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."

Do you have money to invest, but you're not sure where to put it? Most people who are unsure about investments hire someone to help. One of the greatest danger points is in mid-career, when you find yourself with a great deal of money in a 401K. At that time you're at the greatest risk, because that's when you're most likely to end up hiring a commissioned salesperson. Is that a problem in itself? No. There are plenty of situations when paying a commission is just fine. But in the investment world, there can be inherent conflict of interest with commissions. There are plenty of investment products that may not be the best choice for you, but you may be sold on them because the commissions are humongous. Variable and Index Annuities are referred to as 'sold', not 'bought', since people don't buy these on their own -- they are convinced to do so. Salespeople use code words such as Retirement Secured Account and other phony phrases to keep from tipping you off that you're being sold an annuity. Sometimes a Life, or Immediate Annuity makes sense, but the commissions are so low you won't hear much about them.

Clark wants to warn you away from another term: "fee-based planners." These salespeople start with a fixed fee, but the commissions on products they may sell you defray those initial costs, which again, may not be in your best interest. Honest commissioned salespeople will rise above their personal interests and sell what's right for you.

The stakes are so high in investing that Clark urges you to consider fee-only planners. They'll give you a fixed price up front for their services, regardless of the product they recommend. You won't have to worry about conflict of interest. Their success will depend on your good word of mouth and how well they did by you. To find a good one, go to the National Association of Personal Financial Advisers website, NAPFA.org. Another good resource is Garrett Planning Network: garrettplanningnetwork.com

Clark has a serious obsession with cost. That passion comes through in his emphasis on low-cost investments. The lowest-cost provider in the United States is Vanguard. Fidelity and T. Rowe Price are right behind Vanguard.

Syndicated financial writer Scott Burns has done an analysis and found that if you don't go the low-cost route, you'll have 40% less money at retirement. The commissions you'll pay are like a cancer eating at your retirement security.

When you buy a mutual fund, you pay a management fee every year. Vanguard, for example, charges only 1/8 what other expensive facilitators do. When it comes to variable annuities, Vanguard charges one-thirteenth less than others.

Some people think they can't go the low-cost route because it means they'll have to pick their own investments -- something they don't understand. But investing is not brain surgery. You just have to know the basics.

Pay yourself first so you have money to invest. And go for a Roth IRA! Your money will grow tax-free and it will be spent tax free. The Roth, however, is just a house and you've got to decide how to furnish it. That's where Clark's investing guide comes in handy. It contains his favorite picks for ultra low cost mutual funds, among other things.

Vanguard founder John Bogle is a fan of the targeted retirement funds. With these funds, you put your money in the year closest to when you expect to retire. It's a "set it and forget it" kind of thing. Vanguard, Fidelity and T. Rowe Price all offer this kind of investment.

One last thought: Beware of "employees" inside banks trying to sell you variable annuities when you go to renew your CDs -- unless you want to pay humongous commissions, face massive expenses and have immense tax problems.

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.

In the latest installment of Clarkonomics, Clark discussed the impact that the Federal Reserve's continuing interest rate cuts have had on the stock market. The Fed is the nation's banker and is responsible for managing the size and direction of the economy, plus keeping inflation in check. There's a delicate balance that must be struck between not letting inflation get out of control and not letting the economy tank. Juggling those two duties is extremely difficult, and you'll find there are a lot of gripers when it comes to the Fed.

If the Fed cuts interest rates and there's investor fear about the economy being in sad shape, then the stock market will likely go down as result. It's a fear factor playing itself out in the market. On the other hand, why do stocks sometimes go up after cuts? That happens when interest rates on "safe" savings options like money-market accounts and CDs drop. So long as stock investors are not worried that recession is going to eat up earnings at companies, stocks will look more favorable than the so-called safe options. Therefore, people are more likely to take a chance on stocks when interest rates on the safe stuff are too low.

Right now the Fed is trying to stave off recession or reduce the impact, but it's also trying to prop up the giant monster mega-banks. There's the "Too Big To Fail" concept, an unwritten law that states the collapse of multiple monster mega-banks would be disastrous for our economy. So the Fed's cut in interest rates helps the monster mega-bank lower their cost of borrowing money to survive to fight another day. That's a hidden agenda that the Fed will never disclose -- after all, the free market dictates you're not supposed to bail out companies that make bad choices. If you were to buy stock in a giant monster mega-bank, there's a chance that you'd make money rather than lose because of the "Too Big To Fail" idea. That's not really how capitalism is supposed to work, but that's the reality.

Many people are uncertain what to do when it comes to the question of stocks. In a continuing segment of Clarkonomics, Clark examined the investing angle of the economic slump. The real question is should any of it matter to how you create long-term security? Clark recently saw a couple of alarming headlines in The Wall Street Journal: "When is it time to buy stocks again?" and "Are stocks cheap?" There are two things Clark doesn't believe in: Buying individual stocks and timing when to get in and when to get out of the market. Clark believes in buying stocks through mutual funds or ETFs (exchange-rated funds). Basically, he buys a basket of investments with little slices and dices of a lot of different companies. He also buys on a consistent basis -- via his 401(k) every pay period and via an investment plan every month. But let's cut to the chase: Should you be worried by the market volatility? If you're near retirement age and aren't diversified in your assets, yes, you probably should be. But if you're young, it's good to have a decline in share prices now. The decline means that you can buy more shares for the same dollar.

How much of your retirement money should you put into your employer's stock? Not one single cent, according to Clark. Clark recalls when he first learned that companies were pushing their workers to put their 401(k) money in employer stock or only offering the company match when employees invested in their stock. It was back in the 1990s and he was speaking about retirement savings at a tech company. When he started talking about employer stock, there was a murmur that ran through the crowd. It turned out almost all 600 employees put a big chunk into their company stock. When the dot.com era went bust, those workers lost 90 percent of retirement savings. More recently you had the same thing happen during the Enron and WorldCom scandals.

The latest news in this arena now comes from Countrywide Home Loans. The nation's largest independent mortgage lender is facing a lawsuit because it required employees to receive their match in company stock. Countrywide also allegedly pushed employees to put their own money in company stock. As the mortgage mammoth's profitability has declined, its employees' retirement stashes are now in danger. Why the SEC hasn't outlawed company stock from retirement options is beyond Clark. He advises people who have been contributing to company stock to stop, and instead put their money in a targeted retirement portfolio option. This will adjust your risk based on the years you have left until retirement. Half of your money should be in a total stock market plan, so you don't have all of your eggs in one basket. You may also want to check out some overseas mutual funds since the capitalist market is expanding abroad rapidly. Clark wants you to spread your retirement investments among hundreds of companies instead of gambling on just one -- the one where you get a paycheck.

The stock market has been very unstable the last several weeks with huge gains one day and huge losses the next. The volatility has caused a lot of fear in investors. There was a recent study that found people who pay too much attention to the market make poor investment decisions. That's probably because the financial press and outlets like CNBC tend to hype stock news and get people worried. But if you're still years away from retirement, just diversify your investments to spread out the risk and don't worry about every little bump in the market. After all, even investors who rode out the Great Depression eventually got some nice returns. Clark doesn't plan to adjust his investing strategy just because of stock market volatility. He thinks CDs and 401(k) options are relatively safe choices. If, on the other hand, you need your money in the next few months or years, you have to make investments that are very safe. Clark's Investing Guide provides info on some great options.

When the U.S. stock markets had a bad day recently, the news media went crazy. But that’s their job. The reality is that one bad day is not going to make a big difference. Most Americans are not day traders who make risky bets or buy stocks on margins. The majority of us are invested in stock markets indirectly, through their 401k plan or retirement plan at work. So, it won’t be apparent for weeks or months whether the big drop will have any effect. It’s completely normal for people to react emotionally, but it’s not necessary. The good news is that if you are under 55, a decline in the stock market will benefit you. It means that you’re buying more shares for the same amount of money. You benefit from declines in the short –term because it makes you a lot of money over the long-term. It’s called “dollar cost averaging.” So, don’t make a bigger deal out of it than it really is.

Hackers have broken into brokerage accounts at financial institutions such as eTrade, J.P Morgan, Scottrade, Charles Schwab and TD/Ameritrade, and the FBI is now investigating. The hackers are either trying to empty out your account or they are trying to use your account in what’s called a “pump-and-dump” scheme. These schemes involve pumping up a stock value by buying a ton of shares. Unfortunately, the criminals hack into any number of brokerage accounts and use your money to buy the stock. Then, the stock price zooms up and people start putting their money into the stock. That’s where the term “pump” comes from. Once the criminals reach critical mass with these accounts, they sell everything and take all the money, leaving the stock essentially worthless. Victims don’t realize what has happened until they look at their account and it’s empty. The worst part is that under current law, there is no requirement that brokers refund money to your account. eTrade is going against the grain and is restoring money to customers’ accounts. A few others are following suit. But it’s not required. So, the more you check your account, the safer you will be. This very thing happened to Christa, Clark’s executive producer, when her eTrade account was compromised. The hacker lived in central Florida and luckily Christa checked her account and saw something was off before everything settled. eTrade was also the first to start an electronic authentication key. It is a device that plugs into a USB port on a computer and the company asks you an obscure number of questions that you’ve set up before they’ll let you into the account. Clark thinks more companies should wake up and do this.

If you are an investor who buys individual stocks, you might want to consider investing in companies for which people love to work. A study by Deloitte Consulting found that people who invest in companies that treat employees well earn more than twice as much as they make when investing in other companies. Basically, Fortune’s list of the Top 100 companies to work for are also the best companies to invest in. Clark has believed for a long time that companies and corporations should romance employees, because employee then romance customers. When you visit a business where workers are not connected to their employer, it’s clear and it shows in employees’ work. On the other hand, when you visit a place where the company takes care of its workers, workers go out of their way to serve the customer. And, those companies clearly make the most money because their stock is always rising. Think about what you can do to make your employees care about their jobs and, in turn, care about the customers. It’s a proven recipe for success.

Christa, Clark’s executive producer, nearly lost everything in one of her brokerage accounts recently. But thankfully she checks her account online several times a week and she prevented it from happening. While randomly checking her account, she saw that all of the stock in their pretty sizeable account was about to be sold. She immediately called the broker and learned that someone in Gainesville, Florida had hacked into her account and was getting ready to wire the money out. The really scary part is that there is no protection of brokerage accounts, but her company – eTrade – was able to get the money safely back in the account. So, if you don’t normally check your brokerage accounts, start! Often, if you’re not taking money out of these accounts, you don’t check them. But you need to. Brokerage firms are also starting “two-factor ID systems” using USB ports and other security methods to verify you are the account owner. But until then, monitor closely.

The biggies in the full-commissioned stock brokerage firms are Merrill Lynch, Smith Barney and Morgan Stanley. People pay a lot of money to these firms to have someone handle their money, and there are decent people working for those firms. But workers in these firms don’t always do what’s best for the customers. And they don’t have to, according to law. At Merrill Lynch, some workers have crossed the line. Merrill Lynch got in trouble with the NASD for acting unethically for three years. Specifically, offices in Jacksonville, Fla., and Hopewell, N.J., set out to rip off people with smaller accounts, according to sources. These offices took people out of the accounts they were in and put them in ultra high-costs mutual funds that cost customers tons of money. The company even had contests to see which employees could put the most people in these funds. Merrill Lynch has settled the charges, but did not admit to cheating people. Keep in mind that stockbrokers do not have to do what’s in your best interest. Financial planners are held to a higher standard and are required to do what’s best for you. So consider going with one of them instead. Fee-only financial planners get no commission for helping you. They aren’t going to be free or even cheap, but they work. Go to napfa.org to find one.

Everyone has a different opinion about where the stock market is going. How can you really know which prediction is right? You can't. Listen to Clark and you'll be just fine.

Clark was 22 when he got his master’s degree in business management. At the time, he had done a number of studies on companies and programs. What he learned was that the best companies treat their workers like gold. And he believes it even more today. Even more convincing is the news recently reported in the Financial Times of London. The Times reported that stocks of the 100 best companies to work for in America also have stocks that earn three times the rate of general companies on the various exchanges. That’s because companies that romance their workers have workers that romance the customer. It simply improves how companies run and earns more money for the company. The data is very clear on this. So the bottom line is that you want to invest in a company that treats its workers well.

Your brokerage firm may be taking advantage of you. Historically, brokerage house has paid you true money market rates. That would mean you’d get 3.5 or 3.8 percent on your money today. But right now, brokerages are giving much less. If you have a standard brokerage account at eTrade for example, you are getting one-sixth of 1 percent. Charles Schwab is paying half a percent, and Merrill Lynch is paying just over 1 percent. So, these brokerages are basically looting your account by reducing fees. Clark wants you to take the opposite of his traditional advice and transfer money from these brokerage accounts to a bank account that pays more. Emigrantdirect.com for example offers 3 percent on cash, which is much better.

Many people continue to pay gigantic fees for investments, but in the low commission world of investments commissions keep going down. Charles Schwab has just about limited all fees on its accounts, and the same is true with Fidelity Investments. It means that small investors who are just starting out can go to one of those two big financial houses and not worry about huge commissions. Also on people’s radar screens is something called an ETF or “exchange traded fund.” They’re growing like crazy as an alternative investment for people going into stocks. Clark still supports mutual funds, specifically index funds. The direct competitor is an ETF, which is similar to buying a stock. So, which is better? If you’re gradually putting money into the account each paycheck, an index fund is the right choice. But if you got a sudden windfall or big bonus, an ETF would make more sense. You pay a commission to buy and to sell it. The advantage is that over time an ETF has much lower management fees than a regular mutual fund. The other advantage is an ETF won’t cost you a lot in taxes. Clark doesn’t want to confuse you with this information. He just wants you to know a little bit about ETFs because you’re going to see more of them.

If you’re hiring a stockbroker to handle investments or mutual fund purchases for you. Most people use a full-commissioned broker to handle investments and make those purchases for you. But many brokers don’t have the same interests as you do. Smart Money magazine has just published its list of the best brokerages – full commissioned and discount brokers alike. In the full commission category, one brokerage house came out on top in all categories. It is Edward Jones. The company is perfect for entrepreneur and people who work in small or single-person offices. Although they are a full commissioned house, they don’t take too many risks and use conservative, trustworthy stock-picking according to Smart Money. Significantly lower in the standings is Morgan Stanley, and the bottom of the barrel is Wells Fargo. People simply do not trust Wells Fargo, according to Smart Money, and the company got an abysmal rating. Smith Barney also got very low scores in terms of trust from customers. As for the discount brokerages, the top spot went to Fidelity Investments. Fidelity has done a solid job with low cost options and great choices for investments. Vanguard is listed as the worst in this category because buying stocks is not its strongpoint. But the company is fantastic with 401ks, index funds and mutual funds. Harris Direct and Muriel Siebert are also near the top, too. Also remember that if you’re earning less than 2.75 percent, you should switch that account to another brokerage.

The stock brokerage industry is now required by a new SEC rule to tell you that they are not looking out for you. They must let you know how they are making money for themselves with your investments. Clark thinks this could actually hurt consumers even more. He thinks stock-brokerage firms will now hide behind this rule and actually win in arbitration. We'll keep you posted on what happens with this new rule.

The former muckety mucks from MCI, Enron and other companies are finally being held responsible for cooking the books at their companies. So what happens to the employees? Because they bought heavily in company stock, they hit financial bottom once the companies’ misdeeds were discovered. A new study found that $1 in $4 of the money people have in 401k is in company stock. That is scary. The appropriate amount should be ZERO! There are certain companies that only allow their employees to invest in company stock if they enroll in a 401k. And Clark thinks that is appalling. It’s completely dishonest to require employees to invest in company stock only. If that is the case, invest as little as possible. And the second the “holding period” is over, you want to dump that stock and diversify your money. But if you don’t have to put your money into company stock, NEVER EVER do this. It’s not necessarily a crooked company cramming this down your throat. But the company is putting your future at risk by choosing this kind of plan. You want to be an investor not a gambler.

Clark has held steady to his opinion that the popular auction site eBay needs to take some responsibility for the fraud and crime happening on its site. The site has created trust among its followers and users over the years. But crooked buyers and sellers have infected the site for the last two years, and eBay has simply washed its hands of the issue. Clark thinks that eBay must get a handle on the fraud in order to maintain its success. It’s apparently already taking a toll, now that news reports show that eBay’s stock has been dropping like a rock. Bloomberg reports that traffic on the site has also dropped, so people are getting more leery of using the site. Christa, Clark’s executive producer, has felt differently since eBay’s inception. She thinks it’s an open marketplace, much like a classified ad, and eBay should not have to assume any responsibility. We want to know what you think. Tell us in our weekly poll. If Clark could decide what happens with eBay, he would offer two kinds of sellers. The first would be bonded sellers, who have been checked out and have a bond. The other group would be unbonded sellers, and it would be buyer beware. It seems that eBay can’t decide whether it wants to protect people or not, and that’s unacceptable to Clark.

The former muckety mucks from MCI, Enron and other companies are finally being held responsible for cooking the books at their companies. So what happens to the employees? Because they bought heavily in company stock, they hit financial bottom once the companies’ misdeeds were discovered. A new study found that $1 in $4 of the money people have in 401k is in company stock. That is scary. The appropriate amount should be ZERO! There are certain companies that only allow their employees to invest in company stock if they enroll in a 401k. And Clark thinks that is appalling. It’s completely dishonest to require employees to invest in company stock only. If that is the case, invest as little as possible. And the second the “holding period” is over, you want to dump that stock and diversify your money. But if you don’t have to put your money into company stock, NEVER EVER do this. It’s not necessarily a crooked company cramming this down your throat. But the company is putting your future at risk by choosing this kind of plan. You want to be an investor not a gambler.