Author Archives: David John Marotta

You deserve an advisor who will help you with these five and more.

Don’t let your political emotions impoverish your financial well-being.

Wealth management is in your control and there are actions you can take regardless of who wins today.

You can distribute any amount of money to the account owner for any reason, but only distributions which are reimbursing for qualified education expenses are tax and penalty free.

This 2017 article reminds us, “Stock market returns have little to do with which party holds the White House.”

You can distribute any amount of money to the designated beneficiary for any reason, but only distributions which are reimbursing for qualified education expenses are tax and penalty free.

Election results should not change a well crafted investment strategy.

If you are curious about how the online process works for distributing funds from your College America 529 plan, this article is for you.

Any qualified education expense for the benefit of the designated beneficiary which is paid to an eligible educational institution can be paid from the 529 plan directly.

On a smart phone, you can prevent the phone from ringing unless the person calling you is listed in your phone.

A short quote from this 2004 inspiration, “Time is so much more than money. If you have time, you can acquire more money. But money can’t buy you more time. Time is a great equalizer. You can’t go into time debt. Every day the rich and the poor alike are given twenty-four hours to spend.”

This 2015 article reminds us of the benefits of umbrella insurance. We recommend $2 to $5 million of umbrella coverage for typical families with assets over $300,000.

This 2014 article is a good reminder of how interest rates work in our country.

With a savings waterfall, you immediately know which buckets to fill when there is excess and which should remain dry if there isn’t enough for all your goals.

Sometimes the costs are actually benefits when it comes to Roth conversions.

Here are three lies you must stop telling yourself in order to build a solid financial foundation.

If you are close to either side of 60, this 2020 article will outline the ideal scenario to help you make your own financial assessment.

The best way to ensure that you save and invest is to automate the process.

As David Marotta writes in this 2012 post, “If I had to pick one learned skill that has served me the best in my career, it would be learning to grab my mind by the scruff of the neck and drag it back to the task at hand.” This piece reminds us that hard work can sometimes be your best doctor.

Many adult children are returning to live at home somewhat involuntarily. What can parents do to help? This 2011 article offers some wisdom.

The CFP Board is compensation neutral, but it is only because of how they are paid.

This simple example demonstrates the importance of expense ratio.

We recently had a client fall prey to a sophisticated Schwab Bank scam. They gave us permission to share this fraud story with you to hopefully prevent others from being scammed.

For our standard gone-fishing portfolio, we made two changes.

This gone-fishing portfolio is our default portfolio which can be used at any custodian.

We recommend this gone-fishing portfolio for investors with brand loyalty to Vanguard.

In 2003, David stopped to rescue a snapping turtle from 250 West. Even now, the financial planning lessons from that turtle are still sage advice.

It is common for investors to be surprised by movements in their portfolios. This 2019 article reminds us though that even volatile movements can be quite normal.

Here are several tips on how to live richly on your own.

This 2009 article reminds us, “When we are worried about our expenditures, we tend to look at the dollar amounts more than the frequency of our purchases.” However, to combat mindless spending, we should look to trim recurring expenses first.

With one memorable password protecting a vault of random ones, you can increase your security immensely while only mildly complicating your access.

These are the seven rules to using a credit card safely.

This 2015 article has five rules for safely handling your digital security which you can’t afford not to implement.

Converting early can avoid your exposure to tax changes going forward as a Roth IRA is never taxed again.

The best way to climb the mountain of college costs is gradually, but if you need to make some last minute leaps, our government has a few tax-related strategies.

Regardless of which way the balance of trade says the surplus falls, we and our trading allies benefit from the exchange.

This 2015 article details one of the most brilliant breakthroughs in all of food science and how it relates to almost every aspect of life.

Roth conversions can decrease your taxable income and increase your tax savings over the long haul.

Maybe if we say it enough, it will actually get done. “The correct rate for the capital gains tax is zero, zip, nada. Perhaps it is even negative!”

The holiday cliché is to complain about hyper-materialism, but according to anthropologists, gifts and gift giving help shape our identities.

If this level of volatility isn’t your expectation, you are not yet familiar with normal volatility in the markets.

This 2007 post reminds that because of inflation the value of cash trends down, encourages you to protect your portfolio against a falling dollar, and reveals an inconsistency with CPI calculations and actual inflation.

I have adopted this card as the primary one in my wallet for groceries and gas.

After over a decade of broken promises and rising costs, our need for a more sustainable tax system is acutely felt.

A savings waterfall helps investors navigate the financial complexity available to them.

This 2008 article is an uplifting, timeless sermon.

After over a decade of broken promises and rising costs, our need for a more sustainable healthcare system is acutely felt.

This whimsical 2004 post uses the hypothetical family business of Belle and the Beast to teach a valuable lesson about passing on the family business to the next generation.

Required minimum distributions are taxed as taxable income, the same as other types of traditional IRA withdrawals and Roth conversions.

Taxes related to traditional IRA withdrawals only happen once. Meanwhile, the funds in your taxable account are subjected to taxation each year.