Author Archives: David John Marotta

Italy reminds us that governmental solutions can be worse than private sector problems.

Hard work can’t always overcome Italian bureaucracy.

During 2002-2004, iShares of the ten economically freest countries outperformed the index by 5.43% each year.

You can smooth your returns without any of hedge fund’s drawbacks.

Wanting to avoid regulations, Hedge funds appeal to investor’s snobbery to make it seem like a privilege.

You take all the risk, but the manager gets twenty percent of any winnings. This is not a good compensation scheme.

Hedge claims are equivalent to “All of the coins I want to tell you about came up heads.”

As Hedge funds grow in popularity, beware of following the lemmings.

Good portfolios have low expense ratios and minimal trading costs.

Currently, stockbrokers can offer the same services as Fee-Only financial planners without being accountable to the same fiduciary standards. This exemption to the Investment Advisers Act of 1940 has been called the “Merrill Lynch rule.”

We are gradually becoming our grandparents.

Marketing promises and good friends often cloud the facts.

Many people are afraid of having their retirement progress assessed.

Decreasing your standard of living is the quickest path toward retirement.

“You’re fired!” can be an opportunity to work for yourself. But the best two words you might hear are yourself saying, “I quit.” Working for yourself is risky and frightening, but the financial freedom and opportunities you gain are significant.

“April is the month,” one wit noted, “when the green returns to the lawn, the trees and the Internal Revenue Service.”

Two hours and twenty minutes of every eight hour day go to pay taxes. Three minutes go toward personal savings.

On your way to becoming a billionaire, the million markers become commonplace.

Spending less money isn’t an end it itself. Directing your spending to what you truly value is what is important.

Keeping control of your finances means that you can have more fun with your money.

“Do I really want to spend my money in this way?”

Baring a real people’s revolution, it will take until 2050 for China to complete their slow march to free markets.

It is a tragic irony that the goals of collectivism are best achieved by respecting individual liberties.

The incentives that produce wealth also produce inequity. Valuing equality above all else destroys the real wealth they are trying to redistribute.

Overweighting investments with average higher return and lower risk is a win-win situation.

The wealth gap between blacks and whites widens each generation as a direct result of Social Security.

NAPFA members give away a great deal of valuable advice.

ETFs combine tax efficiency with low expenses.

The value of any asset category does not go in one direction forever. The housing prices boom shows signs of weakness, and that they may correct or at least under perform for the next few years.

There is an art to selecting the right investment vehicles for individual portfolios.

Keeping expenses low helps keep your return high.

A good investment advisor will tailor the investments to the specific characteristics of the investor’s situation.

The truly rich person is anyone whose income is greater than his or her expenses and whose expenses are sufficient to their desires.

If the S&P were a financial advisor it would say, “Let’s buy mostly large cap growth stocks in the industry that did well last year with a high price per earnings ratio.”

If Canada paid their fair share for pharmaceuticals prices would fall.

We guarantee you will agree it makes sense to entrust leadership to this last nominee.

Only 34% of family businesses successfully pass to the second generation and only 13% make it to the third generation.

Many financial products are sold through greed or fear, but estate planning isn’t one of them. Having an estate plan and a living trust is an import part of wealth management.

The point to remember is that what the government gives it must first take away. This is true even when running a federal deficit.

In the corporate world, mismanagement can only be covered up so long. In time, those responsible are held accountable. Companies fold. Executives are taken away in handcuffs. Only in the federal government can poorly manage bad ideas and still plead they are underfunded.

Encourage the rich to be rich or else suffer the consequences of striving toward making us all equally destitute.

Voting for government entitlement programs is like being generous with your neighbor’s credit card.

Let the free market work its magic. Markets are brilliant in their ability to determine the optimal value and use of limited resources.

If a Democrat proposed a flat tax, they would take away the Republican’s major platform and be easily elected.

We would be wiser and stronger to take the advice of Thomas Jefferson, the second Governor of Virginia who said, “A wise and frugal Government, shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.”

Many people wish to prevent the rich from earning more money, even if that results in smaller tax revenues and a less productive economy.

Lottery tickets are also a good deal, if you win – otherwise it is just a tax on people who can’t do math.

Because you can’t change your mind, and you can’t spend your money ahead of time, the best use of an immediate fixed annuity is to protect you from yourself. Call me wild and crazy, but this is not the risk I am worried about.

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.

Diversify your business and your investments. That way fads and trends won’t determine your financial success.