RJ and Makay

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Assumptions for 2012 market portfolio returns vary between advisors and their clients, according to the most recent Russell Financial Professional Outlook (FPO) survey.  Surveyed advisors on average expect 3.9% returns for a conservative portfolio, 5.9% for a balanced portfolio and 8.3% for an aggressive portfolio.  Polled advisors say their clients have even higher expectations for their investments.

It's tax time again, the time of year a lot of us feel more than a little resentment about the chunk of our earnings Uncle Sam grabs for America's coffers. Of course, as with anything else, ranging attitudes about taxes is all a matter of perspective. Perspectives differ, especially between the half of the country paying income taxes and the half that virtually don’t.

According to the latest estimates from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a Paris consortium that tracks financial conditions in 34 nations, 24% of the U.S. economy as measured by gross domestic product (GDP) goes to taxes collected by all levels of government.

The economy is poised to expand at its fastest pace in eight years because of brisk consumer and business spending, according to a new survey of 51 economists by the Wall Street Journal.

The economists predict gross domestic product (GDP) will be 3.5% higher in the fourth quarter of 2011 than a year earlier, a slight increase from the 3.3% they projected last month and, if it comes to pass, the largest increase since 2003. GDP is expected to grow at a 3.6% annual rate in the current quarter, a 0.4% increase from the final quarter of 2010.