Talking to your parents about the state of their finances as they get older may not be easy. They may be reluctant to talk about them. Assure them you only want to support - not influence - their wishes. Here are some steps to help make the process easier:

• Know the location of important paperwork, including bank statements, insurance policies, information about funeral arrangements, marriage licenses, social security cards, birth certificates, VA or military service papers, powers of attorney, automobile titles, and wills. Centralize everything in one location and make duplicates.

• Find out when these papers were last updated. Review wills every three to five years. You don't need your attorney for this, unless changes need to be made.

• Check beneficiary designations annually on retirement accounts and investments. Out-of-date designations can cause delays in transfer, unnecessary attorney or court fees, or needlessly hurt feelings.

Click here to read the rest of the steps.

February may be best known as the month when Cupid takes center stage and early March for when the lion comes roaring in, but this time of year is also ideal for getting your tax documentation in order.

Documentation

Ensure that you have all of the documentation you need when it's time to file. This article lists some common forms that should have arrived in your mailbox by early March.

Check on missing documents as soon as possible. If you haven't received a form that you had expected, contact your employer, the payor, or the institution responsible for the reporting. You may be able to obtain the information from other sources, including through an online customer account.

I found this article by a Lord Abbott market strategist, Milton Ezrati, particularly insightful. 

Joe 

The turmoil in the Middle East goes on, and, though oil has continued to flow uninterrupted, understandable uncertainties have bid up crude and gasoline prices anyway.  

A barrel of crude has risen from $84 at the end of 2010 to $91 in early February to well over $100 so far in March-a more than 20% rise in a remarkably compressed space of time.

This rise alone, though shocking, is probably not enough, even if it sticks, to stall the economic recovery. If the popular rule of thumb is correct - that each $10 on the price of a barrel of oil absorbs some $46 billion of real household income - the rise so far would at most trim only about 0.5% from the U.S. economy's growth pace, even if the recent price spike were to hold for an entire year.  Even in the present, slow recovery, that impact would fail to turn a plus into a minus.

 Click here to read the article.

(from The Wall Street Journal's "Market Watch")

"The economy needs this investment," (AT&T CEO Randall) Stephenson said on a conference call to discuss the deal. T-Mobile ranks as the fourth-largest wireless carrier in the U.S.  

Stephenson added that the deal will make the latest wireless technology, called LTE, available to 95% of the U.S. population. Dallas-based AT&T has been long-criticized for performance across some of its wireless network, and Stephenson said both AT&T and T-Mobile customers would see better service upon the deal's completion.

Investors liked the deal's prospects, sending shares of Dow Jones Industrial Average component AT&T up by 32 cents to close at $28.26, while Deutsche Telekom's U.S.-traded shares climbed by $1.55, or more than 11%, to end the day at $15.13. Read more about reaction from the telecom sector.

AT&T agreed to buy T-Mobile USA for $39 billion in cash and stock, in a deal that would combine the No. 2 and No. 4 U.S. wireless carriers. Will the tie-up pass regulatory scrutiny? And who the winners and losers if it does?

Regulatory approval is expected to take at least a year due to concerns about market share and price-competition for consumers. If the acquisition is approved, AT&T would have about 130 million wireless subscribers, vaulting it above Verizon Wireless.

Click here to read the article.