Author Archives: Megan Russell

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

I recently received the following paraphrased questions from a prospective client and here were my replies.

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.

For better or for worse, you simply get to pick a name.

If your miss your initial enrollment eligibility window, then your premiums are hit with a late enrollment penalty.

At this time, Schwab has an extensive but limited list of forms which are eligible for electronic signature. As a part of our Paperwork Preparation bonus service, you can request that we send you paperwork using Schwab’s eSignature system when available.

Like many new features on Schwab’s website, they must be used responsibly to not create problems.

If you jointly decide and execute your charitable giving, then it makes sense to have both partners listed as account holders on the Donor Advised Fund. However, if you have separate charitable intentions and budgets, you can easily set up two different donor advised funds, one for each spouse to use and direct.

Although emotions do mature with age, many of the things that upset toddlers upset adults too, we just hide it better.

Doing some conversion is usually much better than doing no conversion at all. We offer these four simple but effective strategies to calculate a good-enough conversion target for this year.

For domestic tasks like babysitting there are often two options: independent contractor or household employee. Taking the time to educate yourself on the difference may be worth your while.

Now, thanks to this change, anyone with charitable intentions can open and benefit from a Donor Advised Fund.

Whether you are on the Tax Computation Worksheet or in the Tax Table it helps to understand how your tax is calculated.

In the eyes of the IRS, Roth conversions are a type of rollover and their part in your Roth IRA’s contribution basis is called a rollover contribution.

Just as a fake smile can make real happiness, fake happiness can create real enjoyment.

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

I think of these four lessons when I refill my soap dispenser.

I would recommend that you strive to pay your children $0 in non-cash compensation. Let them purchase their own rewards.

If you are married, instead of only opening and funding one HSA, you may benefit from splitting the contribution limit and funding both.

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.

This article is part of my series where I review how Freedom Investing performs for the quarter.

You can easily view the trades that have been placed in your Schwab account(s) online by following a few simple steps.

We are very pleased to announce that Libby Horbaly is our newest CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER™ (CFP®) professional at Marotta Wealth Management!

On Friday, May 14, 2021, Megan Russell was interviewed by Michael Morton of Financial Planning for Entrepreneurs podcast.

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

When interviewing a new financial advisor, we believe there are at least ten important questions to ask. Then, just to be safe, we answered 32 frequently asked questions and welcome more.

To help you get a good financial start as parents, here’s a financial checklist for new parents.

In Publication 590B, the IRS gives an example to demonstrate how Roth distribution ordering works.

The 2021 tax credit is worth $3,600 for children under age 6 and $3,000 for those under age 18. These rules apply to tax year 2021 only.

In Publication 590B, the IRS gives an example to demonstrate how Roth contribution basis works in a Roth IRA.

Automate your savings. Take manual control of your spending. This is the path to wealth.

Soho is my Amazon Smile charity recipient, I donate to them generously from my charity budget, and the NAP credits they offer are my favorite way to pay my state taxes.

There are many questions that first time moms ask their veteran friends. Among the top list is, what do you really need to care for a baby?

It is easiest to simply save your 1099-R and its numbers with your record of all your Roth IRA contributions.

When an HSA is left to a non-spouse, the account stops being an HSA.

Going forward, keep track of all your contributions in a file alongside where you store your tax returns.

Recently, we lowered the duration of our U.S. Bond portfolio and increased the amount which is inflation protected. This article explains the reasons for this change.

While many have been following the domestic returns and recovery, fewer investors know how well foreign investments did this past year.

In this talk, David demonstrates how Roth conversions can be extremely valuable even if a client is always in the same tax bracket.

By decoupling your standard of living from the size of your income, you have taken the first step toward financial freedom.

Graduate yourself from a childish mindset to that of an adult.

This is a common confusion with Roth IRAs.

We are constantly reviewing our portfolios’ asset allocations in order to bring them more in line with our Investment Committee’s best practices. Here is a summary of our recent changes.

This means that in addition to the overall Emerging Market funds, we will have country-specific Emerging Market allocations to both Taiwan and Chile.

No one knows what the future holds for Hong Kong, but we needed to make a decision on whether it has a place in our Freedom Investing.

My favorite part of my daughter’s Roth IRA is that she has earned it all. I have seen her work hard, learn valuable lessons, and truly earn her wage.

We need to go beyond good intentions. The underprivileged among us deserve good results.

No limp arms. Keep your hands up. Budget for emergencies.

You are not obligated to vote just because you own shares.

When reviewing our Foreign allocations, we discovered that the foreign Health Care sector has shown high risk-adjusted performance.