Making news heading into a new week on the money. Janet yellen, president obamas choice to head the Federal Reserve bank made it through the Senate Hearing without a scratch this week. Dr. Yellen who would be the first woman to head the fed, faced questions on bond buying programs and Bank Regulation among other things. The markets continued to set records all week. By thursday the dow hitting the third alltime high of the week as did the s p 500. Nasdaq also hitting a 13year high. Markets continued to climb on friday. Two dow components reporting profit this week. Cisco had poor guidance. Walmart beat and revenue missed estimates. The 23yearold founder of snapchat, a Smartphone Application that makes pictures disappear after they were sent turned down an offer to be purchased by facebook for 3 billion. The company has an estimated 26 million users in the u. S. And revenues of zero. Zero dollars in revenue and they turned down a 3 billion offer. The company apparently hopeful of an even bigger offer at some point down the road. The markets keep setting records. The nominee to head the fed faces tough questions on capitol hill. And what should your year end investing strategies be now . Joining us now to talk about that, heidi moore, u. S. Finances and economics itsor at the guardian and alison deans. Alison, let me kick it off with you. Big news of the week is janet yellen. Looks like shell be confirmed and looks like shes going to continue the easy money policy of ben bernanke with quantitative easing. Do you see any impacts to the markets as a result of that or do you think thats expected and priced in . Its interesting the markets had a rally on the news but more of a really rally on her saying continue the policy and be more dovish. To me, it was highly expected. Would you put new money to work in the market now . I think the market is attractively valued. Theres a lot of potential for significant upside in improvement in global economies and therefore while at face value the market looks fairly valued, we could underestimate over where corporate profit goes in the next couple years. Much of the questioning now is concerning the feds exit from this bond buying program. At some point she is going to have to dial it back. Listen to what dr. Yellen said about the possible risks of qe. I would agree that this program cannot continue forever. There are costs and risks associated with the program. Were monitoring those very carefully. So what does that tell you . Any changes ahead based on what she said in your view . What do you think that means for slowing down the bond purchases . One of the most remarkable things about yellens view on the economy is that its more bearish or negative than what ben bernanke has said and what the white house has said. And so she believes that we have a long way to go in terms of the recovery, theres a lot of income inequality in the u. S. And as long as the economy is not robust in her view, she wants to continue that stimulus. Anything you think she needs to be better than bernanke such as communicating to the american people, we get different messages from various governors. A lot of times people from the fed are talking and they debate. Thats one of the great things about the fed. Its designed to have debate. It was actually one of yellens innovations to have more transparency at the fed. Right now we credit ben bernanke with it and hes done very well. It was her idea. I think she can continue that. The best thing she can do is be righter than ben bernanke. The fed is not a great forecaster of the economy and yellen seems to be stronger on predicting where things are going to go. Another debate right now is Retail Investor has been in this market, has not been in this market, what are you seeing . Do you think Retail Investor is back in this market or are they basically on the sidelines . I think theyre tiptoeing back into the market. Fund flows started trending positive earlier this year into equities away from fixed income with the Retail Investor. Not going gangbusters but a positive trend. My sense is youll continue to see that trend first because theyre not making money on their savings account and while they worry less about Interest Rates going higher and value of their bonds because they own these as interest bearing securities that theyre not planning on turning over and going to hold until maturity, theyre not even in a higher rate environment not making enough money on savings and feeling better about the economy. Starting to feel better about the stock market looking stable and if our government would start behaving better and it feels like things became so bad that the government starting to compromise, i think people will feel better about the market and continue to come in at a more accelerated pace. Heres a week as we look back at the week, we had record prices paid at auction for christies and uncharted territory with the s p 500 and we had a 23yearold founder of sn snapchat, a company with no revenue, no earnings but no revenue turning down an offer of 3 billion to acquire his company. He turned it down. What does all of this tell you . Theres a lot of insanity right now. You know, i think its also the twitter ipo just last week where you also had a company that had no profit but some revenue doing really well and i think it actually shows that we have an economy right now thats very much about haves and havenots to a certain extent. Some people are doing really well and people made smart investing decisions who got in front of the Smart Companies at the beginning and then on the economic side you have the Retail Investor and you have a lot of unemployment in the country and those are the of course we have a congress which is fair to say dysfunctional and so all of those are the headwinds that are facing a true recovery or what would really be kind of a rising tide that lifts all boats. We dont have that right now. Earnings are mixed. You cant say they were better than expected overall. They were mixed. Even in the face of that, alison, you have a melt up. Market hitting alltime highs. Do you think its sustainable . I look at the market 15 times earnings. We start seeing Economic Activity pick up and i was surprised at the Economic Data coming out of the debt ceiling crisis and sequester out of Corporate America was as good as it was from job growth perceptive and gdp. What about you . Any thoughts to year end strategies . Things i watch are what other experts are saying about the markets and one thing that struck me this week was larry fink from blackrock saying he wasnt as bullish on stocks as he has been in the past. Thats not the final word. It makes me think maybe theres something that we should be looking at more carefully in the stock market and in terms of bond funds, one of the things that yellen talked about is this idea about the idea of a stock bubble. She says that those arent happening but again things to watch. If things look heated, i would say investors need to be careful. Ladies, thank you so much. Great to see you both. Appreciate it. Up next on the money, what does the idea of keeping Health Insurance mean to barack obama, the politician. The authors of the 2010 campaign will join me. If you havent booked for the Holiday Travel season, you may be surprised to find fewer deals than last year. We have a few tips to help you save. How the stock market ended the week just ahead. Back in a moment. [ male announcer ] eligible for medicare . Thats a good thing, but it doesnt cover everything. Only about 80 of your part b medical expenses. The rest is up to you. So consider an aarp Medicare Supplement insurance plan, insured by unitedhealthcare insurance company. Like all standardized Medicare Supplement insurance plans, they could save you in outofpocket medical costs. Call today to request a free decision guide. With these types of plans, youll be able to visit any doctor or hospital that accepts medicare patients. Plus, there are no networks, and virtually no referrals needed. Join the millions who have already enrolled in the only Medicare Supplement insurance plans endorsed by aarp. And provided by unitedhealthcare insurance company, which has over 30 years of experience behind it. With all the good years ahead, look for the experience and commitment to go the distance with you. Call now to request your free decision guide. I think its legitimate for them to expect me to have to earn back credibility on the Health Care Law and a whole range of issues in general. You know, thats on me. The president this week saying that the buck stops with him on the problems of the obama care rollout. My next two guests know better than anyone what happens when the pressure is on in the obama white house. Mark hell prin a Mark Halperin and John Heilemann are coauthors of double down. Great to be back with you. President obama announced a change to the Health Care Policy this week saying that those with insurance plans below obama care standards will now be able to renew them but Insurance Companies will be required to tell people about alternative options. In double down you dug deep into the president s psychology as a candidate, as a leader, as a manager, were you surprised by this concession this week . The past is prolog. Everything we write about having the president one reelection shows clearly why this is happening. First of all, the night health care passed he said to one of the aides, business is going to kick my butt over this. He knew Business Community would not be happy. He passed it without any republican votes and decided to run for reelection not talking about the Health Care Plan because he knew it wasnt particularly popular. He also alienated a lot of people in the Business Community and even some democrats. While the president won reelection and we chronicle that in the book, left himself with not a lot of allies or support for health care and finally the team around the president is the team he came to the white house with with just a few changes. He does not have still that broad outreach and open dialogue with a lot of people which might have helped him see this coming and might have helped him have a team that was more prepared to put this plan in place. You think that insular situation has hurt him then . I think so, maria. One of the things thats true of the president is hes had a lot of opposition. Republicans have made it very hard for him to governor. Hes had that complaint throughout the first term. He reached out to republicans and tried on occasion to try to reach across the aisle and be bipartisan and got the back of the republicans hand. In this case hes confronting really for the first time a failure that he cant really blame on anyone but himself and on his own administration and i think thats part of the pain and frustration that is so evident in what we saw when he spoke at that press conference this week. Hes like having to look inward in a way he hasnt had to do before. What he decided was he didnt want to be another democratic president who ends his time in the white house without bringing the United States into the community of industrialized democracies all of whom have universal health care and he was going to go for it. If he didnt do it in the first term, it wouldnt get done. It may be his big left legacy if it all works out. How does that play out . What about 2016 . Of the cast of characters from the 2012 campaign you write about, who do you think has longevitiy going into 2006 . From rick perry to Rick Santorum. The guy thats man of the moment right now is Chris Christie with this huge reelection victory in new jersey. We write a lot about Chris Christie in double down. For readers interested in getting a full well rounded picture of Chris Christie including strengths and weaknesses were things romney team identified when trying to decide to put him on the president ial ticket. Youll see a picture of Chris Christie that one will come into view for American Voters in a way it hasnt before. Can he beat hillary . Its an interesting question. I think the other 48 states would just be delighted to have new york versus new jersey in the general election. If you survey the rest of the field, the reason Chris Christie is getting so much attention now is a lot of people in the party look at him as someone who can go toe to toe with her and what happened last time when a bunch of very wealthy people around the country names familiar to your viewers like Charles Schwab and other billionaires and millionaires tried to urge him to get into the race because they do see him as that kind of big, broad powerful figure who can go up against last time barack obama incumbent and they hope this time against if she is the nominee, hillary clinton. Im glad you mentioned that. Money played such a big role in 2012. You write about a billionaires club. Tell me how these men impacted the race and what it means for future election cycles . Theres no doubt that the advent of the super pac as a phenomenon playing out is a huge thing. Its one of the pieces of fallout from Citizens United decision. In terms of 2012 race, a candidate like Newt Gingrich and Rick Santorum would have had to close down earlier had they not support of wealthy people. I think theres no question that heading into 2016, billionaires and millionaires we talked about feel a little bit burned because they feel as though their money wasnt particularly spent in the general election but they feel even more urgently they want to try to find the right person who can fuse the republican establishment with the republican grassroots to take on whoever the democratic nominee is in 2016. Fascinating stuff. The book is great. Thank you so much for your time. We appreciate it. Thanks marimaria. Up next on the money, holiday airfare s soaring to new height. You may be a click away from scoring a cheap flight. Find out how. Stay with us. At farmers, we make you smarter about insurance. Because what you dont know, can hurt you. What if you didnt know that posting your travel plans online may attract burglars . [woman] off to hawaii what if you didnt know that as the price of gold rises, so should the coverage on your jewelry . [prospector] ahh what if you didnt know that kitty litter can help you out of a slippery situation . The more you know, the better you can plan for whats ahead. Talk to farmers and get smarter about your insurance. We are farmers bum pa dum, bum bum bum bum hmm. Mmhmm. [ engine revs ] [ male announcer ] oh what fun it is to ride. Get the mercedesbenz on your wish list at the winter event going on now but hurry, the offer ends soon. [ santa ] ho, ho, ho [ male announcer ] lease the 2014 glk350 for 419 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. 25 million americans will trek home for the holidays but visiting the relatives and enjoying grandmas pumpkin pie wont be cheap. Travel costs have come up and lastminute deals are harder to find. Joining us now to explain why and how to save is travel and leisure magazine editor, mike orwoll. The cost is expected to soar. What are you finding . Weve been hearing that hotels are going up about 3 over thanksgiving. Airfare up 8 over last year. Car rentals up 7 . You can expect to pay a little bit more this year than last year. Why . What are tips for finding savings . The reason why is because the airlines can do it. There are more people flying. Planes will be full. They dont need to offer as many discounts. You can find them. A couple quick tips. Go to the big travel websites like priceline. Most of them have Holiday Travel deal sections. I found a round trip l. A. To new york for 400 bucks over christmas on priceline. Not a bad deal. Go under social media sites. The airlines often have flash sales. Sign up for airfare alerts. I use a site called airfarewa h airfarewatchdog. Com me and they send deals to me. Prices for flights are 8 higher than last year. Whats behind this increase other than the airlines can do it . One of the things is the airlines are making tons of money. I heard one person say that in the last couple years profits were razor thin and now paper thin. Theyre actually doing pretty well. A lot of that revenue is coming from the fees they are getting when you check a bag and pay a fee to change your travel dates, when you buy a meal on the plane, they are making estimated 42 billion just on those fees alone. How can travelers avoid these extra fees . When it comes to a lot of these fees, you just dont pay them. I always travel with carryones. Last time i paid for a check bag was almost never. You can use your tablet and ereader. Some changes travelers should be aware of. Tsa expanded its Precheck Program to another 60 airports which allows prescreened passengers to go through expedited security lanes. Now passengers can also use their Electronic Devices during takeoff and landing. I love the idea of using my iphone as my boarding pass. How will all of this affect passengers traveling experience . Remember just because you can use Electronic Device from gate to gate, you cant make phone calls yet. So what does that mean . You get to play angry birds while waiting for the plane to take off, who cares. The benefit is flight attendants wont have to go up and down the aisle telling everybody to turn off personal Electronic Devices and maybe well get out of the gate and up in the air faster now. What about expedited lanes . Precheck lanes are great. Theyll expand to a hundred airports. Expanding the number of lanes at the first 40 airports. You dont have to take off your jacket or shoes or belt off. You can keep your laptop in your briefcase. And all of the people in those lanes are dedicated frequent flyers so you know youll get through security a lot faster. Im sure you saw the Justice Department this week dropping the lawsuit against the American Airlines and us airways merger. Once the companies agreed to give up numerous slots at airports across the country. Now, with more consolidation, will there be sufficient capacity in the sky so that the industry cant just raise prices to sky high levels . The airlines can fly as many planes as they want to fly depending on what they anticipate the number of passengers are going to be. In fact this he are so sophisticated at it, when is the last time you got on a plane and saw an entire middle row free to lie down and sleep on that on an overnight flight . You cant do that anymore. I dont think that its going to have any impact on the number of flights. The Justice Department hopes that they will give up these slots, the new American Airlines, giving up slots primarily in washington and new york and those slots will be taken over by Lowcost Airlines like jetblue, like Virgin America and that will help bring down the overall average cost of airfare. Good stuff. Thank you so much. Mark orwoll joining us. Across the pond, Prince Charles is yet to do the job he was born to do but all the same the future king is about to increase his income. Look for us on facebook. Facebook. Com maria bartiromo. Back in a moment. Check out the website otm. Cnbc. Com. I hope you follow me on twitter and google plus. Look for maria bartiromo. Several Big Box Stores report Quarterly Earnings ahead of the Home Shopping season including home depot, best buy and target. Retail sales are out for the month of october as are existing home sales which will give a snapshot of the housing market. Well get minutes from the october fmoc meeting sure to be a market mover and on friday, microsoft will launch its next generation console, xbox 1. Prince charles, the future king of england turned 65 this week thanks to that milestone and his service in the royal navy. The weekly check will come to you 110 pounds. Thats about 175. Word from the palace is the pension or prince will donate the funds to a charity for the elderly. Happy birthday, your royal heiness. Thank you for joining us. Jack bogle. Keep it here where we are on the money. Have great week, everybody. Ill see you next weekend. We asked people, if you could get paid to do something you really love, what would you do . [ woman ] id be a writer. [ man ] id be a baker. [ woman ] i wanna be a pie maker. [ man ] i wanna be a pilot. [ woman ] id be an architect. What if i told you someone could pay you and what if that person were you . When you think about it, isnt that what retirement should be, paying ourselves to do what we love . [stopwatch ticking] america gets half its electricity from coal. The problem is, that process creates tens of millions of tons of waste loaded with toxic metals. This muck is called coal ash. Never heard of it . Neither had most of the people in kingston, tennessee, until a retention pool buckled, shooting a billion gallons of coal ash into the river and engulfing area homes. [ticking] the oilmen up there arent digging holes in the sand and hoping for a spout. Theyre digging up dirt dirt which is saturated