After a lifetime of hard work, financial independence is a reward to be enjoyed. We help our clients enjoy the reward by planning ahead and monitoring their cash flow ever year thereafter to insure success.

List of Related Articles    Sort by    Latest  |   Earliest  |   Most Viewed  |   Most Popular

1. Inflation Part 2: The Results of Underreporting Inflation (2008-06-23)
   Officially, inflation today is about 4%. Unofficially, it is over 7%. Inflation at this rate causes serious harm to our nation's economy and its citizens.
   
   
2. Compute Your Net Worth Once A Year (2006-02-06)
   Belated Happy New Year! Now that the confetti has been swept up and your head is a little clearer, how do things look? Specifically, now that you are a year closer to retirement, are you on track to meet your goals? Have you measured? What gets measured is more likely to be accomplished. Computing your net worth once a year is the first and most important step toward financial security.
   
   
3. Part 2: Privatization Could Fix Social Security (2008-10-20)
   Privatizing the system could break the political deadlock between cutting future benefits and raising payroll taxes. We can have both our benefits and lower taxes if we finally admit that socializing retirement was a mistake and once again trust in the power of free markets.
   
   
4. Part 1: Social Security Is Still Broken (2008-10-13)
   If you think the $700 billion bailout of the mortgage crisis was expensive, wait until we need to bail out Social Security. Between 2037 and 2075 the Social Security program is projected to run deficits totaling $30 trillion. And annual shortfalls are projected to start as soon as 2017.
   
   
5. Maximum Safe Withdrawal Rates in Retirement (2008-06-09)
   Certain assumptions such as maximum safe withdrawal rate are critical in order not to compromise a long and successful retirement.
   
   
6. IRAs Offer Big Tax Savings for Charitable Gifts (2007-10-22)
   For a few more days this year, the tax law will allow you to give to charity directly from your IRA and count that gift toward your required minimum distribution. Giving to charity from your IRA will also provide you with additional tax savings. But, to qualify, you must make your donations before 2008.
   
   
7. Learning to Live on Your Own, Part 1 (2008-02-11)
   If you're like most of today's college graduates, you may find yourself ill prepared for the real world of financial responsibility. You never saw how your parents lived when they were first married and struggling. Consequently, you may be basing your after-school expectations on an upper-middle-class lifestyle. Here is my financial advice for those of you learning to live on your own.
   
   
8. Retirement Assumptions Are Critical (2008-06-02)
   If you put the same assumptions into 10 different retirement calculators, you will most likely get 10 different results. The largest number may be more than twice as much as the smallest. Retirement doesn't give you a second chance. Measure twice and retire once.
   
   
9. 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?
   
   
10. Learning to Live on Your Own, Part 2 (2008-02-18)
    Here we offer some sound advice on how to put the money you've saved to work for you.
    
    
11. Remember to Fund Your Roth IRA (2008-03-10)
    If you are eligible, make sure you fund your Roth IRA or your Roth 401(k) this year with the maximum contribution possible. It may be your last chance to pay a reasonable tax rate before the prevailing winds of class envy swamp your retirement sailboat.
    
    
12. That Rebate Check Could Ruin Your Retirement Part 2 (2008-05-19)
    Anyone who spends more than 4% of their rebate will actually lose ground saving toward their retirement.
    
    
13. Rebalance Accounts Regularly (2008-07-07)
    A year ago when the markets were all setting new highs, people were asking what they should do with their retirement portfolio. I answered, "Rebalance." Now that the market is setting new lows, I get the same question, and my response hasn't changed.
    
    
14. Social Security Is Hopelessly Broken (2005-02-14)
    Social Security is neither a pension plan, nor a genuine trust fund. It has no assets, and it has always been a redistribution system from those who are working to the elderly. It is hopelessly broken and no small fix will solve the fundamental flaw.
    
    
15. Taking Early Retirement Withdrawals (2008-05-26)
    Many academics are 403(b) rich. But they are poor in terms of their spendable assets, which limits estate planning and tax management options. It also makes retiring early difficult. Fortunately, an IRS 72(t) exception can help with early retirement.
    
    
16. Employee Retirement Options - Part 1 (2007-10-08)
    Most workers are putting all their retirement assets in the basket of their employer's retirement plan. They are depending on one employer and two dozen eggs (funds) to hatch and maintain their lifestyle, independence and dignity in their later years.
    
    
17. Fund Your HSA to Cover Retirement Healthcare Costs (2007-11-12)
    Even if you do not need to, we recommend funding your account with the maximum allowed. If your HSA builds up it may help you cover any extra medical expenses during retirement.
    
    
18. Squirrel Away Money While You Can (2005-09-12)
    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.
    
    
19. How Medicare Works (2007-11-19)
    Many seniors look forward to saving on medical insurance costs by enrolling in Medicare at age sixty-five. However, navigating the Medicare system is not for the faint of heart. Medicare is an alphabet soup of plan choices. Currently Medicare is organized as parts A through D.
    
    
20. 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).
    
    
21. Roth Conversions Can Help Build Wealth (2007-11-05)
    If you don't have retirement savings in Roth IRAs, it's time you considered the benefit of these tax-savings accounts. These so called "Roth conversions" can be performed on traditional IRAs. And, beginning in 2008, it will be easier to roll money from an employer plan into a Roth IRA.
    
    
22. Retirement Wisdom Part 6 - Have a concrete plan (2004-12-06)
    Saving something toward retirement and hoping for the best does not constitute an adequate plan. Because retirement is years - even decades - away, planning is more critical, not less. The more detailed the retirement plan, the greater the likelihood of success.
    
    
23. Employee Retirement Options - Part 2 (2007-10-15)
    Most employees have all their retirement eggs in one basket --their employer's retirement plan. The plans usually offer less than two dozen fund choices to cover all your hopes of maintaining your lifestyle, independence, and dignity in your later years. If most of your retirement assets are with your employer, here's how to make the most of what you've got.
    
    
24. The Business of Being an Artist - Part 1 (2007-08-13)
    The image of the starving artist has prevailed too long. Here are the financial essentials that artists avoid at their peril.
    
    
25. Financial Planning for the Second Half of Marriage (2007-04-02)
    My wife and I are celebrating our twenty-fifth wedding anniversary this month. Our oldest child is now a freshman in college and our youngest is a sophomore in high school. The financial planning issues that were important during the first half of our marriage become critical as a couple enters the second half.
    
    
26. Compute Your Net Worth Once A Year (2004-01-05)
    The yearly cycle of financial planning begins with computing your net worth at the start of each New Year.
    
    
27. 50+ Retirement Planning - Part 1 (2005-05-08)
    The latest time to plan for retirement is when you are fifty-something. Five years is not enough time to prepare for retirement. Here are the issues you should be worried about when you are within ten to fifteen years of retirement.
    
    
28. Roth IRA Conversion Makes Cents (2006-09-18)
    There are years and situations when a Roth conversion is not appropriate, but they are often surrounded by years when it should be considered.
    
    
29. Retirement Wisdom Part 7 - Start Early (2004-12-13)
    There is an urgency to planning for your retirement. Some choices can be postponed, while others will severely impact your financial freedom later in life.
    
    
30. Financial Help for the New Year (2007-12-31)
    We all want to be slim, eat healthy and get our financial house in order, but few of us are disciplined enough to accomplish all that without help. After the indulgences of the holidays, both gustatory and financial, inevitably you'll probably resolve once again to make some changes in all these areas. You owe it to yourself and your family to make certain you keep your financial New Year's resolutions this year.
    
    
31. Roth IRA vs. the Traditional IRA (2006-09-11)
    Individual Retirement Accounts were created to give Americans an incentive to save for retirement by combining the benefits of compounding interest with a favorable tax status.
    
    
32. Retirement Wisdom Part 1 - Plan Ahead (2004-10-25)
    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 decades. Saving what you can and hoping for the best is an expensive and dangerous approach.
    
    
33. 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.
    
    
34. 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.
    
    
35. How Your Children Can Win the Stock Market Game (2006-02-20)
    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.
    
    
36. Retirement Wisdom Part 2 - Automate Your Saving (2004-11-01)
    The most successful way to save it is to automate your saving plan. Saved money makes money. And saved money making more money can make the differece between upper middle class and struggling middle class. Automate your savings, and you will automate growing richer.
    
    
37. 50+ Retirement Products - Part 2 (2005-05-23)
    To insure retirement success, everyone agrees, the decade before retirement is the time to make sure that everything is in place for retirement. Mistakes made during this period, if not corrected early enough, can devastate the chances of a long and prosperous retirement.
    
    
38. 50+ Retirement Investing - Part 3 (2005-05-30)
    Fifty-something just beginning the second half of life, and members of the Red Hat Society understand that the fun is just beginning. You need to have an investment plan that can last the second half century as well as you will.
    
    
39. How to Double Your Retirement (2005-12-26)
    Every six years you delay saving and investing you cut in half the lifestyle you will have in retirement. You owe it to yourself and your family to make certain that your financial New Year’s Resolution are kept this year. Here are ways to save and to invest that are simple and specific enough to keep.
    
    
40. Tax Planning for Small Business Owners (2006-11-20)
    Small business owners enjoy more flexibility when it comes to tax maneuvering. That's why tax planning is especially important for small businesses. Whether your business employs one employee or one hundred employees, last-minute tax moves can save you money, if you act before the end of the year.
    
    
41. The Alternatives to Privatizing Social Security Are Worse - Part 1 (2005-02-28)
    My column on privatizing social security generated a great deal of outrage and name calling, but no real alternate proposal. That isn’t surprising since the alternatives to privatization all have dire unintended consequences.
    
    
42. Retirement Wisdom Part 3 - Review Annually (2004-11-08)
    Whatever financial changes come your way, an annual reviews guarantees that the changes in your lifestyle are minimized and the chances of meeting your retirement goal are maximized.
    
    
43. Be Smart When You Rollover Your 401(k) (2007-01-29)
    There are few better investment returns than an employer's matching contribution made to your 401(k). But after you retire or leave that company's employment, you should almost always roll your 401(k) into an IRA for better investment choices. Being smart by rolling over your 401(k) can pay dividends for decades.
    
    
44. Consider Delaying Social Security Benefits (2007-06-11)
    Over seven out of every ten Americans opt to receive their Social Security checks as soon as possible. This is usually a mistake. By delaying when you start receiving your benefits, you may receive more money and ensure you have a better retirement in the long run.
    
    
45. Medicare Part D deserves an F (2005-11-14)
    Medicare’s prescription drug program debuts January 1, 2006, marking the largest government entitlement program since Johnson’s Great Society. Known as 'Medicare Part D,' the plan subsidizes prescription coverage for millionaire and destitute seniors alike. But, the pork spending and boondoggle regulations aren’t even half the problem. Part D may bring some prescription benefits to low-income seniors in the short-term, but the unintended consequences are guaranteed to make us all sick in the long run.
    
    
46. Retirement Wisdom Part 4 - Adjust Risk Appropriately (2004-11-15)
    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.
    
    
47. Seniors Face Six Month Deadline for Drug Coverage (2005-11-07)
    Medicare launches its prescription drug program on January 1, 2006. The plan offers subsidies to seniors who sign up for Medicare’s prescription drug insurance. Although enrollment begins November 15th, many seniors are still confused about the program.
    
    
48. The Alternatives to Privatizing Social Security Are Worse - Part 2 (2005-03-07)
    Those critical to privatizing social security rarely ever focus on the cost of the alternatives. That’s because the alternatives to privatization all have dire consequences. Last week we saw that neither raising taxes nor lowering benefits will solve the financial burden of fewer younger workers and longer living boomers. This week we will dispel the myth that allowing the government to invest in the markets would be anything but a disaster.
    
    
49. Narrowly Framed Questions Fail to Meet Life Goals (2006-10-30)
    The marketing of financial products has caused investors to focus too narrowly on the details of specific investments. As a result, most investors fixate on asking the wrong questions and fail to ask the strategic questions necessary to tailor their investments to best reach their life goals.
    
    
50. Look Over Your Tax Return (2005-05-02)
    Unless it was your birthday, most of us are glad we have almost a year before we have to get our tax information together again. Before you store this past year’s return in the basement, take fifteen minutes, put your 1040 on the table beside this article, and gain some valuable wisdom on your finances.
    
    
51. Dear Ready to Retire (2006-03-06)
    Dear Marotta Asset Management,
    My wife and I are hoping to retire soon. What percentage of our investments can we withdraw each year? And, do you recommend a high-yield investment portfolio to create the necessary cash flow during retirement?
    --Ready to Retire
    
    
52. Roth IRAs Make Great Estate Planning Tools (2006-09-25)
    If the tax-free growth of a Roth IRA wasn’t enough to wet your appetite, the estate planning benefits it offers should seal the deal. Bequeathing a Roth is much the same as setting up a life-time tax-free stream of income for your heirs. Because Uncle Sam has already taken his cut of the principal when you put the money in, withdrawals from a Roth can be made tax-free, either by you or by your beneficiaries. All this happens simply by naming the appropriate beneficiaries for your Roth.
    
    
53. Fund a teenager’s retirement as a multi-millionaire for only $18,000! (2004-01-19)
    We teach teenagers ten times more about sexuality than money. Many get the wrong message about what we expect them to be engaged in. Give this article to a teenager and encourage them to start a Roth IRA.
    
    
54. VRS: A bird in hand or two in the bush? (2006-03-20)
    Dear Marotta Asset Management,
    I’m retiring this summer with over 30 years’ contributions in my Virginia Retirement System (VRS) account. Because I’ve worked past the full retirement age of 65, I can participate in Partial Lump-Sum Option Payment (PLOP) plan. If I participate in PLOP, I will receive a $29,588 lump sum rolled into a retirement account. If I choose to do that, my monthly VRS income will be reduced by $216. Is this a good choice?
    --Decided to Retire
    
    
55. Florence Mortlock - Dignity is a Happy Ending (2006-03-27)
    Many of our attitudes are learned from the family stories we grow up with. How we handle our finances will influence generations. The life of my grandmother, Florence Mortlock, provided me with many life lessons on finance and financial planning.
    
    
56. Social Security Can Be Saved (2004-01-12)
    Social Security can be saved. The solution actually costs less while preserving benefits. It is nothing short of miraculous.
    
    
57. Women have unique financial needs (2003-10-13)
    Retirement planning is even more crucial for women than for men.
    
    

You can visit http://emarotta.com/mailman/listinfo/moneyadvice to sign-up for our weekly email newsletter, "Marotta On Money". This subscription is a valuable educational tool, and it is absolutely free! Each week we send out timely reminders of the annual actions recommended to monitor your finances for long term investing. You may unsubscribe at any time, so don't hesitate to try your free subscription today!