No matter who's elected president, there is a good chance taxes are going up. But that doesn't mean tax-deferred accounts are a bad idea.

Lately, readers have been writing in, fretting that tax-deductible individual retirement accounts and 401(k) plans will mean huge tax bills in retirement.

But even if tax rates leap, these accounts will likely remain a great investment. My advice: Keep funding that 401(k) -- but, if you're planning a 2007 IRA contribution by the April 15 deadline, plunk it in a Roth account. Here's why.

Under pressure. Republican front-runner John McCain and Democratic contenders Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are all proposing middle-class tax relief. But forget the campaign promises and focus on the inevitable: The tax code has to be rewritten -- and the result will probably be higher taxes.

In fact, we're facing a barrage of bad tax news. We need to fix the alternative minimum tax. Many of the Bush tax cuts are set to expire. The absurdly complicated tax code needs to be simplified. We have a sizable budget deficit. We need to pay for Social Security and Medicare for retiring baby boomers.

All this could be damaging for 401(k) plans and tax-deductible IRAs. You might save 25 cents in taxes by stashing $1 in these accounts -- only to give back 33 cents when you withdraw money in retirement

NEW YORK (AP) -- Stocks are shaky, credit is tight, the economy may be tipping into a recession. Not the best of times to be going to the markets for what could be the largest initial public offering in U.S. history.

That's the gamble Visa is taking as it gave details Monday about an IPO that could raise up to nearly $19 billion: If it works, it could be an encouraging sign to the stock markets and may even help loosen the credit knot.

While Visa's IPO will have little direct effect on its cardholders, the banks that issue Visa cards are expected to see a total windfall of more than $10 billion -- which might keep them from pulling back credit lines further and pushing rates higher.

"That's a good thing for the banks, and a good thing for consumers. It might help ease the credit crisis a bit," said Ben Woolsey, marketing director at the card information Web site CreditCards.com.

Banks have suffered huge losses tied to defaults on subprime housing loans and are gearing up for more as consumer credit deteriorates. JPMorgan Chase & Co. -- which has a 23 percent stake in Visa -- stands to gain the most. The more cash-strapped Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. are also Visa stockholders.

Visa said Monday in a Securities and Exchange Commission filing that it will offer 406 million shares at $37

NEW YORK (AP) -- Wall Street bolted higher Monday after Standard & Poor's affirmed its ratings for Ambac Financial Group Inc. and MBIA Inc., raising hopes that troubled bond insurers will emerge from the credit market crisis on solid footing. The Dow Jones industrials rallied nearly 190 points.

The news came as a relief to a market that has fallen sharply in recent months on any negative news about the insurers; investors feared that a downgrade of the insurers' credit ratings would lead to billions of dollars in write-downs of securities held by already troubled banks and investment firms. Rating agencies including S&P have been under pressure to downgrade the insurers after they weakened their financial positions by insuring subprime mortgage securities that later collapsed.

There has been speculation that Ambac might find sufficient capital early this week to hold onto the stellar "AAA" rating it needs to remain in the municipal bond business. Municipalities and companies use these insurers to back bonds, allowing them to get higher ratings and cheaper financing.

"This is essentially evidence that S&P has signed off any tentative deal," said Charlie Smith, chief investment officer at Fort Pitt Capital Group, of the rating agency's announcement.

Financial institutions have already suffered billions of dollars in losses from securities that lost value during