Personal Finance Daily: Get thee to a paper shredder

Personal Finance Daily DECEMBER 28, 2011 Get thee to a paper shredder By MarketWatch Don't miss these top stories: How to clean out your tax, financial files Some 529 plans offer new perks, trim fees What's really driving your investment returns Emotion, not economics, marked stimulus debate Itching to do some file-shredding to start 2012 off on the right, oh-so-organized foot — but you're not sure which financial files you can throw away, and what you need to keep? Eva Rosenberg has the story for you. Read her piece today on how to clean out your tax and financial files. The bad news: There's a fair amount you need to stash, and cannot trash, until a number of years has passed. Also, don't miss Jennifer Openshaw's column today on how some 529 plans are offering incentives to encourage more people to save for their children's college education. Keep in mind that, generally speaking, these are fairly small incentives, especially when stacked up against the cost of a college education. But, as they say, every little bit helps. —Andrea Coombes , Personal Finance editor How to clean out your tax, financial files The end of the year is a great time to clean house, and to remove the detritus and accumulation of another year. What about tax returns and financial records? That's one of the common questions that comes to TaxMama®. Here are tips on what's OK to toss, and what you should keep. Read more: How to clean out your tax, financial files Some 529 plans offer new perks, trim fees Some states have rolled out new incentives or lowered fees on their tax-advantaged college-savings plans, writes Jennifer Openshaw. Read more: Some 529 plans offer new perks, trim fees. INVESTING Look for 2012 to be the year of the dollar At a meeting in London last month I listened with mild amusement as a senior sales executive discussed the rollout of a banking campaign to promote the rise of China's renminbi as a global currency. Read more: Look for 2012 to be the year of the dollar. The online poker gold rush If the door to online poker is opened again, expect a gold rush into Internet gambling companies. Read more: The online poker gold rush. My best and worst calls of 2011 It has been a wild 2011, and like all financial journalists and stock-pickers out there, I made my share of bonehead calls. Read more: My best and worst calls of 2011. What's really driving your returns The drama in Europe is putting the best-laid investing plans to the test. Each day, it seems, stocks are either soaring ("risk on") or plunging ("risk off") — yet for the year the Dow Jones Industrial Average has barely budged. Read more: What's really driving your returns. ECONOMY & POLITICS Emotion, not economics, marked stimulus debate A University of California economist spreads the blame around as he argues that the reason we as a country haven't embraced the idea of fiscal stimulus is that Americans aren't well-versed when it comes to economics. Read more: Emotion, not economics, marked stimulus debate. Ron Paul: media's Rodney Dangerfield Republican presidential hopeful just can't get no respect from the press corps. Read more: Ron Paul: media's Rodney Dangerfield. Get the latest news on our mobile site: http://www.marketwatch.com/m MarketWatch has sent you this newsletter because you signed up to receive it. To ensure you receive this newsletter in the future, please add marketwatchmail.com to your list of approved senders. Sent to: kumaresan.selva.blogger@gmail.com Unsubscribe | Subscribe Copyright 2011 MarketWatch, Inc. All rights reserved. MarketWatch, the MarketWatch logo, and BigCharts are registered trademarks of MarketWatch, Inc. By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Service and Privacy Policy (updated 6/26/07). MarketWatch - Attn: Customer Service, 201 California St., San Francisco, CA 94111