Clark Behind The Headlines
From HLN's Money Expert Clark Howard

It’s possible for you to have a car with great fuel economy and still have fun driving it.  You can find proof at the L.A. Auto Show where revamped and muscular 4-cylinder engine vehicles were the star attraction.  And one of them, a diesel, won green car of the year!  Now think about that.  A green diesel!  People old enough recall the last big wave of diesels in the United States will remember cars that belched black smoke, went 0-60 in a day and a half, and were often subject to mechanical breakdown.  It pretty much soured an entire generation of Americans against diesel.

Diesels in the modern era are a different thing.  In the United States now, we have adopted a clean diesel fuel.  The engines are very clean burning engines, and the fuel they burn is an ultra clean type of diesel fuel.  The Audi that won green car of the year is the A3 TDI (Turbo Direct Injection) station wagon.  It’s a substantial size vehicle that has get-up-and-go, and gets 30MPG in the city, 42MPG on the highway.  These are real numbers.  The base sticker price is $29, 950.

All of the European automakers have a great deal of experience making these vehicles with diesel engines, and the fuel economy they get can be exceptional. Volkswagen used to sell a 4-door diesel car that could get 100MPG on the highway.  No hybrid gets anywhere near a 100MPG.  So as you’re looking for a fuel efficient car this holiday season, remember, it doesn’t have to come wrapped in a hybrid bow.  It could be a diesel and who knows what else is coming.

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

Stephanie:
I was laid off on August 18, 2009 and have yet to find a new job. I was given a severance package from my company and was told I would be eligible for unemployment, but I am unclear as to when I can apply. Any assistance would be great.

Clark:
The rules about when you become eligible vary so much by state.

As a general rule, once the severance payments stop, that's when your eligibility for unemployment begins.

That's why so often people recommend that you take a lump sum at the time of separation rather than having the employer pay you out over multiple pay periods or multiple months, so that you speed up your eligibility for the unemployment insurance.

But again, unemployment compensation is a joint state/federal program. The rules vary by state, so you might find that in your state the rules are such that you can get unemployment compensation even while you're still being paid out your severance.

Having trouble managing money? Do your money goals seem impossible? Clark Howard wants to help you!

We’re looking for individuals or families who are willing to be profiled on HLN. Those chosen will get money advice and information from Clark Howard.

This week’s question comes from Andy and Debbie Rishmawi of Flushing, Michigan.

Clark Behind The Headlines
From HLN's Money Expert Clark Howard

As I expected, new cars are becoming a deal again. We went through a real dry spell of opportunity for buyers after the “Cash-for-Clunkers” program ended. Dealer lots were pretty thin and the automakers had cut production, but now lots are filling up again. So what do you need to know if you are in the market for a new car?

When buying a new car, most of us think first about the sticker price, the cost of insurance, gas, maintenance, etc., but the real cost is depreciation: how much value the vehicle loses over the first years of ownership.

According to Kelly Blue Book, an average vehicle maintains less than 35-percent of its original value after 5 years. Imagine that! KBB has just published its 2010 list of vehicles that are predicted to best hold their value. Lexus and Toyota topped the list.

Of course, I prefer used cars because someone else has essentially paid for the depreciation. But, if you keep your car for a long time, then it’s fine to reward yourself with a new vehicle. Just make sure you keep it for at least 10 years. That’s how long it usually takes to absorb all the depreciation. Happy hunting!

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

Sarah:
We recently saw on your show a discussion about self directed IRAs and putting real estate in them, which you discouraged. What about forming a LLC inside your IRA? Would you still get the tax credits?

Clark:
No, you wouldn't. The thing is, real estate has so many inherent tax advantages being owned as a traditional taxable investment, and it's unnecessarily reinventing the wheel to try to figure out how to own property inside an IRA. If you're looking for some real estate exposure inside an IRA, the smartest, easiest, lowest-cost way to do it is to buy a real estate mutual fund and abandon the whole idea of an exotic way of holding actual real estate inside an IRA.

Clark Behind The Headlines
From HLN's Money Expert Clark Howard

One of the oddest things going on in the recession right now is something that the author of "Freakonomics" might have written. Do you know that in many big cities, burglaries are going down, not up?

The natural assumption is when you're in a terrible economy, people might be more likely to steal. But that’s not what’s happening. Why? The answer is really more supposition from law enforcement than fact, but it’s quite a riddle.

There are so many more people who can't find work, so they’re at home. They’re essentially providing new eyes and ears for police departments to protect neighbors. So it's like a neighborhood watch program on steroids. 

Now, not everybody has a neighbor next door who's going to be nosey, but technology is providing an answer to consider.  There are now very affordable self-install cameras that you can put in your home. If you get a call that the burglar alarm's gone off, you can use the Web to look and see, real time, what's going on at your property.

One thing I do recommend is that if there's a part of your home where you tend to wander around more informally dressed, or not with a lot of clothes on, that you don't put cameras in that part of your home. You should put them in the public areas of your home and outside.

These used to only be available to commercial properties like stadiums or office buildings. As the cost of the digital technology has steadily declined, it's reached a point now where it's completely affordable for an individual to have. The quality of the video is not something you race to Youtube to watch. It's very, very basic video, but enough that you can certainly see what's going on.

These cameras take the place of the time lost from a burglar alarm going off until a private security person could go by the house and see what's going on. You create an instant ability to protect yourself, for cheap. 

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

Stephanie:
My sister is turning 18 in a month and wants to go with a credit building service. They will help her build her credit by paying her utilities through them. She says it's a free service, but it doesn't add up. Is this a legitimate service that really is free for her? How can she pay her utilities and build credit?

Clark:
Well, here's what’s going on. There's what's known as an expanded credit score that was designed by the official credit scoring people, FICO. And their expanded scoring model covers things like how you pay apartment rent, how you pay utilities - bills that would normally only end up on your credit report if you went delinquent on them.

Now, the reality is, I know of no one in the credit granting industry that's using the expanded credit scoring model. It would be great if they were, but to my knowledge it's not going to help your sister. The best way for her to establish credit is with a secured credit card.

A secured card is one where you post a balance in a savings account and your credit limit is based on that. If you make on-time payments with a good secured card for 12-18 months, you then graduate to a regular Visa or Mastercard that will help you build the credit you want to.

Money Coach with HLN’s Money Expert Clark Howard

Having trouble managing money? Do your money goals seem impossible? Clark Howard wants to help you!

We’re looking for individuals or families who are willing to be profiled on HLN.

Those chosen will get money advice and information from Clark Howard.

This week’s question comes from the Kerry Genter of Duluth, Minnesota.

Clark Behind The Headlines
From HLN's Money Expert Clark Howard

Have you heard about this E.coli outbreak that killed two people and made hundreds more sick? It’s because of a food processor in New York that had to issue a recall on a huge amount of ground beef. They weren’t testing for a strain of E.coli that was banned 15 years ago.

If you remember, in 1993 there was a deadly E.coli outbreak involving the fast food chain Jack in the Box. And as a result of that, the U.S. Department of Agriculture banned this strain of E.coli from meat and introduced new rules for companies to test their products. But they made it voluntary. Well, a lot of meat companies, including this big one in New York State, came under pressure from the slaughterhouses and suppliers and decided, “Yeah, well, we're just not going to test for that.” And as a result, you have people dead who wouldn't be, and people hurting who wouldn't have been. Inexcusable.

It is so third world that we have the ability to prevent these illnesses and deaths, and just because of financial interests of meat packers, we don't do it. But a few retailers are making an effort. Costco Wholesale processes its own meat, and it fully meets the advisory guidelines and tests everything they put on the shelves. It’s just something where you think, why would a business cut corners like that and why would the meat industry have people lose faith in the safety of the food supply just to shave a penny here or there?

You know, in capitalism, businesses that mess up get punished by the marketplace. And often they get destroyed like the people who sold tainted peanut products. But the fact is, the people that get sick or die are still sick or dead.

The answer is very, very simple. The Department of Agriculture needs to make mandatory the inspections for the E.coli strains that they know are deadly. Think about if it was your kid who died because some meat processor decided to cut a corner and not test its product to make sure it's safe. I find that very upsetting.

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

Pat:
I have had my credit card for about nine years. It was due for renewal this October. They sent me a new card that was good for three months. I have called them twice, only to hear that they "will send me a new card when this one expires." What is their purpose for doing this?

Clark:
My guess is this is based on all the disruption in the credit markets.

They may be trying to decide if they're going to fire you. And by giving you a new card, it's very expensive for a credit card company to issue a piece of plastic, believe it or not.

To do that for only 90 days means that you and maybe a lot of other customers are under credit review. Make sure that during this 90-day period, you apply for other cards if you don't have any.

If you have several other cards, you can rest easy even if they decide to fire you.