Intergenerational Planning

My daughter was employed at her first job, earned her first income, and was able to fund her Roth IRA for the first time.

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.

Your child may be in the thick of feeling out a boundary line by testing all your limits, but it pays off to be patient and trust that they will learn and they will listen.

There are many opportunities to pay your children. If that payment can be counted as earned income, then the child is eligible to fund their Roth IRA.

Here’s some advice from one daughter employee to a would-be parent employer.

Much can be learned from your earliest money memories. Here are some of mine.

With a bit of planning, you can make the practical gift very personal.

If you have to choose between your retirement or your children’s college savings, choose your retirement.

As the parent, it can be hard to know what to do with a cash gift for a baby.

Families that consider generational financial planning techniques can reduce the burden of taxes on the family as a whole.

Taking the smallest distribution each year will ensure the beneficiary achieves the maximum tax-free growth of tax-free income.

The IRS does not require dependents whose gross income is only earned income to file a tax return if the amount is less than a certain amount.

Here are ten principles for teaching children about money.

If a budget isn’t a team effort, one member of the family will hold the purse strings and everyone else will be resentful.

Most people are unaware that giving a gift can be a taxable event because they themselves have not yet experienced the tax.

Give your children experience spending their own money.

For children with lower incomes, there is an opportunity to give them appreciated stock to shift the capital gains to a lower tax bracket.

The kiddie tax was first added to the tax code in 1986 for children under age 14. Now, it can burden them until they are 23.

The beauty of trusts is that they are very flexible, and an estate lawyer can help you craft a document that will follow your wishes and give you peace of mind.

Financial Christmas gifts don’t need to be a piggy bank. They can be more serious and more meaningful than that.

Someone has to be proactive about your child’s retirement and every year you don’t open a retirement account is another year you’re holding back compound interest.

Financial planning means supporting the goals of stay-at-home parents to be with their children.

We teach teenagers a lot more about sexuality than we do about money. This can confuse them about what they should be learning. Give this article to a teenager and encourage him or her to start a Roth IRA.

Debt burdens are relative. For example, a $58k college debt will feel doable to a doctor making $100k+ per year and overwhelming to a lower wage employee. A degree should not cost more than your future earning power will sustain.

The 85-year-old Palo Alto patriarch has turned helping his 10 grandchildren into a hobby that has paid off for multiple generations.

My money has value because I have values my money helps me achieve. In this season of New Year’s resolutions and old year evaluations, treat your imagination with the question: What’s the money for?

To interest me, a game must have a simple but thought-provoking premise that allows for deep strategy. I’d never played Farmville but decided to recently because the parent company, Zynga, is going public this Thursday, December 15, 2011.

With impulses reeling, it is easy to find a gift that children will appreciate but difficult to find one that they will love to have. The gifts that I loved to have and the presents that I still cherish are the vocational gifts that my parents purchased for me.

Fun has no price tag and cannot simply be ordered online plus $3.99 shipping and handling. It’s true that money can enable experience but it cannot replace it. There is an art to having fun and it needs to be taught.

Often times I wouldn’t buy for myself what my parents thought was needed. Items my parents thought were essential for me to own were purchased by them.

Although sock drawers might be able to protect wealth from physical thieves, inflation is the dastardly villain who will raid it. As a child, I did not know of such economic forces let alone that they had an influence on my humble stash.

One reason that many people buy things that they could have done without is “functional fixedness.” Teach children to prevent unnecessary purchases by making efforts to help them see other possible uses of owned objects.

My dad taught me the opportunity cost of a Barbie airplane, or what alternative opportunities I would be giving up when I bought it, like buying twelve Barbies.

For cheap or limited edition items, desire needs to undergo a trial other than the test of time and the Wait a Week principle should be modified.

Multifamily offices and private banks see an increasing need for self-defense programs that help protect their wealthy clients.

“With more adult children relying on their parents amid the economic uncertainty – or moving back home – well-laid financial plans could get trampled.”

If my parents had been in control of the purse strings, I would not have learned the value of money. To a child, “My Money” is valuable where “Your Money” is worthless.

What makes Catan particularly interesting is that just producing the most resources is not sufficient to win the game. Knowing what mix of resources you need to meet your objectives is critical.

David Marotta and Megan Marotta were featured on October 11, 2011 on radio 1070 WINA’s Schilling Show discussing the importance of teaching your children about money and giving them a “rich” mindset.

With money in my pocket and impulse in my veins, I used to cherish our weekly trips to Toys ‘R’ Us. However, it was on the Barbie aisle under my parents’ guidance that I became a money-savvy kid with the millionaire mindset.

When it comes to teaching financial lessons, setting a good parental example is important, but actually giving the child some experience making wise financial decision is essential.

Children of the rich and famous are not immune to the temptations and foolish behavior that sometimes plague the rest of this generation’s youth.

Parents with disabled children must have an estate plan to provide without disqualifying them from receiving public assistance.

I love strategy games. Many people dismiss games as a waste of time. But at their best they teach principles of cause and effect that we can use as paradigms for real life.

David John Marotta may just be an economic columnist or financial planner to you, but to me he is an amazing father and best friend. I’d like to take this opportunity to show you why he was and is so awesome.

Played at the age of 16 at a social gathering with theoretical physicist Edward Teller on 1977-07-09.

Played at the age of 16 at a social gathering with theoretical physicist Edward Teller on 1977-07-09.

Father George Marotta and son David John Marotta were featured in an article in Financial Planning magazine.

“Small changes over a long period of time make all the difference.” Learn how to teach financial wisdom to your children with Megan Marotta’s series, “Rich Dad, Rich Daughter.”

David John Marotta was featured on radio 1070 WINA’s Rob Schilling show on September 13, 2011. The topic was the CNBC million-dollar portfolio challenge, and how it does not emulate a good real-life investing strategy.