By David John Marotta and Beth Anderson Nedelisky
The average college student graduates with almost $20,000 in student loans. While this is a daunting sum, it is still possible to build wealth even while paying off student debt. But earning the degree and paying for the degree require two different kinds of smarts. In fact, [...]

By David John Marotta
If your credit card minimum payment was $10 and you repaid it every month for 15 1/2 years with an accruing interest of 15.9%, a $1,000 purchase would end up costing $2,250. Every time you use your credit card to pay for something you risk it being marked up two and [...]

By David John Marotta
Putting all of your retirement eggs in one basket is easy to carry, but risky. Most workers are putting all their retirement assets in the basket of their employer’s retirement plan. They are depending on one employer and two dozen eggs (funds) to hatch and maintain their lifestyle, independence and dignity [...]

In Investing in Socially Responsible Mutual Funds, I explained that most socially responsible funds provide subpar returns compared to traditional funds. I also talked about how you may not agree with many of these funds’ definition of socially responsible. If you’d like to invest only in companies you support or try to achieve better [...]

You may not be able to sleep at night knowing that you own a tiny piece of Halliburton, nor will you be able to sleep at night in 25 years if you can’t afford to send your kids to college. Investing is essential to your future financial security — even if you manage to [...]

I’m amazed at how often I hear people say they are afraid to invest in the stock market because they believe it is too high-risk. Often, the same people are already taking financial risks - albeit smaller ones - in order to save money. In fact, risk taking is an essential part of [...]

In my recent article about how to start an IRA with $1 in 15 minutes, I said that you would be putting your money into a money market fund. I thought I should explain in more detail what this is for those of you who decided to go this route, so that you are informed [...]

I personally deal mostly with taxes in my professional capacity of an accountant. However, I have also come across a lot of the ins-and-outs when it comes to 401(k) plans as I used to audit 401(k) plans for large companies, and currently am involved in the setup, administration of, and accounting for 401(k) plans for [...]

NOTE: It appears that while the process described in this article originally worked, Fidelity has closed the loophole and you now need the minimums you described to open the account.
Most people have the impression that in order to open a retirement account, you need to do a lot of research, have a large sum of [...]

There is rarely a single answer in personal finances that fits for everyone. Due to this, issues that you always assumed were easy to answer may be more difficult that your thought. That is a question I received from a woman wanting to know whether or not purchasing a house was the right move for [...]