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Greece has announced that over 85% of private creditors had accepted its bond swap offer to enforce the debt deal. The Finance Ministry said 172 billion euros in total had been tendered for the deal and that will force investors to take losses of as much as 74% on their holdings. The Finance Ministry is scheduled to hold a news conference in the later Friday. Greece must have the bailout deal cleared by March 20th and missing that payment would pitch it into immediate default, potentially destabilizing much of the euro zone's banking and financial system.

Hiring remained strong in February, but the overall job market is not out of the woods yet. Employers added 227,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department reported Friday, a pinch slower than in January, when the economy added 284,000 jobs. But the job growth was better than expected. Economists surveyed by CNNMoney had predicted 210,000 jobs added in the month.

The markets closed Thursday on a high note with the Dow Jones Industrials up 70 points while the NASDAQ gained 34 points.

The year-end stock market rally helped some Americans rebuild their nest eggs with the Federal Reserve saying the U.S. household net worth increased 2.1% percent from October to December of 2011. Americans stock portfolios grew by 10% in the last quarter of last year, helping to regain some of the losses during the recession.

One American whose finances are right on track is Spanx founder Sara Blakely, one of the newest names on Forbes magazine's list of billionaires. Blakely built her empire on a line of slimming undergarments worn by housewives and Hollywood starlets alike. Blakely is the youngest woman to make the list on her own, without any help from a husband or an inheritance.