Fairfield-Echo.com

August 22, 2008

For the first time in a good while, you'll finally be able to earn much better rates on savings. You can now actually keep pace with inflation!

5-year CDs are again earning over 5% -- that's after months of 5-year terms yielding around 2.5%. 1-year CDs, meanwhile, are in the steady 4% range. For the shorter term, Clark suggests you might want to look at an online savings account.

So how do you find these deals? Many of the best ones are at community banks and credit unions in your hometown. Look on billboards or signs when you're driving around. Just don't look at the giant monster mega-banks!

You can also get a good survey of rates around the country at BankRate.com.

No one knows where CD rates are going from here. That's why Clark recommends laddering your CDs. The easiest way to do that is to split your money into 3 piles -- a money-market or savings account; a 1-year CD; and a 5-year CD.

A more sophisticated laddering approach would involve a 6-tier setup. Splitting your money into 6 even piles, you'd have the following set-up: A money-market or savings account; a 1-year CD; 2-year CD; 3-year CD; 4-year CD; and a 5-year CD.

Then when your 1-year CD comes due, you re-up in a 5-year CD; ditto for your 2-year CD, your 3-year CD, etc. That way you don't lock all your money into a 5-year CD if rates go up or down.

August 8, 2008

Clark has been reading a new book titled "High Wire: The Precarious Financial Lives of American Families." Author Peter Gosselin's story dovetails very neatly with Clark's talk of the recent generational shifts that make our current economic slowdown more painful.

It's no secret that there's no longer a "lifetime contract" between employers and employees. We "rent" them and they "rent" us. Gone are the days of pensions after a lifetime of work or the promise of employer-provided healthcare in old age. To complicate matters, people have long since stopped paying cash and now live on borrowed money.

These factors in combination make for an explosive mix that creates financial insecurity. Gosselin talks about being on a wire without a net. Think about your own life: Are you without a net? If so, are you prepared for the consequences that can come if you lose your job?

Here's Clark's advice to get things back on track in your life: ¥ When it comes to a house, buy with a down-payment. Go for a 30-year fixed rate loan to keep things simple. ¥ With cars, limit your loans to 42 months or less -- or risk being upside-down in your car. ¥ Do not use debt for lifestyle; it only creates obligations, not opportunities. On the other side of the ledger, are you saving? The average American family is spending more than it takes in. But, again, what happens when you lose your job??

August 6, 2008

How would you like to make 5% on your money in less than a month? Sound impossible? It is. But that's precisely the lure a businessman named Anthony Christou used when he stole $14 million from 20 wealthy investors, according to BizJournals.com. ... More

July 3, 2008

It's not often that we have back-to-back Clarkonomics segments on the show. But there's been so much in the media about the bear stock market that Clark felt compelled to do it. ... More

July 1, 2008

Good news for students and potential students! There are new loan rules in effect as of today (July 1, 2008). While it's a confusing system, the deals are better now than those that existed under the previous student loan rules. ... More