Author Archive

Mindless Spending 2: You’ll Get By with a Little Help from Your Friends (2009-11-16) by David John Marotta Both mindless eating and mindless spending rely on our subconscious need to follow scripts to pace our consumption. Community plays a huge role in regulating our financial destiny–either a path of savings that builds real wealth or a... »

Women Have Unique Financial Needs (2009-11-02) by David John Marotta Retirement planning is even more crucial for women than for men. Although most women are married, 85% outlive their husbands and are alone during their last years. Financial planning must address the unique issues facing older women who probably worked fewer years and earned less money... »

Portfolio Recommendation Beats S&P 500 by 9.4% (2009-10-26) by David John Marotta Exactly a year ago I encouraged you to avoid another lost decade in the markets. I recommended a specific balanced portfolio that today is beating the S&P 500 by 9.4%. At the end of September, the S&P 500 was down 6.9% after one of the... »

Credit Card Karate: The Moves to Block Spending (2009-10-19) by David John Marotta The availability of easy credit does not encourage financial virtue. Five minutes of credit card indiscretion literally can undo a life of financial responsibility, just like flirting at a bar with an available stranger can threaten marital fidelity. You are trying to stick to... »

(2009-10-12) by David John Marotta Getting the right credit card for the right reasons is half the battle. Using it correctly is the other half. When the perfect card arrives in the mail, sign it, activate it and pull the sticker off the front. But before you put it in your wallet and start using it,... »

Inherently volatile, the average daily fluctuation of the stock market is about 0.76%. If this movement were always up, the market would appreciate to more than six times its value in a year. If all the movement were down, you would have less than 15 cents for every dollar you invested at the beginning... »

Make Sure Your Credit Card Has Smart Features (2009-10-05) by David John Marotta Credit cards can be a blessing or a curse. Used correctly, they are both convenient and safe and can help you stick to your budget. But the dark side of heedless use can lead to financial ruin. Rather than rejecting credit cards altogether,... »

Time to Rebalance Your Portfolio Again (2009-09-21) by David John Marotta The S&P 500 over the past six months is up over 40%. You have had smooth sailing and are beginning to feel comfortable again. Don’t. It’s time to tack once more and rebalance your accounts. Studies show that rebalancing your portfolio can boost your returns by... »

The Case Against Centralized Health Care (2009-09-14) by David John Marotta Many Americans think centralized planning could fix U.S. health care. They believe industry greed and profits are at the root of the problems. And they believe that altruistic commonsense reforms would result in lower costs, better management, less waste and universal coverage. They are dangerously... »

Many people support the ideal of universal health care insurance coverage. The utopian heart beats strong and steady. But once the incision is made, there is no turning back. And without a clear understanding of economics, our experimental treatment may kill Uncle Sam. »

More Profitable Health Care Is the Solution (2009-08-31) by David John Marotta Americans enjoy the best medical care in the world. When judged by nothing other than the ability to provide quality care, no country does better than we do. Every ranking that puts the United States less than first includes some other measurement. We don’t give... »

Avoiding a Civil War over Health Care (2009-08-24) by David John Marotta Advocates of small government are justifiably angry. And their anger is creating a new and genuine political activism. These citizens are deeply frustrated, and they don’t know where to channel their dissatisfaction. Liberals aren’t very understanding or empathetic. They brand all conservatives as mean or... »

Cash for Clunkers: A Bad Idea (2009-08-17) by David John Marotta Ten days ago President Obama signed an additional $2 billion into law, tripling the original expense of the “cash for clunkers” program. The president describes the program as a “proven success” because it is stimulating the economy and will reduce carbon emissions. You should examine... »

Investment Strategies Part 5: In Defense of Diversification (2009-08-10) by David John Marotta Diversifying your asset allocation among investments with a low correlation can and should reduce your portfolio’s volatility and boost your returns. But critics are claiming this strategy is no longer valid. That’s because they don’t understand the nature of what happened in 2008. Fickle... »

The False Lure of Multi-Level Marketing (2009-08-03) by David John Marotta Multi-level marketing (MLM), or network marketing, is a nonsustainable business model because it does not provide a valuable service but simply a product that has been marked up in price. MLM is based on the faulty premise that as you network with people, all you... »

A Full Credit Lockdown (2009-07-13) by David John Marotta In my first job teaching computer science, someone stole my wallet off my desk during my office hours. Although I canceled all my credit cards, the thief used them around town, buying everything from clothes to tobacco. In those days cards were run manually on paper, and... »

A Full Credit Lockdown by David John Marotta In my first job teaching computer science, someone stole my wallet off my desk during my office hours. Although I canceled all my credit cards, the thief used them around town, buying everything from clothes to tobacco. In those days cards were run manually on paper, and... »

Last-Minute Tax Savings for College Expenses (2009-07-06) by David John Marotta and Matthew Illian My youngest will be a first-year student at the University of Virginia this fall. My coauthor Matthew’s oldest child is almost two years old. So he is just beginning to think about college funding and I’m about to start withdrawing from my... »

There will always be swindlers masquerading as investment advisors. You can learn to recognize such people by their over-the-top lifestyle. Avoid them at all costs. The differences between the manager of a Ponzi scheme and a model citizen are almost imperceptible, which is not surprising. Those who would perpetrate a Ponzi scheme are usually not... »

Safeguard 7: Avoid Investment Advisors Who Sugarcoat Reality (2009-06-22) by David John Marotta We’ve already discussed the many ways you can safeguard your money. But these methods cannot protect you from an unscrupulous advisor. My brother, who is a lawyer, has a saying we must all take to heart: “You can’t do a good deal with... »