Tax season opened on January 29 and the IRS expects more than 155 million returns to be filed this year, of which more than 70 percent should receive a refund. Once again, due to a Washington DC holiday (Emancipation Day), the filing deadline is delayed. Procrastinators, mark April 17th, rather than April 15th as your drop-dead date.
Read MoreMy Ten Questions to Ask a Financial Pro:
Read MoreStock investors are coming off the worst week in two years, leading to the inevitable question: What should I do when the market drops? The answer for long-term investors is clear: nothing.
Read MoreIn the topsy-turvy, bizarro land of Wall Street, sometimes a bit of good news about the
economy can be bad news for investors. The economy added 200,000 jobs in January,
higher than last year’s monthly average of about 170,000. The unemployment rate
remained at a 17-year of 4.1 percent; and perhaps most encouraging, annual hourly
earnings jumped by 2.9 percent, the fastest pace since the recession. (The figure does
not include special one-time, tax-related bonuses that have thus far helped about two
percent of workers.)
