New Parents

Now that we’ve been parents for a few months, I can confidently say all of these items vastly improved our journey into parenthood.

For babies born in 2023, here are the amounts that should be saved starting at birth to cover four years of college expenses at age 18.

To help you get a good financial start as parents, here’s a financial checklist for new parents.

There are many questions that first time moms ask their veteran friends. Among the top list is, what do you really need to care for a baby?

By flowing money through a 529 account, a Virginia tax payer could receive a $575 discount on their private school tuition.

On Monday, October 26, 2020, Megan Russell was interviewed by Sunny Burns and Sunmarie Burns of the FamVestor podcast.

This isn’t the kind of article you think it is. My daughter wore disposable diapers.

Here’s some advice from one daughter employee to a would-be parent employer.

When I was a teen, my grandfather George Marotta passed down to me his copy of “What You Need to Know Before You Invest” by Rod Davis. I recommend this book as way to gain a baseline understanding.

“We have simply not been able to serve those who really need us the most.”

Thank you, Robert, for your email and your readership. I hope that everyone enjoys our new “Do-It-Yourself” service level.

If you have to choose between your retirement or your children’s college savings, choose your retirement.

I began my DIY journey learning about science, so it feels best to start you there as well.

As the parent, it can be hard to know what to do with a cash gift for a baby.

We don’t write a lot about how to spend money, but an international study published this year claims to have found the route from wealth to well-being through spending money.

Families that consider generational financial planning techniques can reduce the burden of taxes on the family as a whole.

The IRS does not require dependents whose gross income is only earned income to file a tax return if the amount is less than a certain amount.

Before the children arrive, squirrel away some money. When the children go out on their own you get one last chance to save for retirement.

Here are ten principles for teaching children about money.

If a budget isn’t a team effort, one member of the family will hold the purse strings and everyone else will be resentful.

Give your children experience spending their own money.

You can only contribute to your Roth IRA if you have what the IRS calls “earned” income. This makes it all the more important to contribute to your Roth IRA every year you can.

Sometimes, there isn’t enough to do it all. Even then, fund your Roth.

The average married couple has dreams of multiple children, annual vacations, and homeownership, but planning for these expenses can be challenging.

How to judge if your money was well spent.

Someone has to be proactive about your child’s retirement and every year you don’t open a retirement account is another year you’re holding back compound interest.

Any money you put away and invest now will have the longest time to grow, due to the magic (or actually, the mathematics) of compound interest.

The complete guide to saving money while washing your clothes. What temperature should the water be? What cycle should I use? What detergent should I use?

The complete guide to saving money while drying your clothes. Should I air dry? Can I line dry inside? Is there ever a case when my dryer is cheaper?

The complete guide to saving money while getting your dishes clean. Does hand washing save money? Should I pre-wash? How full should I fill my dishwasher?

Some suggest using ten times your take home salary as a rough rule of thumb when determining life insurance. Like all such rules, this rough guide is found lacking in many situations.

Financial planning means supporting the goals of stay-at-home parents to be with their children.

We teach teenagers a lot more about sexuality than we do about money. This can confuse them about what they should be learning. Give this article to a teenager and encourage him or her to start a Roth IRA.

Franco Modigliani won the Nobel Prize for a simple technique that squirrels know intuitively from birth. You have to squirrel away some nuts during times of plenty so you can survive during times of scarcity.

David Marotta and Megan Marotta were featured on October 11, 2011 on radio 1070 WINA’s Schilling Show discussing the importance of teaching your children about money and giving them a “rich” mindset.

Parents with disabled children must have an estate plan to provide without disqualifying them from receiving public assistance.

Students are graduating with larger debt loads than they were 10 years ago. Public four-year college borrowers graduate with an average of $19,800 in debt; their nonprofit private college counterparts graduate owing $26,100.

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.

Don’t borrow or withdraw money from your IRA.

Prepaid programs are not safe. They just assume a different type of risk.

If you are one of the 92% with children under the age of 18 who haven’t started a 529 plan, we encourage you to meet with a fee-only financial advisor soon. You can never start too early, and it’s never too late to do something.

In the past three years Joshua’s account has grown a whopping 76.6% averaging 22.5% per year.

If you are not saving for college you are falling behind.

Education matters. He who doesn’t teach his son a trade teaches him to steal.