Author Archives: David John Marotta

David John Marotta was awarded the Featured Detective honor on a recent “Dear Holmes” case.

When you receive reimbursement for an expense you’ve already paid from the HSA, that portion of your HSA distribution is no longer a qualified medical expense and must be recontributed to avoid tax.

It is always a good time to be reminded that an immediate fixed annuity is not an investment; it is an insurance product. This 2015 article by David John Marotta is a methodical unraveling of annuities and a description of the far superior alternatives.

On Tuesday, April 13, 2021, David John Marotta appeared on Radio 1070 WINA’s Schilling Show with Rob Schilling to discuss corporate tax rates.

On Tuesday, March 9, 2021, David John Marotta appeared on Radio 1070 WINA’s Schilling Show with Rob Schilling to talk about raising the minimum wage.

Before you assume that moral licensing such as Fairtrade is the only ethical consumerism, think again. Understanding how such licensing works shows how little good it actually does.

Home bias is the tendency of investors to invest a majority of their assets in companies domiciled in their home country. Recency bias is the tendency for humans to believe that what has happened recently will continue to happen in the future.

On Tuesday, May 12, 2020, David John Marotta appeared on Radio 1070 WINA’s Schilling Show with Rob Schilling to discuss government regulations which made it more difficult for the free markets to cope with COVID-19.

The cost of a second home is large. Large enough that it can ruin your retirement plan.

While there may be ineffective charities which still deserve your support, this process may reveal ways that we can encourage ourselves, our charities, and our charitable giving to do better.

It is difficult to know which sites to trust, but it is easy to know that someone is violating one of the eight safeguarding your money standards or can’t answer the ten questions to ask a financial advisor.

For most families, the largest purchase they make will be their house. This 2011 post reminds us that the house you and your family live in is not an investment, but real estate can be.

Even if the world was ending, I still want to have a mortgage.

In this talk, David demonstrates how Roth conversions can be extremely valuable even if a client is always in the same tax bracket.

Don’t delay getting your finances in order until you get your finances in order. Ask for help today and see what wisdom a financial advisor has to share.

By decoupling your standard of living from the size of your income, you have taken the first step toward financial freedom.

An entrepreneur is valued for innovation. To innovate almost always requires failure first.

The worst cause of employer stress is the fact that there exist many financial salespeople who offer plans which benefit themselves at excessive cost to the employer and their employees.

We need to go beyond good intentions. The underprivileged among us deserve good results.

We would expect the switch to Frankiln funds to save our clients 0.11% annually due to the lower expense ratio.

On December 19, 2020, David John Marotta appeared on Radio 1070 WINA’s Real Estate Matters with host Michael Guthrie.

Which account you should fund depends on your circumstances. However, there are some general guidelines you can follow to make your decision.

The only correct answer to Debit or Credit is “Credit!”

The value of a stock is simply what people are willing to pay for it.

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.

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

We recommend this gone-fishing portfolio for accounts hosted at Vanguard.

Looking closer into each asset class, here’s how our top six asset classes performed between January 1 and December 31, 2020.

Which account you should fund depends on your circumstances. However, there are some general guidelines you can follow to make your decision.

With timeless advice, this article can help you make decisions during uncertain times.

Avoid allowing the firm that has custody of your assets to also give you advice.

On Tuesday, December 15, 2020, David John Marotta appeared on Radio 1070 WINA’s Schilling Show to talk about his newly co-authored book, “The Haunting of Bob Cratchit.”

In the same night in which Ebenezer Scrooge is haunted, the spirits also visit Bob Cratchit.

We can gift our loved ones a powerful gift while maintaining a budget.

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.

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

When you get out of the markets, you have made a huge gamble with your retirement money, and now the stakes are high.

Individual sectors of the economy have reacted very differently to the pandemic.

Who can remember every purchase you made? But remembering is how to keep your purchases reasonable.

Consumers often presume that an advisor associated with a large commission-based brokerage firm will have a team of managers supervising their advisor. This is a misconception.

As fiduciaries, we are on your side to ensure that your goals are met. Protecting you from elder fraud is just one of the many services we can offer as a part of comprehensive financial planning.

Every day, the government has the chance to free our children from this burden.

“No decent planner would ever create a plan that didn’t account for frequent market drops.”

Rekenthaler’s proposed narrowing of choices to a one-size fits all national solution provides a poor substitution for our current choices.

I’m turning 60 this week. Even though I plan on working as long as possible, this is an important check point.

This 2013 article explores whether the person who sits idly by while their stocks increase their net worth deserves the money they make.

They admit that they do not rebalance, have been subject to lawsuits claiming they are predatory, and are held to a relaxed standard designed specifically for them.

In short selling, a bankrupt stock is the best thing that can happen, but the worst thing that can happen is that the stock price will rise.

On Tuesday, February 11, 2020, David John Marotta appeared on Radio 1070 WINA’s Schilling Show to take a closer look at the calls for free college education in the socialist utopia.

That is not what anyone means by the term “rebalancing.” The misuse of the term on Investment News was glaring.