May 21, 2013

About Megan Russell

Megan Russell+, daughter of David John Marotta and wife of Matheson Russell, is the Systems Analyst for Marotta Wealth Management. A Cognitive Science graduate from the University of Virginia, Megan loves neuroscience, formal logic, creative writing, kittens, and her childhood.

Marketplace Fairness Act Burdens Businesses with State Compliance Audits

Marketplace Fairness Act

Compliance isn’t just a technical burden. It is a threat of legal liability. The bill allows state tax audits by any state against any online vendor.

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Marketplace Fairness Act Adds Automation to Tax Confusion

Pretty Penny

It is not a new tax. It is simply a tax that nearly everyone currently reading this column is successfully evading without prosecution.

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Helping New Graduates Get a Financial Life

College Graduates

Matthew Illian says young adults should read one personal finance book a year to expand their financial literacy. See what books we would recommend.

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5 Easy Ways To Save

Frugal_t

This kitten is frugal. Be more like this kitten.

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Do Tariffs Protect an Infant Industry?

Infants

Do infant industries need tariffs to protect them from their own inefficiency and stupidity?

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Essential Financial Advice for College Graduates

Graduation Advice

As the wife of a 2013 college graduate and a 2012 college graduate myself, I can boldly say this was the most helpful advice given to me.

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The Dangers of Automated Payments

HowMuchSpends_t

This kitten knows how much she spends. Be more like this kitten.

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Is There A Moral Case for “Buy American”?

Eye on America

Perhaps we would be economically better off with global trade, but do we have an obligation to maintain a higher moral standard?

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Avoid Bad Purchases

CoatNotCoal_t

This kitten buys the coat not the coal. Be more like this kitten.

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Is A $3 Million IRA Sufficient For Retirement?

Five Presidents

$3 million today has the same buying power as $500,000 in 1970.

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Is “Buy American” Un-American?

Tea and Bananas and Marotta in the morning.

America will continue to lose jobs where we don’t have a comparative advantage and gain jobs where we do. This change should be welcome.

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Keep Working and Hire Financial Professionals

How To Build Wealth

For families with complexity to their finances, hiring a tax professional actually saves them money. Wealth managers bring benefit to such families in the same way.

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Budgeting: A Lesson In Alternative Currencies

Budget_t

This kitten has a budget. Be more like this kitten.

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Better to Bank with Cyprus Than the United States?

Cyprus

Without any authorizing legislation, the U.S. government has quietly taken more value than Cyprus tried and failed to confiscate.

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Getting Started with Financial Planning: Step One

Below Means

This kitten lives below her means. Be more like this kitten.

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Is 95% of the Trade Imbalance Legal Tax Evasion?

Stark International

As one of Forbes’s 25 largest fictional companies, Stark International could avoid $4 billion in U.S. corporate taxes with this one simple technique.

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More Than 25% of Americans Are Making a Financial Mistake

A Waste of Money

If you look beyond the short term, making this move is pretty clearly worse than using a high-interest credit card to pay your bills.

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8 Questions For Those Who Think “Free Trade Fails in Theory and Practice”

Questions for Protectionist

If you’ve disagreed with our most recent two articles on free trade, then I challenge you to respond to these questions. Anyone?

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The Benefits of Free Trade Agreements: The Country Always Wins

Free hugs

Average Americans think about trade imbalances the wrong way. They have it exactly backward.

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What The Government Wishes You Didn’t Know About Antidumping Laws

Anti-Dumping Kills

Anti-dumping rules are supposed to protect domestic producers and domestic jobs from unscrupulous foreign competition, but anti-dumping rules raise prices for their consumers and producers, shrink profits, and reduce the capacity of firms to invest, expand, and hire more workers.

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The Benefits of Free Trade Defined: The Consumer Always Wins

Cup of coffee

All I want is a simple cup of coffee near where I work. Is that asking too much of free trade?

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Do Tax Cuts Actually “Starve the Beast”?

Starve the Beast?

Daniel J. Mitchell of the CATO Institute wrestles with the lack of no historical data to support the Starve the Beast model, only to find out that it’s because politicians have never really given it a shot.

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How to Be Rich

Rich_t

This kitten is rich by not spending rich. Be more like this kitten.

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Should We Raise Taxes to Balance the Budget?

Should We Raise Taxes to Balance the Budget?

The only two ways to balance the federal budget are to spend less or to collect more. Spending less is the preferred method, but that is just not happening. As a result, politics is pushing many in Congress to try to balance the budget by raising taxes.

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Financially Savvy Kittens on Freedom Investing 2013

EconomicFreedom_t

This kitten invests in countries with economic freedom. Be more like this kitten.

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Should We Starve the Beast?

Hungry bear

Even to conservative political parties, starving the beast is not the ideal solution.

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What Is Rent-Seeking Behavior?

Taking money from the ballot box

Studies suggest that $1.5 trillion is wasted on public sector rent-seeking.

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Are Property Rights Human Rights?

All men are created equal

Does a property owner has the right to use and dispose of his property as he sees fit even if that means he is being irrational, arbitrary, capricious, even unjust?

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Let the Income Tax Die at Age 100

Income Tax

The income tax penalizes productivity, discourages hard work, and suppresses investment.

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New Year’s Resolutions for the Country

2013

To fulfill the financial resolutions of spending less, living within our means, and paying off our debt, the country first needs to encourage production rather than discourage it.

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