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Clark Howard's Tips

Gift cards are a no-no as the holidays approach

Sept. 16, 2008

Clark has a special warning as we approach the holiday season about avoiding having your money blown to smithereens on gift cards.

The danger is that more and more retailers and restaurants are going to face extinction in a tight economy. That means a gift card you buy today may be fool's gold tomorrow. And let's not even mention "breakage," which is a term that denotes the huge profits made when a gift card goes unredeemed.

CLARK'S TIP TOPICS Consumer Tips Managing Money Banks & Credit Cards Technology Health & Healthcare Car Costs Homes Phones & Utilities Small Business Travel & Leisure Find more consumer advice in Clark Howard's book, "Get Clark Smart"

Not sure what to give someone if you're not going the gift card route? Try cash. It's not as crass and unsentimental as it sounds.

Learn this in the school of Clark Smarts before you learn it in the school of financial hard knocks!

More Clark Howard Consumer Tips Maximize your money in the market over time  Who wants to be a teenage millionaire?  Texas is the Fortune 500 capital  Fee-only financial planners are in your best interest  Claim your unclaimed money before the State does!  BusinessWeek: 25 ways to save more each month  Internet gets its wings, netbooks to be hot holiday item  Network DVR -- with no hardware -- coming in 2009  New site for auction of sports and concert tickets  Census Bureau: College is worth the cost!  Full list