Surprise of the week? 517,000 new jobs last month and unemployment dropped to its lowest point since 1969! Non-surprise of the week? The Fed increased its target interest rate 25 basis points. Read all about these events and more.

Economics

• The January jobs report blew every prediction out of the water. All measures indicated strength in the market. Here the animated reporting from CNBC while looking at the data in the print and directly from the BLS.
• This news followed another drop in weekly unemployment claims for last week. (Reuters)
• Let’s not forget the looming debt ceiling. Could the US mint a $1 trillion coin to solve the problem? Where did this idea come from, and how would it work? (NYT)

FOMC:

• Here is an article from Jeanna Smialek explaining what to expect to be coming out of the meeting, and points out that January marks a change in voting members of the Federal Open Market Committee. (NYT)
• While Powell acknowledged some progress on the inflation front, he indicated there may still be additional interest rate increases on top of the 25 basis point increase this week, keeping rates up through the rest of the year. (Reuters) (AP) and analysis from Morningstar

Investing

• Read about the markets’ reaction to the jobs report and other news of the week. (Yahoo Finance)
• If you are interesting in learning more about how Guatam Adani came to be the third richest person in the world (richest in Asia) before he became the target of short seller Hindenberg Research (great name), try this article from AP. To hear about his $100 billion loss and resultant backlash, try this article from Reuters.

Taxes

• Are you prepared for tax season? ETrade offers some pointers as tax season started last week.

Retirement

• Here is a scary story highlighting the high number of baby boomers who are unprepared for retirement, and how this might impact their GenX and Millennial Children should they need financial support in their golden years. (State College.com)

Budgeting

• Better build in the cost of your own Netflix account as they are getting aggressive about account sharing outside of a household. (TechCrunch)
• Here is an interesting compilation of observations and data from studies on spending money and happiness. (CFP Daniel P Johnson)

About the Author

Beth Tallman

Beth Tallman entered the working world armed with an MBA in finance and thoroughly enjoyed her first career working in manufacturing and telecommunications, including a stint overseas. She took advantage of an involuntary separation to try teaching high school math, something she had always dreamed of doing. When fate stepped in once again, Beth jumped on the opportunity to combine her passion for numbers, money, and education to develop curriculum and teach personal finance at Oberlin College. Beth now spends her time writing on personal finance and financial education, conducts student workshops, and develops finance curricula and educational content. She is also the Treasurer of Ohio Jump$tart Coalition for Personal Financial Literacy.