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Update at 4:09 p.m. ET. A New Record:

The Dow Industrials finished in record territory today. Gaining 89 points, it closed at 14,253.77, its highest level since Oct. 9,2007.

That is, the Dow has recovered all the losses it suffered during the Great Recession.

"It really does represent an achievement that we have climbed out of this crater," Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Chicago's BMO Private Bank, told The Wall Street Journal.

Before you take too much joy out of this, we'll point you to our friends at the Planet Money blog.

Jacob Goldstein writes that if you adjust for inflation, this isn't really a record "in any meaningful sense."

"It would need to rise another 10 percent or so to hit an all time high in real (i.e. inflation-adjusted) terms," Jacob writes.

Our Original Post Continues:

The number to keep an eye on today:

14,264.53.

^DJI data by YCharts

Update at 4:09 p.m. ET. A New Record:

The Dow Industrials finished in record territory today. Gaining 89 points, it closed at 14,253.77, its highest level since Oct. 9,2007.

That is, the Dow has recovered all the losses it suffered during the Great Recession.

"It really does represent an achievement that we have climbed out of this crater," Jack Ablin, chief investment officer at Chicago's BMO Private Bank, told The Wall Street Journal.

Before you take too much joy out of this, we'll point you to our friends at the Planet Money blog.

Jacob Goldstein writes that if you adjust for inflation, this isn't really a record "in any meaningful sense."

"It would need to rise another 10 percent or so to hit an all time high in real (i.e. inflation-adjusted) terms," Jacob writes.

Our Original Post Continues:

The number to keep an eye on today:

14,264.53.

^DJI data by YCharts

Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez, who has been battling cancer for months, is in a "very delicate" condition, with breathing difficulties and a severe respiratory infection, a government statement says.

The statement, read out Monday by Minister of Communications Ernesto Villegas, spells out the 58-year-old socialist leader's decline since his December surgery in Cuba for an unspecified cancer in the pelvic area:

"From today, there has been deterioration in his respiratory performance, related to the immunodeficiency of his current clinical condition. At present he is suffering from a new and serious respiratory infection.

"The president has been receiving intense chemotherapy, as well as other complementary treatments, with the dosage according to the development of his clinical state.

"His general state of health continues to be very delicate.

"The president is taking refuge in Christ and in life, conscious of the difficulties that he is facing and strictly following the program designed by his medical team."

The cost of college can range from $60,000 for a state university to four times as much at some private colleges. The total student debt in the U.S. now tops credit card debt. So a lot of people are asking: Is college really worth it?

There are several famous and staggeringly successful college dropouts, including Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates and Larry Ellison. You may not end up with fat wallets like them, but Dale Stephens says you can find a different education path.

Stephens, founder of UnCollege.org and author of a new book, Hacking Your Education, challenges people to learn differently, away from a school campus.

"When you think about education as an investment, you have to think about what the return is going to be," Stephens tells NPR's Renee Montagne.

Stephens points to an alternative self-education system by taking responsibility for learning on your own and using networking to your advantage. He also says school just isn't for everyone.

"I left school because I didn't feel like school was an environment that left me free to learn," says Stephens, who dropped out of college.

His book explores why and how to ditch the cost of tuition and find a personal educational system.