Personal Finance Advice

There are many things you can do to improve your finances. We talk a lot about the various ways to cut your spending and increase your savings, both big and small. All the options can be difficult to sort out. There can be a lot to learn, particularly if you’re new to looking after your [...]

I grew up hearing my dad say “Most people don’t know how money works.” He is a Certified Financial Planner, and while there were a few drawbacks growing up the son of a financial planner (no Gameboy or frivolous purchases unless we had saved up for them in advance), it also had huge advantages. Hearing [...]

As children, we are often taught by our parents to do well in school, go to college and get a good job to succeed financially in life? We have all heard that being active and hard work will make us healthy and wealthy. But being an active participant isn’t always good for your financial health. [...]

I’m a big fan of index funds because, quite frankly, I don’t know much about investing and I would rather spend my time doing other things than learning how to invest in individual companies. Warren Buffett agrees with me on this as his response to a question at the Berkshire Hathaway annual shareholder meeting: “If [...]

I’m a huge fan of reading. I believe that reading, both fiction and non-fiction, is a great way to learn new things and be exposed to more than you typically see in your daily life. If you want to learn something new, like personal finance, you can’t beat a good book. You can go at [...]

It’s an old saying: “Money doesn’t grow on trees.” But what if it did? What would that look like? Would everybody be rich and well taken care of due to readily available money? Or would we still end up with rich, middle class and poor people? Here’s what I bet would happen if money really [...]

By David John Marotta For the past seven years US markets have experienced the ripple effects of the tech sector’s correction in 2000. The latest waves have been in the slow decline of the housing market and, now, in the weakening of the commercial real estate market. While economists can’t always explain the timing of [...]

By David John Marotta and Beth Anderson Nedelisky Would you be willing to give a contractor a blank check and no time limit to build your dream home? Beware of doing the same thing with your finances. Without a financial plan, your investments are controlling your dreams, not the other way around. You need a [...]

By David John Marotta 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. You have probably heard the statistic that most actively managed funds fail to beat their indexes. Here’s why. Most [...]

I understand the argument behind the advice of putting at least a 20% down payment on a house purchase. No one wants to pay private mortgage insurance and the idea of getting two different loans to avoid it isn’t that great either. I imagine if you are a previous homeowner and have some equity from [...]

By David John Marotta 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 [...]

By David John Marotta and Justin Harris Purchasing a car is the second biggest spending decision we face as consumers next to buying a home. Unlike real estate or an investment portfolio which appreciates, cars are rapidly depreciating assets. In addition to the car’s sticker price, operating expenses can drive the unsuspecting consumer into the [...]

By David John Marotta and Beth Anderson Nedelisky The average college student graduates with almost $20,000 in student loans. While this is a daunting sum, it is still possible to build wealth even while paying off student debt. But earning the degree and paying for the degree require two different kinds of smarts. In fact, [...]

By David John Marotta If your credit card minimum payment was $10 and you repaid it every month for 15 1/2 years with an accruing interest of 15.9%, a $1,000 purchase would end up costing $2,250. Every time you use your credit card to pay for something you risk it being marked up two and [...]

By David John Marotta Putting all of your retirement eggs in one basket is easy to carry, but risky. 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 Investing in Socially Responsible Mutual Funds, I explained that most socially responsible funds provide subpar returns compared to traditional funds. I also talked about how you may not agree with many of these funds’ definition of socially responsible. If you’d like to invest only in companies you support or try to achieve better returns [...]

You may not be able to sleep at night knowing that you own a tiny piece of Halliburton, nor will you be able to sleep at night in 25 years if you can’t afford to send your kids to college. Investing is essential to your future financial security — even if you manage to sock [...]

I’m amazed at how often I hear people say they are afraid to invest in the stock market because they believe it is too high-risk. Often, the same people are already taking financial risks – albeit smaller ones – in order to save money. In fact, risk taking is an essential part of many means [...]

In my recent article about how to start an IRA with $1 in 15 minutes, I said that you would be putting your money into a money market fund. I thought I should explain in more detail what this is for those of you who decided to go this route, so that you are informed [...]

I personally deal mostly with taxes in my professional capacity of an accountant. However, I have also come across a lot of the ins-and-outs when it comes to 401(k) plans as I used to audit 401(k) plans for large companies, and currently am involved in the setup, administration of, and accounting for 401(k) plans for [...]