Fame & Fortune: Author Carol Higgins Clark Follows mom's lead in career and investments
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Bankrate: You've now written three Christmas books together. Were you tentative about collaborating?

Carol Higgins Clark: Not at all, because my mother is great; she's fun and not difficult at all. It's not as if we had never done any work together before. When we wrote the first book, we decided to use my character Regan and her character Elvira, the cleaning woman who won $40 million in the lottery. Elvira is a very funny character, she's in her 60s and her husband is a retired plumber. She knows that people who win lotteries often end up broke and she has her lottery support group. They bought an apartment on Central Park South in Manhattan but they kept their apartment in Queens in case the New York lottery dries up. She's a good example of how to handle your money.

Bankrate: Did your mother give you tips about handling money?

Carol Higgins Clark: Not tips exactly. I just saw what she did. I was careful. The big thing was, two years ago I bought a great apartment that I love. For years, I was renting and had just never seen anything that I liked. I have this apartment that I can live in forever here in New York, it's on the 38th floor, a lot of space. I'm on the East River, 72nd Street, so I have views in all directions. I can see New Jersey in the distance and all the boats coming up the East River.

Bankrate: Do you manage your own money?

Carol Higgins Clark: Now I'm just learning more, working with a new financial guy that my mother works with, too. I have to become more knowledgeable about the world of stocks and bonds and that kind of thing. It does interest me but it's not my strength. My mother keeps saying, "You should take a course." And she's right because it is interesting to know where your money is going. Of course, I had money in the tech stocks that I lost a few years ago like a lot of people did, and that hurt, so that makes it scary to invest. But if you know what you're doing and you work with someone ... they say you shouldn't just keep it sitting in the bank.

Bankrate: Maybe there's a book in there for you?

Carol Higgins Clark: Well sure, being in New York and Wall Street's here, and of course there are always scams out there. I'm sure there is a good mystery in there somewhere.