Personal Finance Daily: Where to find deals on summer vacations

Personal Finance Daily MARCH 19, 2012 Monday's Personal Finance Stories By MarketWatch Don't miss these top stories: How to find summer-vacation bargains Tax credits you won't want to miss 2012 Nissan Versa SV Mutual funds say 'bye' to bad three-year records Spring is showing its colors in many parts of the U.S. this week, but the West coast is still dripping from winter rainstorms and the central states are facing floods and tornadoes. East coast, you're next. What a great time to start thinking about a warm, sunny summer vacation. It's also a good time to start looking for vacation deals, the travel pros say. In her Buyer Beware column today, Jeanette Pavini reports that the secret to finding the best deals is to know where the offers will be and exactly when to book vacation packages and travel. See when the best times are for travel to Europe, the Caribbean and Florida. In our TaxWatch column, Eva Rosenberg says you should make sure you get all the credit you deserve from the IRS — tax credit, that is. There are a lot of very valuable tax credits available. However, the number of credits out there and the amounts are starting to shrink, so take advantage of what you can. — Anne Stanley , Managing Editor, Personal Finance How to find summer-vacation bargains Looking for great summer travel deals? The trick to finding vacation-season savings is to know where the deals are (think Florida and Spain) and to know when to find them (shop for tickets and fly midweek). Read more: How to find summer-vacation bargains. Tax credits you won't want to miss American taxpayers may not be getting as much credit as they deserve and they aren't getting as many tax credits as they used to, but here are six different types of tax credits worth a lot — so get your credits if they're due. Read more: Tax credits you won't want to miss. 2012 Nissan Versa SV Nissan fans will love the Versa's around-town utility, but buyers looking for basic wheels may want to check out other brands with better-looking interiors and a longer standard-equipment list. Read more: 2012 Nissan Versa SV. INVESTING Mutual funds say 'bye' to bad three-year records With the three-year anniversary of the U.S. stock market's bottom during the 2008-09 financial crisis passing last week, fund firms can now show off three-year track records that no longer include the 10-month dive that cut the market's value in half. Read more: Mutual funds say 'bye' to bad three-year records. Investing in emerging markets isn't for amateurs Emerging markets have started the year with a bang. Read more: Investing in emerging markets isn't for amateurs. Annuity case chills insurance agents Indexed annuities are attractive to agents because of the high commissions they receive from insurers, which can be 12% or more of the invested amount. Read more: Annuity case chills insurance agents. Apple to start quarterly dividend, buybacks Apple says it will initiate a quarterly dividend of $2.65 a share in the fourth quarter of this year, as well as a share buyback program mostly to offset dilution from employee stock awards. Read more: Apple to start quarterly dividend. China's hard landing Hard landing in China? Judging by the crash of a top-performing letter, it's already happened. Read more: China's hard landing. ECONOMY & POLITICS Builder sentiment stays at nearly 5-year high A measure of sentiment for builders of new single-family homes in March stays at the highest level in close to five years after a downward revision to the preceding month, according to data. Read more: Builder sentiment stays at nearly 5-year high. Fed's Dudley says economy not out of woods yet New York Fed president William Dudley, a key member of Bernanke's inner circle, was cautious about the recent signs of economic strength, suggesting no let up in easing stance. Read more: Fed's Dudley says economy not out of woods yet. Who's more bearish — Fed or Republican candidates? Federal Reserve policy makers and Republican presidential candidates are taking turns pouring cold water on the U.S. economy. But don't expect to hear any Fedspeak on the campaign trail. Read more: Who's more bearish — Fed or Republican candidates? 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 2012 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