Yearly Archives: 2017

Dividends and interest received from U.S debt obligations can be deducted on many state tax returns.

David John Marotta was interviewed on the Schilling Show discussing trickle-down economics and taxes.

Do mutual funds with 5-star Morningstar ratings have better future returns?

Less gouging doesn’t make T-shares meet the high principles-based fiduciary standard.

When a spouse inherits retirement account assets, they have the right to do what is called a “Spousal Rollover” or “Spousal Transfer.” It is almost always the right option.

HSAs have so many advantages over traditional IRAs that you should continue funding your HSA as long as possible and build as large an HSA investment balance as you can.

If you are a mixed-decade couple, take advantage of the Joint divisor by making your spouse your primary and sole beneficiary for your IRA and use the Joint Life and Last Survivor Expectancy Table to find your RMD.

David John Marotta was interviewed on the radio 1070’s Schilling Show discussing the difference between obstruction and resistance.

Commission-based firms want either to be exempt from the Fiduciary standard or else given the title anyway.

Politics matters less to our financial success than the ordinary decisions we face every day.

A gone fishing portfolio is a portfolio of just a few stocks which should weather the ups and downs of the market fairly well while only rebalancing twice a year. Here are three hand-crafted gone-fishing portfolios for 2017.

A gone-fishing portfolio has a limited number of investments with a balanced asset allocation. This year I limited myself to 13 investment vehicles with two changes from 2016’s calculator.

A gone-fishing portfolio has a limited number of investments with a balanced asset allocation. This portfolio uses all Vanguard mutual funds.

A gone-fishing portfolio has a limited number of investments with a balanced asset allocation. This portfolio uses all Schwab no-transaction fee exchange traded funds.

In anticipation of adjusting our yearly gone-fishing portfolios, I reviewed the performance of five US large-cap Exchange-Traded Funds (ETFs).

The key to getting the waiver though is showing that “you are taking reasonable steps to remedy the shortfall.”

Bonds had positive returns for the year despite returns peaking at the end of July and falling for the rest of the year.

Although legally fine, this strategy often causes you to accidentally increase your spending every year and decrease your savings. Don’t let the IRS rules about IRA withdrawals tempt you into spending money you had planned to save.

In 2016, Energy and Materials had some of the best returns of the year.

Investors always want to compare the return of their portfolio against some benchmark index. We suggest not using the S&P 500 for that purpose.

David John Marotta was interviewed recently on the Schilling Show discussing the politics of kindness and the difference between intentions and outcomes.

2016 was a good year for stocks in general with a number of noteworthy details. Resource stocks performed the best despite being the worst-performing asset class in 2015.

In 2016, the average return of the best investment products of the Freedom Six outperformed the Vanguard FTSE Developed Markets ETF by 6.75%.

The S&P 500 had another good year, ending up 11.96%. The S&P 500, however, only represents half of the US Stock asset class, and Small- and Mid-Cap stocks performed even better.

Some people don’t stop at distributing just the required minimum. They think, “Well, while I’m at it, I may as well pull out a little bit more so we can fully cover the kitchen remodel…”

It is difficult in investing theory to determine which narratives have the appropriate underlying evidence to support them and which narratives are not worth following. Often it is necessary to be both a mathematician and a skeptic to filter out what is even worth considering.

What does the car your advisor drives tell you about their investment and budgeting services?

If you’re doing some tax planning this year, here is a quick guide to the brackets.

“I am no longer an advocate of elaborate techniques of security analysis in order to find superior value opportunities.”

The legal answer to this question is: there is no limit. The practical answer is: it depends on a number of things.