Your future. We begin with a cyber threat inside your house. Smart home gadgets like thermostats and even a carpal are a are supposed to make your life easier, if youre giving or getting one as a gift but experts warn these devices, part of the internet of things, could let cyber criminals break into your house without ever coming through a door or window. Andrea day has this weeks cover story hacking your home. The sharks have smelled the blood in the water and are using your iot device to launch further attacks. Reporter devices that can make your home smarter can unlock the day for hackers. This is the global head of research at sofos talking about the internet of things, devices like smart cameras and thermostats that connect to the internet. In october 100,000 of these gadgets were taken over by hackers and directed to launch an attack that blocked access twitter and netflix. This is big business and just your cctv camera or dvr is enough of a reason to attack you so that you can be useful to attack other people. Youre a target. Reporter thats a closed caption camera and within hours the sites were back, but with billions of connected devices in use right now and the Smart Home Market exploding he says were not prepared to handle the security thats needed. Its a land minefield and the chances of finding a device thats secure are so, so hey. One Chinese Company with devices implicated in the attack have already recalled rockets sold in the united states. To the vendors youve got a very small window. The cyber criminals have noticed the abhorrent lack of security. Some lawmakers are calling on the government to step in. I think all of us from industry to individuals to government are going to have to up our game in terms of sure these devices are safe. So what makes the gadgets so vulnerable. Devices like these often come with a really bad and easytoguess user fame and password. Making it easier for hackers to plan bigger and more damaging attacks. And best advice, make sure you change the default password owner single device and always update with the latest software. You can even set them to update automatically and even with all of that they wont be hack proof so its always best to be cautious. For on the money im and i dra day. Hand how hot are the internet connected devices this holidayin . In joining us now to talk about the tech trend and the changing retail landscape is jan niffen, financial and managing consultant for retail brands with more than 30 years of retail experience. Great to have you. Given the vulnerability of these internetconnected devices in our home, how hot is the trend . Hot, and i dont think thats going to change. I think were going to see things and its not just your thermostat, everything in your house, your refrigerator, your washing machine, your dishwasher. Its all going to talk to the internet and say i need more soap. I need service. I need this or that, and people are not going to not do it because they are concerned about about being hacked. Yes, will we see hacking . We will. Weve already seen it. Will we see people get a little more concerned . Yes, i think we will, but, remember, there was a time when we thought nobody was going to shop on the internet because of their credit card, and weve seen plenty of hacks hand guess what. Internet penetration goes up every year in retailing. It will go up every year in your devices in your house. How hot is internet shopping versus people going to malls . This is such a crucial time for retailers this Holiday Giving people. What are we seeing in internet versus bricks and Mortar Stores . Tuesday, wednesday and thursday and black friday, saturday, sunday, monday, 100 of the growth in retail brick and mortar was flat. Were going to see that for the rest of the season, too. So we maybe need to start calling it cyber friday as well as cyber monday. Thats where half of the people on black friday were doing their shopping. It was cyber everything, and this past weekend, the 17th should have been the biggest selling day for brick and mortar. Right. But report weather was awful around the country. Last year we didnt have enough weather and this year we had too much weather and i suspect that everybody went online, and in the old days if that happened you still had the sales back this week and now i suspect everybody went to their computer and logged on and bought it online. Where should retailers be focusing their investment now . Should all of the investment go into online sales . Should they be focusing on developing the apps and making them more convenient for shoppers . Where is the best return on investment for retailers. Thats a darn good question. I dont know what the return on investment is going to be of all this money going online. Really hard to make a living online. Howe compete, have you to put your capital in online. Walmart already announced it. They are slowing it down and putting all the money online hand nordstrom is announcing all the money online and macys is cutting back on stores and they are putting all mayor money basically into the online business. My Shopping Experience this season has been a wide dichotomy. On one hand when i go into my local mall its dead as a door nail. It looks like every two storefronts are closed down and then there will be a little shop. No traffic, a real lackluster sense of things. I went into a Discount Store in the new york city area, and it was jam packed. The lines to check out were all around the store. Whats happening for malls . Are they just done . No, they are not done. I spent all last week in the midwest going to various malls, and i agree with you malls were really slow compared to what i thought they would look like. Traffic is definitely down in the malls. Across the street where there was t. J. Marks and things the business was pretty good. You only had to go a few hundred yards to find the customer so will the malls go dead . No, theres 250 great malls in america. Their traffic is going to be up and their earnings up and their rents are going to be up. The bad us . Theres 100 enclosed malls in america. The rest of the malls have to change or day. And how do they change to succeed and thrive . You have to be more experienced going through, that right, so as they see some of the anchors closing down. Macys is closing 100 stores this year. Already announced it. Probably have more stores to close over time and we know sears is eventually going to close a bunch of stores. The develop verse to take the boxes back and figure out something to do with it. In smalls that are really strong, they can put in other things that want to be there and in always there arent they will to redevelop that theres something you can do as opposed to something you did buy. You go there because they are offering you a great movie hopefully youll buy something thats there and then well see at least 400 malls close. Jan, thanks so much for joining us. Happy holidays. You, too. Up next, were on the money. Lastminute travel isnt always cheap, but well tell you where you can get away before the new year and still get a bargain. And later, if youve been putting your Holiday Spending on a credit card, a plan for the new year, to get out of debt and now a look at how the stock market ended the week. Search from over 4 million cars and use your desk top and smartphone and tablet. Find classics, preowned and new cars all on listit oncars. Com. How else do you think he gets around so fast . Take the reins this holiday and get the mercedesbenz how else do you think he gets around so fast in the take the reins and get the mercedesbenz youve always wanted during your winter event. Ho, ho, ho. Lease for 329 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Go to listings. Com and search for over 4 million cars and use your desk top, tablet or smartphone. Fast and friendly with no adds or fan taftics. Find cl now heres a look at whats make news as we head no a new week on the m americas economy is growing a little faster than first thought. The gross domestic product, the broadest measure of the size and scope of the economy increased by 3. 5 in the third quarter, the fastest pace in two years. Thats a slight increase over the previous reading of 3. 2 . Business investment led the way. The dow meanders during the week setting a new record and flirting with the 20,000 mark but it didnt get there on friday. The nasdaq and s p pretty much following along for the ride. Existing home sales climbed for the Third Straight month. They increased by. 7 to an annual rate of more than 5. 6 million, the strongest monthly rate since 2007, but Rising Interest Rates and an inventory shortage may slow things down next year. Hond arksz may have a new partner in the development of selfdriving cars. The Companys Research and Development Arm has entered into formal talks with the unit of alphabet which is the parent selfdriving technology to its vehicles. Honda hopes to have the cars on the road by 2020. And if youre looking to plan a getaway before the new year believe it or not there are still travel bargains out there so how do you find a great lastminute deal. Keith melnick is tkayak. Great to see you. Where . Where is it possible to get a great deal . The airfares are down in general, down 13 year over year so its a great year to travel. And if youre looking lastminute searching on kayak we found a couple of places. Can you travel domestically to some of the bigger locations like las vegas. Thats kind of the off time for las vegas. Can you still get there for new years. If you want to go some place like canada, toronto and quebec and the strength of the dollar. On sale when you go there. Theres a few places when we search and find that arent overly expenseive. And warm. That helps, absolutely. You have a trendy list for the new year in the new minneapolis and nashville are on the top ten. Yes. Minneapolis. Yes. Also in our trending list its called our kayak hacker guide and what we look at is look at changes year over year so lets become popular, whats really up. Minneapolis we think its really driven by paisley park so a lot more interesting going to see the prince museum. Nashville is becoming more and more fun to go there. They have a great festival going on. Kind of the third year they have been pushing it. Alot more people are looking to travel there. Have the time to travel a little farther away. What about europe or australia . This year is a great year with new years falling on the weekend a lot of people are planning on taking longer trip so snid is trending up which is a great play for new years and the one thats number one is reykjavik so going to iceland, its nice because its not as far as most places in europe. Its cheaper to fly there. Iceland air is not expensive. Theres a has cheap airfares and the Northern Lights are there and thats spectacular. And if youre cold you sit in the hot springs the whole time, right . Exactly. Theres no place like it. A very cool place to visit. The who is kayaks competition these days online . Consumers are looking all over the place to search for travel. They will go to goingnd and the traditional online agencies but we have a lot of content from them, too, so were a Search Engine and aggregate lots of information from different places and help consumers. Do people go to their airlines and buy their tickets after visit kayak . Heres the price at expedia or american airlines. How do you make money . We help qualify the airlines. When youre plannin last minute traffic is it better to do it a la carte or does a package deal offer you better value . Either one. You have to search and the most important thing, planning travel this close in is be flexible so you want to try and travel when other people arent traveling. If youre going to try and travel friday to monday this weekend, its going to be tough. Go wednesday to thursday or wednesday to tuesday. It will be easier, and i think the most important thing if you find something you like right now buy f. Dont think about it, buy it because it wont be there for long. Hello, red eye flight. Not a bad thing. Take the 6 00 a. M. Flight but youll save a lot of money. Keith, thanks so much for joining you go. My pleasure. Next on the money, if youre carrying a balance on your credit card could a new card help you get out of debt . And later putting your money to work. Get advice from the ladies of beardstown, illinois and come on, wake up come on, why ya sleepin . Come on what time is it . Its go time. Come on. Wake up why are you sleeping . Come on, lets go, lets go, lets go i went to bed an hour ago. Ill make the cocoa. Get a great offer on the car of your dreams at the mercedesbenz winter event. That makes it all worthwhile. Thank, santa. Lease the c17300 for at your local mercedesbenz dealer. With classic four corner air suspension and smooth, controlled and level ride and Cargo Management system lamm only ram, americas longest lasting pickups, have the power to light up every holiday. And now get great deals at ram big finish event. Get 20 off models in dealer stock. During the holidays a lot of people put more charges on our credit cards than usual, but the new year and those bills right around the corner, sean mcquay is a Banking Expert at enwallet, a personal banking website. Great to see you. Thank you. The average household carries more than 16,000 in Credit Card Debt and, of course, over the holidays you can really add to numbers. How do you get the number down . Debt is a big problem for Many Americans, and the biggest first step we need to do is recognize that we have debt. So Many Americans dont want to admit to themselves because they have debt. No one wants to talk about that or admit to themselves they are in that bucket. I get offer all the time for new credit cards and many say you can transfer for zero percent interest for a certain period of time. Is that a wise choice if you want to whittle down the debt . Make sure you pay the minimums, more than the minimums and setting money against the tax returns and if youre lucky enough to qualify for a Balance Transfer its a great option. They allow you to postpone the Interest Payments for that debt for 12 to 21 months which can create a lot of breathing room to help pay that sgloun if youre dedicated about paying it down in the meantime. Thats right. Let me ask you about the will that affect . For everyday american that does mean their debt just increased by. 25 which isnt a lot, right. Thats only 2. 50 for every 1,000 in debt, not a lot of money, but this adds up, and the fed is planning on raising the rates over the coming years so we expect the credit card Interest Rates to likewise be going up. Hard to tackle debt if you dont tackle your spending at the same time. What strategy would you recommend for people to adjust their spending so that they can work on debt . So they need to cut expenses . Cutting gym memberships they are not use, cutting cable bills they dont watch anymore. Any online subscriptions going on in the background. Every american can take to cut a few expenses. When you look at all americans do you have a percentage of those who pay off their balance every month and those who carry a balance month over month . 37 americans carry balance month to month. 37 . A third of us are doing that and twothirds are paying it off and americans who might be struggling under the waist all of that debt. Yes. Thanks so much for the information and advice. Appreciate that. Thanks for having me. Up next on the money, a look at the news for the week ahead and stocking up. The ladies of beardstown have been investing for the last 30 years. Well get their advice about how to stay ahead even when the markets are in the red. When it goes down, we dont get sad, we look for bargains. Right. How else do you think he gets around so fast . Take the reins this holiday and get the mercedesbenz youve always wanted during the winter event. Now lease the 2017 gle350 for 579 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. The possibility of a flare was almost always on my mind. Where to go. And how to deal with my uc. To me, that was normal. Until i talked to my doctor. She told me that humira helps people like me get uc under control and keep it under control when certain medications havent worked well enough. Humira can lower your ability to fight infections, including tuberculosis. Serious, sometimes fatal infections and cancers, including lymphoma, have happened; as have blood, liver, and nervous system problems, serious allergic reactions, and new or worsening heart failure. Before treatment, get tested for tb. Tell your doctor if youve been to areas where certain fungal infections are common, and if youve had tb, hepatitis b, are prone to infections, or have flulike symptoms or sores. Dont start humira if you have an infection. Raise your expectations. Ask your gastroenterologist about humira. With humira, control is possible. For more on our show and our guests go to our website otm. Cnbc. Com and follow us on twitter at on the money. Here are the stories coming up that might affect your money this week. On monday the markets will be closed to celebrate the christmas holiday. Tuesday marks the anniversary of radio city mike hall. Back in 19329 famous theater in new york opened its doors for the first time. Also on tuesday. Well see how the housing sector is doing with the case schiller home price index for october. On wednesday pending home sales for november come out, and its also the date the electoral votes must be received by the senate, and timely on thursday the International Trade number for november will be released. And now we head to a small town in americas midwest where Abraham Lincoln once practiced law. And for the last 30 years its also been home to the beardstown ladies, an club. Our kate rogers went to beardstown, illinois, to hear their story and find out where the women see the next big opportunity. The beardstown ladies have seen it all from the stock market soaring in the 19880s to the housing collapse in 2008 and the recession that followed. Through it all they have continued to meet once a month in beardstown, illinois, contributing a modest 25 each for what they call the three es, education, enjoyment and earnings. Weve been through a lot of ups and downs. Weve seen the market gone up and all smiled at the meetings and when it goes down we dont get sad we look for bargains. Right. Its a sale, like a discount sale in a department store. Lets go shopping. After launching in maine 83, the ladies rose to fame in the 1990s, but they fell out of the public eye after a mathematical error inflated their rate of return. They kept at it though with 16 members who today range in age and come from different walks of life. Theres a retired hog farmer and a funeral parlor owner in the mix. Today the portfolio has expanded to 17 companies and over 450,000. Johnson johnson. Worldwide wolverine shoe company. You know, ladies love shoes. Aside from investing in what they know they are paying close attention to donald trump and the market rally that followed. Im glad he was elected and we watched the market go down one day and then come back up and well look for stocks that will be helped by adding more to the military and defense stocks and this is the type of thing that were looking at to consider buying. Since their return scandal the ladies wont reveal how their portfolio is performing but they believe they will end the year in the green. Aside from that, they are not making any calls about 2017. Youre not making no. If we did we would not be sitting here. Wed in aruba on a beach. The ladies say they greatly admire warren buffett. They have even attended the Berkshire Hathaway annual Shareholders Meeting several times and much like the oracle they say they are longterm investors and are watching the trump rally and arent too concerned about ups and downs. How do they go about choose stocks where they invest . They used to subscribe to value line which would have all the information about the stocks and like i said in the package they do meet once a month and do research a ton before they invest. They like to choose things they know and understand. A lot of them are Consumer Staples and now they have many members in younger generations so they have shifted to the internet and the older ladies feel comfortable asking the older women how to Research Stocks and even things like cnbc, they have shifted the way they look at market and looking more daytoday than they ever had before and they are not sure if thats a good thing thanks so much for the show. Thanks so much. Im Contessa Brewer in for becky. Before we go. Here are the names of the people who put this show together every week. Happy holidays to all. Well see you next week. Good morning, america and merry christmas. Were celebrating all the joys of the season. Well have lots of fun today from the north pole to your homes. How to make the most of it as you spend the day with friends and family. Sharing and caring. Good morning, america the young coat drive superstar is warming lots of hearts and more. Wanted to help people get warm. How we can learn from this exceptional young man. Movie madness. The best flicks to see when everyone is home for the holidays from a modern day musical. To drama. You eat every day. Yes, sir. And a roof over your head. Yes, sir. Clothes on your back. What you need to put on your holiday viewing list. Candy wonderland. The Young Children who got the