Author Archives: David John Marotta

The wealth gap between blacks and whites widens each generation as a direct result of Social Security.

ETFs combine tax efficiency with low expenses.

There is an art to selecting the right investment vehicles for individual portfolios.

Keeping expenses low helps keep your return high.

A good investment advisor will tailor the investments to the specific characteristics of the investor’s situation.

If the S&P were a financial advisor it would say, “Let’s buy mostly large cap growth stocks in the industry that did well last year with a high price per earnings ratio.”

If Canada paid their fair share for pharmaceuticals prices would fall.

In the corporate world, mismanagement can only be covered up so long. In time, those responsible are held accountable. Companies fold. Executives are taken away in handcuffs. Only in the federal government can poorly manage bad ideas and still plead they are underfunded.

Encourage the rich to be rich or else suffer the consequences of striving toward making us all equally destitute.

Voting for government entitlement programs is like being generous with your neighbor’s credit card.

Let the free market work its magic. Markets are brilliant in their ability to determine the optimal value and use of limited resources.

If a Democrat proposed a flat tax, they would take away the Republican’s major platform and be easily elected.

We would be wiser and stronger to take the advice of Thomas Jefferson, the second Governor of Virginia who said, “A wise and frugal Government, shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government.”

Many people wish to prevent the rich from earning more money, even if that results in smaller tax revenues and a less productive economy.

Diversify your business and your investments. That way fads and trends won’t determine your financial success.

Adapting and reacting to trends is important in investing and crucial in small business.

At least 40% of the federal gasoline taxes are wasted on non-highway items of dubious general welfare. And 2.86 cents of the revenue is used to subsidize mass transit unused by all but a few large cities.
As an additional inequity, Virginia is a donor state. That means that Virginia, like most southern states, sends the government more in gasoline taxes than it receives in federal pork. We don’t even get to waste our own money! Most of the pork is sent to the Northeast and to states with more influential senators.

If market forces drive up the price of gasoline, any efforts to reduce it aside from supply and demand punishes the exercise of economic freedom and personal responsibility. If you find the moral argument of freedom unconvincing, free markets can still win the pragmatic debate.

Don’t put off the things that truly matter to you until you have more time. You will never have any more time than what you are given each day.

Running a small business requires financial balance. Here are ten rules.

Many businesses can be started in your spare time, from your home. This allows you to test the waters and determine if the market can eventually support you on a full time basis.

All systems must have a regulator in order to dampen runaway reactions. Healthcare coverage is no exception.

Here is a rule for building stable economic systems: Who pays for a service and who is empowered to decide if a service should be given and who actually benefits from the service should all be the same person.

When you make a frivolous purchase, tell your spouse that you made it. If you can’t tell your spouse about the purchase, it isn’t worth the trouble. Above all, learn to work together in marriage. Being wealthy requires a husband and wife to both be frugal.

Some types of insurance are a good idea. But LTCI is better handled by preparing early in life.

The real lifestyles of the rich in Charlottesville would get very low television ratings.

We can have our benefits and lower taxes if we are willing to admit that socializing retirement benefits was a mistake and we return to trusting once again, the in power of free markets.

Keeping a budget works like a diet. Some diets require you to write down everything you eat and count calories, shares, ranking, or other food units. It makes eating more painful, causing you to eat less.

One of my favorite Christmas movies is the version of “A Christmas Carol” starring George C. Scott as Ebenezer Scrooge. I confess that I understand Scrooge’s character.

Admit your past debt mistakes readily. Like a former alcoholic you must be constantly vigilant against slipping up again.

You bought more things than you can pay for. That is an error in judgment. Given the evil in the world, your small financial troubles aren’t that bad.

Only after you have steeled your resolve not to borrow any more money are you ready to deal with paying off your current debt.

By definition, to get rid of consumer debt, simply stop borrowing money.

We are losing many potential asset management clients because of credit card debt! The difference between those in debt and millionaires is as small as slight changes in financial lifestyle.

Great financial wealth can be built by living a beer and chips lifestyle on a champagne and caviar budget!

Despite your political persuasion, Governor Gray Davis shows how even the golden goose can be cooked. His mistakes rightly deserve the ridicule he has received.

October is a good time to review your portfolio for investments that can be sold for a loss.

You can learn a lot about financial management from snapping turtles.

“Bet on red.” replied my mother, “Now, let’s talk about how much risk you want to take.”

It is usually better to be a seller of options than a buyer of options.

In addition to registering for a blender and picking floral arrangements, make sure that your marriage has the financial accounts and monetary habits necessary to meet your shared financial goals.

The people who pay the highest taxes get the most benefit from a tax reduction. Tax them too much, attack them for being wealthy, and they just may not show up at the table anymore.

If you add the costs of complying with government regulations, the cost to society is over 50%. Imagine the economic boom if the other half of workers’ labor were set free to boost productivity!

Today, we have 8,269 mutual funds. About one-third of all common stocks are held in mutual funds.

Recently record amounts of money have been taken out of stocks and put into bonds. These investors assume that at least their money will be safer in cash or bonds. These assumptions are wrong.

If you think estate planning information is hard for you to pull together, imagine how difficult it will be for someone else who is asked to fill your shoes in an emergency!

If you rely on a commission-based financial product salesperson, you will probably be sold the wrong kind of funds.

Congress contributed greatly to the bubble through the distorted incentives created by the tax code.

These are no longer the questions of the idle rich desiring to hoard their inherited wealth.