Each of the Registered Investment Advisors of our firm subscribes to the NAPFA (National Association of Personal Financial Advisors) code of ethics – the highest standards in the financial services industry. (See www.NAPFA.org) NAPFA members:

• Must show compliance with federal and state investment advisor regulators
• Must show evidence of advanced education in the field
• Must have at least three years' experience in comprehensive financial planning
• Must submit a financial plan for peer review
• Must submit documents that show that the planner is Fee-Only, does not work for a firm that sells financial products, and does not receive any compensation for recommending specific products or services.
• Must sign a fiduciary oath and commit to a client-centered relationship. Every year upon renewal each member attests to continuing to uphold all of NAPFA's membership requirements. Fee-Only compensation allows members to work solely for their clients.
• Members complete 60 hours of continuing education every two years. These hours must include topics in the six areas comprising comprehensive financial planning.

NAPFA Fiduciary Oath

"The advisor shall exercise his/her best efforts to act in good faith and in the best interests of the client. The advisor shall provide written disclosure to the client prior to the engagement of the advisor, and thereafter throughout the term of the engagement, of any conflicts of interest, which will or reasonably may compromise the impartiality or independence of the advisor."

"The advisor, or any party in which the advisor has a financial interest, does not receive any compensation or other remuneration that is contingent on any client's purchase or sale of a financial product. The advisor does not receive a fee or other compensation from another party based on the referral of a client or the client's business."

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1. Safeguard #1: Do Not Allow Your Advisor to Have Custody of Your Investments (2009-01-12)
   I was recently asked if investors should trust their financial advisors. And my short answer, you may be surprised to hear, was no. Your financial advisor should not also have custody of your investments.
   
   
2. Safeguard #6: Recognize And Avoid Financial Hooks (2009-02-16)
   To safeguard your money, you must be able to extricate yourself from any bad investment quickly. Of course, the companies that sell mistakes don't want you to be able to do that, so they use financial hooks to hold your money captive.
   
   
3. What Your Advisor Doesn't Want You To Ask (2005-09-19)
   Simply put, the term "fiduciary" applies to the more than five million individuals who have the legal responsibility for managing someone else's money. A fiduciary is required by law to always act in the best interests of their client, beneficiary, or retirement plan participant. Yet, many fiduciaries are not even aware of their legal responsibilities.
   
   
4. Retirement Wisdom Part 5 - Value Objective Advice (2004-11-22)
   Would you complain if your $100,000 investment grew to $5.2 million dollars over 50 years? Probably not, but how would you feel if you found out it would have grown to $16.7 million had you not lost $11.5 million to unnecessary fees, expenses and commissions?
   
   
5. Safeguard #2: Walk Away from "Too Good to Be True" (2009-01-19)
   There are several investment safeguards you should insist on. One is to avoid any investment opportunity that sounds too good to be true.
   
   
6. Ruling Allows Broker Conflict of Interest (2005-06-06)
   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."
   
   
7. Safeguard #4: Buy Investments That Trend Upward (2009-02-02)
   Crazy volatile markets push people toward irrational investment schemes. Know how to avoid them in order to safeguard your money.
   
   
8. Getting Started With Investing (2009-04-20)
   There isn't a better time to invest than today. Getting started can be intimidating, but these simple steps will help you through your first few years of investing.
   
   
9. Safeguard #5: Understand Your Investment Strategy (2009-02-09)
   You have a critical part to play in financial planning. Certain responsibilities cannot be delegated to others.
   
   
10. How to Monitor Your Financial Advisor (2004-12-20)
    The National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) offers the following advice about how to protect yourself as you work with a financial advisor.
    
    
11. Safeguard #3: Insist on Publicly Priced and Traded Investments (2009-01-26)
    One important safeguards is to insist on investing only in liquid assets. Investors undervalue liquidity 99.9% of the time. You need to be in the other 0.1%.
    
    
12. Seven Termites That Eat Your 401(k) (2009-07-27)
    We call the difference between the market return and typical investor returns the "termite gap."
    
    
13. Blending Index Funds to Achieve Higher Returns (2007-07-23)
    If you have been following my investment advice closely, you can probably guess that I don't favor stock-picking as the best way to meet your financial goals. But even if you favor index funds, as I do, that doesn't mean you have to use them exclusively.
    
    
14. Marotta Advisors join NAPFA Bus in Richmond, Virginia (2008-11-20)
    NAPFA members from across the state of Virginia met in Richmond on Thursday, November 20th, 2008, to conduct free advice events and symposiums to help consumers get their financial life back in order.
    
    
15. Safeguard 7: Avoid Investment Advisors Who Sugarcoat Reality (2009-06-22)
    Excellent advisors communicate clearly exactly how bad the markets have been and can be.
    
    
16. IPS: Build Your Financial Dream Home with a Good Blueprint (2007-02-05)
    Without a financial plan, your investments are controlling your dreams, not the other way around. You need a blueprint for your financial dreams to come true. That blueprint in sound financial planning is called an Investment Policy Statement (IPS).
    
    
17. The False Lure of Multi-Level Marketing (2009-08-03)
    Multi-level marketing (MLM), or network marketing, is a nonsustainable business model because it does not provide a valuable service but simply a product that has been marked up in price.
    
    
18. 529 Plans: What's Important? (2005-10-17)
    529 plans are the best vehicle to save for college. But which one? Nationwide there are hundreds. In Virginia there are two: VEST (Virginia Education Savings Trust) and CollegeAmerica. There are several questions to address before the investor can make a wise choice.
    
    
19. Hedge Funds Aren't Worth The Risk Part 1 - What Are Hedge Funds? (2005-06-20)
    Hedge funds use a variety of non-traditional strategies in an attempt to minimize downside risk, a technique called hedging, hence their name. Greed is the flaw with Hedge funds. Hedge funds don't invest in growth, they speculate on change. And they have a dark side.
    
    
20. Safeguard 8: Avoid an Advisor with a Lavish Lifestyle (2009-06-29)
    There will always be swindlers masquerading as investment advisors. You can learn to recognize such people by their over-the-top lifestyle.
    
    
21. Hedge Funds Aren't Worth The Risk Part 2 - Poor Performance (2005-06-27)
    Hedge funds may seem attractive to the casual observer, but the naïve investor who is duped by their deceptive marketing may experience several years of dismal returns, excessive fees and irreconcilable conflicts of interest. If you own or are considering investing in a hedge fund, make certain you've done due diligence on the conditions, performance and compensation.
    
    
22. Rocks and Sand - Keeping Expense Ratios Low (2005-06-13)
    Rocks and sand are the composites of a good portfolio. Good portfolios have low expense ratios and minimal trading costs. Trading costs are the costs of buying a security. Depending on the brokerage house, the cost of a trade averages between $10 and $20. Expense ratios are the percentage of assets used to run a mutual fund, the overhead. We use a technique that keeps each of them as low as possible.
    
    
23. Keeping Expenses Low While Building Your Portfolio (2007-07-30)
    Q: I enjoyed reading about your "Rocks and Sand" technique to keep expense ratios low. I own iShares EAFE (EFA) for my foreign rock. What no-transaction fee foreign mutual fund that tracks the EAFE index do you recommend for monthly deposits until I purchase another "rock?" - Steve
    
    
24. Choose the Appropriate Investment Vehicle - Part 1 (2005-01-03)
    Different products have strengths and weaknesses. Each investor's situation is unique. There are significant advantages to using different investment vehicles in different types of accounts.
    
    
25. First Quarter Review 2008 (2008-04-28)
    The first quarter of 2008 made the difference between well-designed portfolios and poorly designed portfolios obvious. Check your quarterly statement to see which category describes your portfolio.
    
    
26. Foundation Series - 5 Mistakes (2006-06-05)
    When endowment funds fall victim to poor management, the results are as bad as they are far reaching. Whether an endowment serves to prop up operating budgets or grow company retirement investments, falling market values trigger a host of undesirable outcomes. In the face of dwindling endowment assets, non-profit organizations are left with little alternative but to cut grants and programs. However, the most egregious failures are those involving retirement funds, bankrupted by poor management.
    
    
27. Foundation Series - 1 Fulfilling Your Fiduciary Duty (2006-05-01)
    If you serve as a trustee, committee or board member for a non-profit organization, you may bear more responsibility than you bargained for. Legally, you could be defined as a 'fiduciary' and held to the highest legal and ethical standards for the property entrusted to your care. In fact, you could be held personally liable for your decisions.
    
    
28. How to Get Free-only Financial Advice (2005-02-07)
    Got some questions? Good news: Kiplinger's Personal Finance magazine is partnering with the National Association of Personal Financial Advisors (NAPFA) to sponsor Kiplinger's Jump-Start your Retirement Plan Days - a chance to get free financial advice by telephone from the nation's premier financial advisors.
    
    
29. Foundation Series - 4 Asset Allocation (2006-05-29)
    When it comes to predicting your investment returns, nothing influences returns more than your portfolio's asset allocation mix. It will determine most of your investment outcome. Endowment funds are no exception to this rule. For board members and trustees, choosing an appropriate asset mix is part of fulfilling fiduciary responsibility.
    
    
30. What the Rich Know and the Poor Do Not (2007-01-15)
    This new year, resolve to get your financial house in order so that you can enjoy peace of mind. Financial planning is important, but it is never urgent. Most people fail to establish a financial plan because they fail to start planning. Some resolutions can be postponed, but for every six years that you delay saving and investing, you cut your retirement lifestyle in half. So, act on your resolution today.
    
    
31. How much do you need to save this month? (2006-11-13)
    There are only a few critical financial planning questions you need to be able to answer. Probably the most important is, "How much money do I need to save this month to meet my goals?" Many people don't know the answer to this question and avoid it to the detriment of their long-term financial well-being.
    
    
32. Hedge Funds Aren't Worth The Risk Part 5 - What Hedge Funds Do Right (2005-07-18)
    Hedge funds are encumbered by high fees, limited transparency, inaccurate returns, poor liquidity, and practically no regulatory control. But they do incorporate some investments strategies that you can emulate.
    
    
33. Foundation Series - 3 Endowment Spending (2006-05-22)
    Non-profits seeking to establish endowment spending rates may find the task as difficult as the fundraising itself. Setting spending policy remains a balancing act between protecting purchasing power and providing for the spending needs of the institution. Ultimately, the tightrope act becomes a question of inter-generational equity. In other words, "Do we sacrifice the needs of the current generation to that of future generations, or visa versa?"
    
    
34. NAPFA Consumer Education Foundation (2006-10-16)
    The non-profit NAPFA Consumer Education Foundation is offering a series of monthly presentations in Charlottesville, beginning this Saturday. The Foundation is dedicated to bringing consumer financial education to communities across America.
    
    
35. Hedge Funds Aren't Worth The Risk Part 3 - Poor Compensation Structure (2005-07-04)
    Though no accurate reporting exists, studies suggest that Hedge funds often under-perform traditional mutual funds. Part of the drag on their returns is a result of their structure compensating hedge fund managers better than hedge fund investors.
    
    
36. Immediate Fixed Annuities Part 3 - Additional Questions (2004-07-19)
    Living below your means is the best financial security. With 30 or more years to live, retirees should invest for growth and diversify for stability.
    
    
37. Foundation Series - 2 Best Practices (2006-05-15)
    Perhaps you have been asked to serve as a board member or trustee for a non-profit organization. Your role as committee member, board member or trustee will likely designate you as a 'fiduciary,' a role with specific legal responsibilities. Certain responsibilities are common to all fiduciaries.
    
    
38. Hedge Funds Aren't Worth The Risk Part 4 - High Fees and Poor Regulatory Control (2005-07-11)
    We've criticized hedge funds for their closures, compensation scheme, poor performance, illiquidity and tax inefficient. As if these hadn't upset our friends in the hedge fund world enough, we have two more concerns: their high fees and lack of regulation.
    
    
39. Are You Paying For Your Fund's Advertising? (2005-11-28)
    If you own some mutual funds, chances are you are paying a hefty marketing price. This marketing expense is called the 12b-1 fee. The annual fee not only reduces your earnings, but it may also jeopardizes whether or not your investment advice is unbiased or self serving.
    
    
40. Build with Bricks, not Straw or Sticks (2005-09-05)
    We usually recommend only putting money in investments where there is a public market for pricing and trading. Requiring public pricing and trading for your investments will help you avoid some of the financial mistakes that can leave your financial house in ruins. The exceptions to this rule are few.
    
    
41. Immediate Fixed Annuities Part 2 - Immediate Fixed Annuities - The Hidden Risks (2004-07-12)
    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.
    
    
42. Immediate Fixed Annuities Part 1 -Immediate Fixed Annuities Aren't Really "Fixed" (2004-07-05)
    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.
    
    
43. How to Avoid Higher Cost Mutual Funds (2002-09-05)
    Investing in some mutual funds is like buying a $3 candy bar and paying $5 shipping and handling. All mutual funds are not created equal, and you can boost your returns by doing a little homework before writing a check.
    
    

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