? He said no, he just thought he could make a lot of money with this franchise. But Clark wants you to think long and hard before you do buy one, especially if you're a corporate refugee. Clark's advice: work in the industry first and see if you really like it. Learn it from the inside out, even if it means emptying trash cans at first. Franchises are much harder to sell than buy, so you want to be 100% sure you want to stick with it. Corporate refugees, you have to be especially careful, since what you used to do was very specific, typically. You'll have to be a multi-disciplinary person--a utility player-- if you're going to go from an office into running your own business. If you're not, you're probably not the kind of person who should own a franchise. So what do you do if you have experience but can't find a regular job?. Try consulting. Use the knowledge you gained in the corporate world and put that to use helping others who can benefit from your advice and experience. If you've gained the currency of knowledge, education and training and just kick it to the curb, you'll be throwing the baby out with the bath water!
The Supreme Court ruled today in a 5-4 decision that price fixing is OK. Retailers used to pay the price for items set by the manufacturers and then set their own price for consumers. Now manufacturers will be able to tell retailers how much they must sell their product for. The only way that this won't stick is if the U.S. Congress makes laws in regard to this. When the Supremes hand down a decision though, things don't change right away. Price fixing is never good, and lets hope that things change or else we as consumers will be feeling our wallets pinched.
What are the odds that you will become a millionaire? When you are counting up your assets to decide whether you are or not remember that it doesn’t include your house. It is based on “real” money and assets. The “World Wealth Report” reports that 1 in 100 Americans are true millionaires. America has 3 million of the world’s 6 million wealthy. What about you? It is possible for many of us to become wealthy even if we don’t make that much. Most wealthy people become wealthy not through making huge money but by doing the basics like not living flashy. Some people go to the extent of doing things like only spending 50% of what they make. There is a school of thought that you shouldn’t save money. Being economically wealthy empowers you. What you don’t spend makes the difference.
Tattoos are something that used to be limited in popularity, but today more than 1/3 of people age 18-40 have them, according to recent surveys. Clark thinks that companies that develop tattoo-removal technology might just be good investments going forward! However, visible tattoos can hurt you in many workplaces, or keep you from getting the good job you want. So if you're thinking about getting a tattoo, consider keeping it in a place most people won't notice. It's just Clark's opinion, but he thinks it's a practical suggestion.
Take a vacation! The average American takes only 11 of their 14 days of vacation. In countries like Spain and Germany, they get upwards of 25 days and take all but one or two. Even when we take vacation here in America we can’t really seem to break away from the job. We have our blackberries and our company e-mail that tie us to our job even when away. You are not good to your company when you are burned out and working all the time. When you take a vacation you come back rested and clearer-headed. So take a lesson from some of these other countries and take a real vacation. It will be good for you and your company.
You might not think you’d hear about Anna Nicole Smith on Clark’s show. But as he heard more about this story on every television channel, it got him thinking that her story helps illuminate the need for a will. Smith had no will. As a result, people are fighting over her daughter and, therefore, her money. It’s going to cost the taxpayers thousands of dollars as this dispute plays out in court. If you are married, or are married with kids, you need to have a discussion with your loved ones and prepare a will. It takes about 15 minutes with the software program, WillMaker, and will save your family huge heartache. Also remember that the beneficiaries you have listed at brokerage houses will trump those you have listed in your will. So, check that stuff every other year. If you have your first wife listed as your beneficiary on your 401k plan, for example, she will get your money, even if you have a new wife who is listed on your will.
What do you think the average amount for a wedding gift is? Some might say $50. But the truth is people spend an average of $126 on a gift. Even for a shower, people are spending $60. Crate & Barrel is a popular spot for these kinds of gifts. The store is almost set up to cater to gift-buying shoppers. Bed, Bath & Beyond is another popular spot, as are Target and Wal-Mart. Some unconventional things are also going on, including giving couples cash to help with a “house fund.” People register for a wedding with a mortgage lender and the gift is to help them with their down payment or mortgage.
September is now the second biggest wedding month of the year, after June. So, it’s really a bad time for shop owners to go belly up because brides are left without gowns on their wedding days. It happened recently to one chain in the Northeast and Midwest known as Kaufman’s Wedding World. The stores just shut down one day and padlocked all of their doors. Brides who had paid big deposits or who paid in full suddenly were left with nothing. What happens is women pay deposits for their dresses and then they wait and hope that the dress comes in. It’s the traditional way to buy a dress, but it’s just not smart anymore. Buying dresses off the rack is much safer. David’s Bridal is one of the biggest “buy now” shops, as is Filene’s Basement, and these shops are growing in popularity. Some companies also rent wedding dresses. It costs only a couple hundred dollars to rent a dress. So, if you are planning to get married, don’t pre-order and pay ahead of time. Think of new ways to get the dress you want. Otherwise, you may be left with nothing to wear on your wedding day.
There was an exact 50-50 split in our show meeting today about whether a cubic zirconia would suffice for a woman’s engagement ring. The “CZ’s,” as they are called, are getting more and more popular as diamond stand-ins. The other look-alike is called “moissanite,” and it costs about 10 percent less than a diamond. Apparently, the brilliance of moissanite is equivalent to a diamond, and it’s impossible to tell that what you’re getting is a fake. So, would you rather have $5,000 dollars on your hand or in your new home? Tell us in our weekly poll. Joni said having a diamond engagement ring was very important to her. She would know that what she has on her hand is cheaper in quality, and that doesn’t cut it. What about wedding dresses? The biggest movement in this business is women buying dresses off the rack for a couple hundred dollars. Women are also renting wedding dresses and borrowing from friends to avoid the hefty cost of a dress they’ll probably only wear once. Would you be willing to wear a rented dress?
New statistics from the Commerce Department show that the typical American family is saving just a little more than a penny on each dollar earned. This worries Clark very much because it simply will not help you. Of course, there are some people who are saving huge amounts of money. But there are many more who are not saving anything or are involved in “negative net saving.” That means that people spend more money than they make. So, overall, we are pitiful at saving money in the United States. Good and bad habits are formed one step at a time, and that’s how you change them, as well. Saving a dime on every dollar is a good goal to have. As the years pass, you’ll be able to bump that number up. Last year, Clark saved 15 percent of his before tax pay and two-thirds of his after tax pay. When you retire, you will have to live on half of what you make. You must keep that in mind. In Clark’s most recent poll, he wanted to know what you do in your leisure time. When asked how much time you spend in front of the TV, almost half said they only watch one to two hours a day. That is far less than the national average, so Clark’s listeners are a bit different. And, in terms of how you end up spending your leisure time, about 27 percent - the largest amount - said they played or worked on the computer.
Clark thinks there are many situations when you can handle legal situations by yourself, without the need for an attorney. Arizona has been a leader in the country in this area because people there know that a lot of legal work is clerical. In addition, many people feel the law is not there to serve them anymore, so they’re handling these issues on their own. Couples are doing their own divorces themselves. If there are no legal assets and there are no kids involved, a divorce is almost entirely clerical. Some sites to use include legalzoom.com and nolo.com. A franchise organization called “We The People” also provides legal forms to people. There are now about 150 offices across the country. But some states are fighting back. Attorneys in Texas, for example, are so powerful that they made it illegal for non-lawyers to own books about the law. There was a big outrage over this, and the law has been overturned. But how crazy is that? Now, the state is trying to ban “We the People” from selling legal forms in the state. Illinois, Nebraska and North Carolina have joined in on the push. Yes, there are many circumstances when you need to consult an attorney, especially if the issue is complicated or involves a lot of money. But think about doing it yourself first.
The latest wrinkle in the cell phone wars could be a great asset to you. It’s known as “sticky services,” and it’s been very successful in some markets. The idea is to create a web of reasons to stay with a particular company. The cell phone industry has a terrible problem with turnover. Companies lose about three percent of their customers every month, which is a massive loss. So, they’ve started promoting family and network plans. The original family-to-family plans, which allowed you to talk to family members only, were not that successful. So, now companies have come up with network plans, whereby you can talk to anyone on the same network for nothing. The deal is that you can talk to someone on your same plan and it doesn’t count against your minutes. You’re essentially “off the clock.” It creates an incentive for discipline in a family or corporation to use one plan. All of the employees are on the same plan, so it costs less. That is the carrot. But the stick is that companies will require you to sign a one- or two-year contract. You just simply decide whether it’s worth it to you. Clark carries two cell phones – one for local calls and one for long distance. Two companies, in particular, specialize in the local calling plans, and Clark loves their business models. The companies are Cricket Communications and MetroPCS, and both offer unlimited calling. The unlimited talking model is slowly growing with other companies, and soon the block-of-minutes plans will be a thing of the past. They all range between $40 and $45, and that is the sweet spot that people are willing to pay.
