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This past weekend ushered in the traditional kick-off of the holiday shopping season. It began with Black Friday and ended with Cyber Monday. The best guesses were that sales on the former day hit $10 billion, while the latter day had sales in the $700 million range.

The Black Friday stories are now almost legendary: People camping outside of electronics stores in the wee hours of the morning. Fist-fights breaking out as shoppers jostle for position. Clark saw some TV footage of a man in Jacksonville, Fla., who camped outside a Best Buy beginning at 11:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving!

Clark never goes shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. So what does he do instead? Well, when the going gets tough, the tough get to the beach! Clark actually was forced to do a little shopping because his sun shoes floated out into the ocean during low tide. So he and his family hastened to a shoe store and found they were the only customers. The shoes were on sale, of course.

Clark's executive producer Christa, meanwhile, intentionally went out shopping on the day after Thanksgiving. But she was able to avoid the craziness by going out after 11 a.m. when things quiet down. She also managed to save $40 on $100 worth of cookie cutters for a children's hospital charity event. You go, girl!

The investment world is in a buzz with a loss of confidence and a lot of fear. Citibank was recently rescued by Middle East investors who put a lot of money in to keep the bank afloat. HSBC is also in a similar bind. The problem is that over the last few years, people started to get really cute with Wall Street investments. That's the heart of the housing/mortgage meltdown. Lenders just wanted to package mortgages and resell them for a profit -- they didn't care if the loans were ever paid. The drop in lending standards also really took a toll on the market. Home values in California are now down 15 percent from their peak and they're expected to go lower.

Economists now are talking about the possibility of recession. The foreclosure epidemic is a personal tragedy for families and neighborhoods alike, but the big test for the economy is if the stock market hollows out too. Beware of a bear market, where the value of stocks falls 20 percent from peak prices. The combo of a bear market with a housing slump could definitely lead to recession. It's been about 25 years since we as a nation have had really tough economic times. If you came of age during the last 20 years, you don't know the level of discomfort that could be yet to come. So what should you being doing right now? In a word, have your act together. The recent "in" thing to do was to take out a home equity line of credit and make your house a piggy bank. But now that piggy is tapped out. So you must pay off the debts you may have developed. Ask yourself how much you have in savings and how much debt you've accumulated. Have a plan in place in the event of a job loss. If you're looking ahead to retirement soon, move your retirement savings into safe havens. If retirement is many years away, then stay the course and keep putting money into your 401(k) plan. Doing that during lean times is like buying merchandise at a deep discount.

There are a lot of pseudo health insurance companies out there selling fake plans to employers and individuals. The Wall Street Journal reports that some 200,000 businesses have been taken in these kinds of rip-offs. Small businesses crushed by high premiums are very susceptible to the lure of cheaper health care. But when somebody gets sick, the insurance card comes back as a fake and all the bills go unpaid. This has been happening in state after state. Insurance is regulated by the states, not the feds, so the rip-off artists can just bounce around from state to state pulling their scams. What do you need to know to stay safe? First off, be wary if you get a pitch for a great deal with drastically lower premiums. But don't let your skepticism stop there. Contact your state insurance department and ask if a prospective company is licensed to do business in your state. Make sure the name matches exactly because sometimes the rip-off artists will use a name that's very similar to that of a legitimate business. Seniors also have to be especially careful of fake prescription plans. Once again, call your state insurance department to verify if a health insurance salesperson represents a legitimately licensed company. Preventative steps are the best medicine for your wallet.

There are a number of new developments in the cell phone world that have Clark excited. There's a low voltage price war between a few smaller carriers that most people don't know about, plus Verizon has an exciting new development. Let's begin with the Verizon news. Starting next year, you'll be able to bring any phone to their network and use it without having to buy a Verizon phone. You can thank Google for this. It turns out that Verizon is scared of Google launching an open wireless market. So they're trying to make themselves more competitive.

The other big news involves buying cell phone minutes, which is part of an outdated business model that may be on its way out. The move started initially with Cricket and Metro PCS, who both offer unlimited calling for a flat rate starting around $35/month. But traveling with these companies has always been a problem. Now Sprint's sub-brand, Boost Unlimited, is offering unlimited calling plans for $45/month in a dozen or so new states. Boost has an edge over Cricket and Metro because they only charge 15 cents/minute if you travel and leave your home calling area. If you're a business traveler, you may also want to check out Helio.com, which offers unlimited Internet, texting, calling and more for $119/month.