Financial Planning

The U.S. Senate passed a bipartisan budget deal two hours after income tax cuts expired, reaching an after-deadline deal to undo the potential economic harm of $600 billion in tax increases and spending cuts.

Wealth management firm Brinton Eaton, offers these eight tips to help investors and financial planning clients stay on track in the face of market volatility and uncertainty over the fiscal cliff.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued an Investor Bulletin to help purchasers of municipal bonds better assess the bonds’ credit risks.

Interactive Data Corp., a provider of evaluated pricing, valuation and reference data services, has released a new set of enhancements to its fixed income transparency tool Vantage, which are designed to effectively meet requirements of both the buy-side and sell-side in the evaluated pricing process.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has charged the media company TheStreet Inc., which publishes the financial news site TheStreet.com, and three of its executives with accounting fraud, accusing them of artificially inflating company revenues and misstating their operating income to investors.

Texas Attorney General Greg Abbott said the state is investigating a fraudulent tax return scheme and warned East Texas residents to avoid recruiters from Syam Tax Services LLC.

Only 57 percent of investors said their financial advisors proved their worth in navigating recent market conditions, according to a new report.

The Internal Revenue Service said Thursday that low- and moderate-income workers can take steps now to save for retirement and earn a special tax credit in 2012 and the years ahead.

The Internal Revenue Service and the Treasury Department have issued a set of proposed regulations on the 3.8 percent Net Investment Income Tax that takes effect next year as a result of the health care reform law, along with a FAQ page with questions and answers.

The recession had little effect on the low participation rate of small business owners in signing up for retirement plans, according to a pair of new studies from the U.S. Small Business Administration.