Author Archives: David John Marotta

Many financial writers get the answer to this question wrong.

It is important to understand your investment philosophy well enough to know what they aren’t telling you.

A 2007 article that stands the test of time. This is the year you should keep your financial resolutions. Getting help from an objective advisor can provide both a powerful catalyst for action and real peace of mind.

Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol is one of the best stories for talking about economics. This 2003 – 2012 series uses the classic tale to illustrate different financial personalities, principles, and philosophies.

All in all, this card is a fairly easy way to pay 5% less for any Amazon purchase.

These credit cards won’t change your life, and they shouldn’t, but they can get back a very small portion of the money you spend each month.

Hard work can often only be learned by struggling. You can’t teach your children to live within their means if you always supplement their means.

Which account you should fund depends on your circumstances. However, there are some general guidelines you can follow to make your decision.

Did you know David wrote a Christmas novel? This 2020 book by David John Marotta and Brendon Marotta makes you rethink what is happening in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol.

You don’t need their product. You don’t even need to know why their specific product is bad. Just say no.

As this 2003 post remind us, “The worst financial problems stem from trying to live a champagne and caviar lifestyle on a beer and chips budget” and it has a few common sense rules to uncommon cents savings.

Yes, many retirees may die with significant assets. However, this helps to ensure that they have sufficient assets to support their lifestyle should they make it to age 100.

On Tuesday, November 9, 2021, David John Marotta appeared on Radio 1070 WINA’s Schilling Show with Rob Schilling to talk about health insurance subsidies and inflation.

This 2011 article reminds us that there will never be another you in the history of the universe. Sometimes that is just the reminder we need.

The annual drag of taxable account taxation may seem like a small amount, but the effect over long periods of time such as 30 years is significant.

You don’t need to know why an annuity is a bad deal to say no.

Many adult children are returning to live at home somewhat involuntarily. What can parents do to help? This 2011 article offers some wisdom.

On Tuesday, August 10, 2021, David John Marotta appeared on Radio 1070 WINA’s Schilling Show with Rob Schilling to talk about Systemic Inequality in the Social Security Rules.

By being relentless about turning off marketing, you protect your finances from the poor decisions that advertising inspires.

These complex formulas help decide when highly appreciated investments should be sold and the proceeds put in a different investment philosophy.

Long-Term Care insurance is too risky and too expensive. If you can self-insure, you will likely be better off.

Stopping to think through questions like these will likely help you make smarter decisions with your spending.

I have enjoyed rereading the journal of my maternal grandfather, Donald Mortlock. He started writing it on his 75th birthday.

There are five ways that both you and the government could make charitable giving more significant.

The selection of what products we purchase or avoid for clients is based solely on what we believe gives our clients the best chance to meet their goals.

Here are several tips on how to live richly on your own.

This is a fairly easy way to receive a 5% reward for my gasoline purchases but it does require that you have a family member who served in the military.

This five-part series on “How to Get Out of Debt” will try to address the concerns of those who have debt problems.

We think keeping expenses low is an important part of the investing process.

In this video we are going to compute the first mortgage payment of the 5-year loan used in the article “How to Help Your Children Purchase a Home.”

Once set up, the extra rewards may be worth the extra effort.

In this video we are going to compute the first mortgage payment of the 30-year loan used in the article “How to Help Your Children Purchase a Home.”

Social Security as it exists today is a failure either way you look at it.

Given the purposeful complexity and limitations to structured products we suggest you avoid them.

On Tuesday, May 10, 2021, David John Marotta appeared on Radio 1070 WINA’s Schilling Show with Rob Schilling to talk about Elder Abuse Scams and how to protect yourself.

Punishing people for inflation is neither fair nor good economic policy.

This was part of an intentional anti-ad campaign that my mother instituted to inoculate her children against the power of Madison Avenue.

I recommend the NAPFA search tool and suggest you avoid the CFP Board’s search tool until they change how they do their searches.

Safeguard #9 is simply a good reminder.

Investors greatly underestimate the danger of inflation.

Imagine how much you could save if you could cut all your expenses in half!

We would suggest not listening to Dent’s commentary or investing in his fund.

All of these factors contribute to the low inclusion of people of color among those holding the CFP® certification.

Recently, I signed up for the Bank of America Customized Cash Rewards credit card offering a $200 online cash rewards bonus and 3% cash back in the category of your choice.

One method of crowd sourcing expectations about inflation is to look at the current differences between the maturity rates of a 5-Year Treasury Bond and a 5-Year Treasury Inflation-Indexed Bond.

Here are the most common elder scams and how to prevent them.

Anthony Diaz was convicted on seven counts of wire fraud and four counts of mail fraud for investing in illiquid assets.

Cyber security gravitates toward the low-hanging fruit of novice users. Even taking a few steps can greatly protect your accounts.

The addition of stable investments can help dampen the risk and increase the chances of meeting your spending goals.

The culture of many commission-based firms makes it a poor environment both for employees and clients. Don’t take a chance with your retirement.