Portfolio

Fewer workers plan to use their tax refund to pay off bills, and more plan to use it for savings, indicating stronger faith in the economy, a survey of 3,900 people by CareerBuilder found.

Escalating global inflation is the biggest challenge for businesses struggle to recover from the recession, according to the latest Global Economic Conditions survey of 2,300 accountants by the Association of Chartered Certified Accountants.

Bankrate.com said there is a surprising amount of interest among investors in liquid CDs, step-up CDs, and bump-up CDs.

They are the Preferred and Income Securities and the Focused Equity funds.

Even though 68% of workers are saving for retirement, nearly half, 46%, have less than $10,000 saved for retirement, and 50% are not confident they will have enough money to live comfortably in retirement, a survey by the Employee Benefits Research Institute found.

GoodHaven Capital Management has launched the GoodHaven Fund, a no-load value fund with a go-anywhere mandate that includes fixed income and cash.

Destra Capital Management has expanded its lineup of funds that emphasize income and seek to minimize downside risk with the launch of the Preferred and Income Securities Fund, sub-advised by Flaherty and Crumrine, and the Focused Equity Fund, sub-advised by WestEnd Advisors.

Prudential Investments has launched three new fixed income funds: the Prudential Floating Rate Income Fund, the Prudential Absolute Return Bond Fund and the Prudential Emerging Markets Debt Local Currency Fund.

With advisors and investors focused on tax season, Ed Slott returns to financial planning with some quick answers on Roth IRAs, required minimum distributions, and what all this means before (and after) April 18.