Your investments should be working for you, appreciating more than inflation to become an engine of growth that pays you money and provides some measure of financial freedom.
In just three short years we’ve added more to the deficit as a percentage of GDP than in the three decades before.
In 1977 economist Milton Friedman wrote an article “The Line We Dare Not Cross: The Fragility of Freedom at ‘60%.'” We are in danger of crossing that line.
David Marotta discusses how to shield your personal assets from the corrosive influence of government policies.
All assets are not equal. Some investments appreciate better on average than others.
Everyone in our risk pool will order filet mignon. First the costs will skyrocket. And then the meat will be rotten.
Sometimes we make the mistake of deliberately budgeting the impossible. If you purposefully set the required spending in one category too high, you won’t be able to trim other categories to bring your overall spending into harmony.
Many budgets are doomed to failure because of the challenge of planning for unplanned spending. Here are some of the items you either did not put in your budget or they shouldn’t be in your spending.
George Marotta is a research fellow at the Hoover Institution pursuing research on international finance.
Get control of the spending that breaks the bank. Certain purchases that are typically both unnecessary and unplanned are budget busters. Avoiding these financial slips requires hedging some of our worst impulses and constraining our desire for instant gratification.
Good things do come from France. Frenchman Antoine Deneriaz captured Olympic gold in the men’s downhill skiing event beating out favorites Austria’s Michael Walchhofer and America’s Bode Miller. His win meant flying madly off jumps and being determined to finish first or break every bone in his body. Your investments shouldn’t be like that.
They say that as long as Americans keep spending, the economy will be strong and unemployment will remain low. “Spend now and pay later” is poor personal policy.
In both good times and bad times, investing is really about managing your emotions. If you want to be an investor, you have to grow to understand not only the relationship between risk and return, but also your own reaction to it.
The returns offered by immediate fixed annuities aren’t as good as they sound. The slight of hand in this case is the immediate loss of 100% of your principal. They are fixed for you to lose and the insurance company to win.
Every University student knows they should have a credit card. You have to have a second form of ID on many financial transactions. You have to have one to establish good credit. And, the more you use them, the more you will accrue bonus points toward cash, mileage credits and various “free gifts”. P.T. Barnum said, “There’s a sucker born every minute.” But it doesn’t have to be you.
Everyone knows a family with financial debt. Stop the bleeding. Apply emergency medicine.
Every year problems of debt and overspending frustrate millions of families. The problem has little to do with income, a lot to do with spending. Spending less than you earn is the essential foundation that creates the capital for investing and wealth building.
No matter how rich or poor you are, thrift is an integral part of your budget. Being thrifty is a godly and biblical virtue.
A humorous Google search for Charlottesville financial planning.
A thoughtful estate plan can make your heirs’ lives easier. But it is your parents’ estate planning that will make your life easier.
Your estate plan can make your heirs’ lives easier. But it is your parents’ estate planning that will make your life easier.
America is officially no longer free.
“There ain’t no such thing as a free lunch.” As early as 1938, this phrase was touted as “economics in nine words.”
My youngest is a first-year student at the University of Virginia. My coauthor Matthew’s youngest child was born only a month ago. There is no such thing as saving too early.
Those who moved their investments to the supposed safety of Treasury bond investments were deeply disappointed.
Life Planning is an important part of the wealth management process. It’s not enough to have money; you need to know what the money is for.
Life Planning is an important part of the wealth management process. It’s not enough to have money; you need to know what the money is for.
Life Planning is an important part of the wealth management process. It’s not enough to have money; you need to know what the money is for.
Life Planning is an important part of the wealth management process. It’s not enough to have money; you need to know what the money is for.
Life Planning is an important part of the wealth management process. It’s not enough to have money; you need to know what the money is for.
Life Planning is an important part of the wealth management process. It’s not enough to have money; you need to know what the money is for.
Life Planning is an important part of the wealth management process. It’s not enough to have money; you need to know what the money is for.
Life Planning is an important part of the wealth management process. It’s not enough to have money; you need to know what the money is for.
Life Planning is an important part of the wealth management process. It’s not enough to have money; you need to know what the money is for.
David Marotta discusses 2010 in review and the outlook for 2011.
You are a good candidate for a Roth conversion in 2010 if you expect your tax bill to be higher in the future.
Few of us are disciplined enough to accomplish all our resolutions without help.
If you’re not an economist, you may vastly underestimate the negative impact of taxes on the U.S. economy.
Employers and employees alike are feeling the squeeze of swelling health care costs. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, health insurance premiums have risen at an average rate of 12 percent per year since 2000. Unable to keep up with rising premiums, employers are forced to pass on costs to employees, to trim benefits, or worse yet, to dump the coverage all together.
Bequeathing a Roth is much the same as setting up a lifetime tax-free stream of income for your heirs.
There are years and situations when a Roth conversion is not appropriate, but they are often surrounded by years when it should be considered.
David Marotta discusses how the tax burden causes an incentive to earn less money.
Misers may sleep well tonight, but they won’t eat well in 20 years.
Most families have not planned for their retirement. They may save toward their retirement, but without a plan their saving is random and haphazard. Retirement decisions today can only be made in the context of accurate math projections that span … Read More
You are guarding against deadweight loss when the recipient can exchange the gift or return it for cash.
In 1985, an MIT professor won the Nobel Prize for a simple technique that squirrels have known intuitively from birth — you have to “squirrel” away some nuts during times of plenty so you can survive during times of scarcity.
No one approaches financial planning with the goal of paying more taxes. Tax management, like all financial planning, is based on the premise that small changes made over time can achieve big goals.
Employers and employees alike are feeling the squeeze of swelling health care costs.
Both mindless eating and mindless spending rely on our subconscious need to follow scripts to pace our consumption. Community plays a huge role in regulating our financial destiny–either a path of savings that builds real wealth or a path of spending that leads to impoverishment.
David Marotta discusses what makes certain investments look attractive.