Living within one’s means is the bedrock of financial stability. But for consumers still facing the lingering effects of years of frenzied borrowing and spending that preceded the recession, the sage counsel of our 30th president remains a lofty aspiration — and one out of many people’s grasp.

Financial difficulties rose last month for middle-income households, according to the Consumer Reports Index, an overall measure of Americans’ personal financial health. The Trouble Tracker, a measure of financial difficulties, climbed to 37.5 from 32.7 for middle-income Americans. The areas that saw the greatest increase were missed payments on a major bill (other than mortgage) and the inability to afford medical bills or medications.

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Equities spent Friday trying to recover from downdrafts earlier in the week. The Dow industrials managed to squeak back to 14,000, but the other domestic indices reacted more strongly to Fed discussions of how to wind down its bond-buying program. It was the first down week for the S&P 500 so far this year.

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Joe discusses unclaimed cash.

Joe discusses tax deductions.

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Every year, the IRS dutifully reports the most common blunders that taxpayers make on their returns. And every year, at or near the top of the “oops” list is forgetting to enter their Social Security number at the top of the tax form — or making a mistake when entering those nine digits.

But think about it for a minute: Do you really think that’s the most common mistake … or simply the easiest to notice?

One thing we know for sure is that the opportunity to make mistakes is almost unlimited, and missed deductions can be the most costly. About 45 million of us itemize on our 1040s — claiming more than $1 trillion worth of deductions. That’s right: $1,000,000,000,000, a number rarely spoken out loud until Congress started tying itself up in knots trying to deal with the budget deficit and national debt.

Another 92 million taxpayers claim about $700 billion worth using standard deductions — and some of you who take the easy way out probably shortchange yourselves. (If you turned 65 in 2012, remember that you now deserve a bigger standard deduction than when you were younger.)

Yes, friends, tax time is a dangerous time. It’s all too easy to miss a trick and pay too much. Years ago, the fellow who ran the IRS at the time told Kiplinger’s Personal Finance magazine that he figured millions of taxpayers overpay their taxes every year by overlooking just one of the money-savers listed below.

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Equities markets generally spent a second week digesting January’s strong gains. The Dow continued to flirt with the 14,000 mark, while neither the small-cap Russell 2000 nor the S&P 500 have had a negative week so far this year.

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Investing errors come in all shapes and sizes. Some mistakes are timeless, such as not investing at all, while others are specific to events and circumstances.

For instance, economic and investing conditions over the past few years represent something of an extraordinary time, beginning with the stock market plunge in 2008.

“While the wounds are still very fresh as far as 2008 goes, let us not forget that was really almost a once-in-a-generation type event. And because it is still so fresh in people’s minds, people think it is going to happen again in the very near future,” says Michael Gayed, CFA, co-portfolio manager of the ATAC Inflation Rotation Fund.

Scarred by the downturn, many investors scaled back on the amount of risk they’re willing to take while others spiked up the risk level in their portfolios as a result of low interest rates.

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After suffering its first triple-digit loss of the year on Monday, the Dow fought to hang on to the prior week’s 14,000 level but in the end just couldn’t manage to do so. The other domestic indices managed minimal gains, and the S&P 500 hit its highest level since November 2007. Meanwhile, the Global Dow was hampered by anxiety about rising Spanish and Italian bond yields.

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If you need help with a federal tax question, the Internal Revenue Service offers free, live assistance by telephone. But you’ll probably need to be patient when you call.

Wait times when calling the agency have been growing, according to a recent report from the Government Accountability Office.

Millions of people call the IRS each year. Last tax season, the average wait time to speak to a live representative was 17 minutes, up from 12 minutes in 2011, the G.A.O. found.

And the percentage of callers seeking live assistance who actually received it was 68 percent, down from 72 percent the year before. The number of abandoned calls, which means the caller hangs up before speaking to someone, rose 20 percent.

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Joe discusses numbers to live by.

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A stream of strong earnings reports helped the Dow industrials end their fifth straight week of gains by closing above 14,000 for the first time since 2007. The Nasdaq’s best week since the first of the year helped it close the gap with the other domestic indices, while the small-cap Russell 2000 continued to lead the pack.

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