The number of financial products vying for your investment dollars is overwhelming. Wise investors don’t learn from experience - they use the wisdom of the experienced. We have done the research for you and we are experienced. We can help you discern which investments are a rip off and which ones would help you accomplish your financial goals. And as fee-only advisors, our advice is completely objective.

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

1. 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?
   
   
2. 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.
   
   
3. Gold Mining Companies Glitter More Than Bullion (2008-03-24)
   Last week gold broke $1,000 an ounce. Gold advertisers and gold investment newsletters are touting their wares as though gold only goes up in value. Nothing could be further from the truth. Gold may glitter, but it is still better to own the mine.
   
   
4. 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).
   
   
5. Cash Has Been the Riskiest Investment (2007-12-03)
   If you think hiding money under your mattress is a risk-free way of building wealth, think again. Cash, it turns out, has been the riskiest investment since 2002. Many investors try to avoid risk by putting their money in a bank account or investing in CDs. But like any other investment, cash is subject to its own set of risks.
   
   
6. We Could be in a Real Estate Bubble (2005-01-24)
   Real estate prices, especially residential, have been increasing for almost a decade. Real home prices have increased nearly 60% since 1996 – roughly triple that of previous housing booms in the late 1970s and 1980s. Home values may be peaking and ready to correct.
   
   
7. 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.
   
   
8. 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.
   
   
9. 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.
   
   
10. 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.
    
    
11. Creating A Ladder for Retirement Income (2006-01-16)
    Laddered bonds are an effective means of finishing that climb to financial success. For the 75 million baby boomers who begin turning 60 this year, this simple investment tool can help America’s soon-to-be retirees maintain financial health in the years to come. If you are retired or planning on retiring soon, a tailor-made laddered bond portfolio can provide a dependable income stream without compromising your growth investments—even during your retirement years!
    
    
12. 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.
    
    
13. 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.
    
    
14. University Students: Getting Sucked Dry by Credit Cards (2007-09-03)
    Last week we listed the ways university student are enticed into using credit cards. This week we will examine the economical impact of those initially small and convenient monthly payments.
    
    
15. 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.
    
    
16. Joshua and the Wall of College Savings (2005-10-10)
    Four-years of college currently cost $60,000 at a public university. In eighteen years, it may cost more than $145,000. To stay ahead of rising tuition costs, you should plan ahead and save early. Tax-favored 529 accounts can help you provide an excellent college education for your children and grandchildren.
    
    
17. 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.
    
    
18. 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.
    
    
19. Country Specific Investing Pays Dividends (2005-07-25)
    The iShares MSCI EAFE fund (EFA) based on the International Index lost 1.92 percent during the first half of 2005. For larger accounts, we recommend a strategy designed to enhance the international index with a diversified collection of countries that on average should do better than this International index.
    
    
20. 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.
    
    
21. Choose the Appropriate Investment Vehicle - Part 3 (2005-01-17)
    There is an art to selecting the right investment vehicles for individual portfolios. Different types of advisors are prone to recommend different financial vehicles. You need to make certain that your best interests are used to best reach your financial objectives.
    
    
22. Exchange Traded Funds (2005-01-31)
    There has been nothing new in finance in the last fifty years - except exchange-traded funds. Exchange Traded Funds, or ETFs, combine many of the best characteristics of stocks and mutual funds.
    
    
23. 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.
    
    
24. Socially Responsible Investing (2006-07-17)
    Seeking to use your investment selection in order to be socially responsible is misguided. Though it may assuage a guilty conscience, it is an ineffective tool for corporate change. If you put so many constraints on your portfolio that you cannot meet your financial responsibilities, then you have taken the speck out of your brother’s eye but failed to notice the log in your own eye.
    
    
25. 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.
    
    
26. 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.
    
    
27. 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.
    
    
28. 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.
    
    
29. 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.
    
    
30. Donald Mortlock - Making a Free Market (2006-04-10)
    Most investors in the stock market know what a stock is but don’t understand how the "market" itself works. Understanding how a market works is helpful to appreciate both how and why prices fluctuate.
    
    
31. Choose the Appropriate Investment Vehicle - Part 2 (2005-01-10)
    There is an art to selecting the right investment vehicles for individual portfolios. A good investment advisor will tailor the investments to the specific characteristics of the investor’s situation.
    
    
32. Immediate Fixed Annuities Part 1 -Immediate Fixed Annuities Aren’t Are “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.
    
    
33. 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.
    
    
34. Speed is not critical when investing (2004-01-26)
    An investor is like an orchard farmer who goes to the store to buy some peach trees. A speculator buys some peach trees because he sees that the store is running out, and then stands in the parking lot hoping to resell at a profit.
    
    
35. Careful records can result in capital gains (2004-02-16)
    Keeping a careful accounting of your investment’s cost basis isn’t glamorous, but it can help you save time and money when it comes time to sell.
    
    
36. 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.
    
    
37. Gifting Your Gains Can Save You Money (2003-10-06)
    Americans are a generous people, and this is the time of year when most people do their charitable giving.
    
    
38. Investment Losses Can Save You Money (2003-09-29)
    In the process of building wealth, saving a penny on your taxes is just as important as earning a penny in the markets.
    
    
39. The History of Mutual Funds (2003-03-10)
    The purpose was to pool money in order to obtain professional management to attain an investment objective and diversification at a reasonable cost.
    
    

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!