Clark Howard

Clark Behind The Headlines

From HLN's Money Expert Clark Howard

HELP ME CLARK!
From HLN's Money Expert Clark Howard

Lynn:
A year or so ago, my now 80 year old mother bought a new clothes dryer. The store offered free delivery. The delivery fee was actually charged to her store charge card and was to be refunded via rebate from another source. Before she was able to receive the rebate, the company went bankrupt. She refused to pay the $60 to the store and has now accrued a couple of hundred dollars in charges on top of it. She doesn't need her charge card. She can pay cash for whatever she wants. I just hate to see this go on and on. What, if any, recourse does she have?

HELP ME CLARK!
From HLN's Money Expert Clark Howard

Lynn:
A year or so ago, my now 80 year old mother bought a new clothes dryer. The store offered free delivery. The delivery fee was actually charged to her store charge card and was to be refunded via rebate from another source. Before she was able to receive the rebate, the company went bankrupt. She refused to pay the $60 to the store and has now accrued a couple of hundred dollars in charges on top of it. She doesn't need her charge card. She can pay cash for whatever she wants. I just hate to see this go on and on. What, if any, recourse does she have?

Clark Behind The Headlines

From HLN's Money Expert Clark Howard

It appears there is more hiring activity going on in the job market. The process has been, you put in applications everywhere and nobody ever calls you back for an interview. But because of the very large profits that so many American companies reported for the fourth quarter of last year, there’s more confidence in corporate America, and likely there will be more interviewing and hiring as we move through 2010.

CNNMoney.com wrote an article I really liked about interviewing for a job. They angled it toward phone interviews. If employers are choosing to do these phone interviews, you’ve got to be ready for them.

HELP ME CLARK!
From HLN's Money Expert Clark Howard

Sheldon:
My wife opened an IRA by a 401k rollover when she retired. Can she roll over money from a different IRA and mix the two? Does the IRS frown on this, even though all would be into a tax deferred account?

Clark Behind The Headlines

From HLN's Money Expert Clark Howard

HELP ME CLARK!
From HLN's Money Expert Clark Howard

Sam:
We have a second mortgage on our home, and I've just been laid off after 17 years. If we have to default on the second mortgage, can they garnish my unemployment?

HELP ME CLARK! From HLN's Money Expert Clark Howard Pennie: My husband recently retired from civil service and has $181,000 in his Thrift Savings Plan. We aren't sure whether to move this with our stockbroker into the market, or we have been offered a variable annuity through our bank. The money would more than double if something were to happen to him and if we decided in the near future that we didn't need this, we could cash it in with no surrender fee and the money would have earned 5% during this time. What do you suggest that we do with this money to earn its greatest potential at this time of our lives? Clark: First things first: I'm so impressed with how much money you saved with the TSP. Second, the TSP is the best retirement plan offered in America. Of the three options you have, you didn't mention the third one: to leave the money in the TSP. And I would avail yourself of that, because no other option is as low-cost for your money as that. As for a variable annuity, don't walk but run away from the bank officer who encouraged you to do a variable annuity. Those are massive fee investments, and I use the word "investment" loosely. It would be dangerous to your wallet.