Do I Even Need a Trust?

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We at Meridian often get a lot of questions around trusts and what they can and can’t do. While we are not attorneys and do not draft wills or trusts, we do need to be aware of what estate planning options are available to our clients. “Do I even need a trust?” is probably the […]

What’s In A Sector?

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For the first time in a long time, the Value portion of the S&P 500 outperformed the Growth portion. Granted, it was only over one week, but it could signal a reversal of a trend that has essentially been happening since 2006. Credit to Jeff Weniger at WisdomTree for his analysis on this subject. S&P […]

How We Think About Elections & Investment Decisions

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Each time a U.S. presidential election approaches, we revisit with clients our views about the impact on our investment outlook and portfolio positioning. Here is a quick review of how we think about elections in general within the context of our overall investment approach. Why We Don’t Market-Time Elections While

Serenity Now, Insanity Later?

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I realize this blog title could pertain to a lot of things going on in our world right now. In fact, it probably could be reversed to, ‘Insanity Now, Serenity Later’. At least, I certainly hope there’s some serenity later for all of our sakes! In this case, I am referring to income tax rates […]

Investing Can Pay Dividends

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When most people think about investing in stocks, they tend to think in terms of buying a stock at a low price and selling at a higher price. This is certainly the goal whenever buying a stock, but what many often forget about is that some companies also pay their shareholders dividends every quarter. Investors

Name Your Beneficiaries

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I know I have touched on this topic before, but we have come across a couple of cases recently where clients have failed to name beneficiaries on their IRAs, or they have named their estate as the beneficiary. Both situations can create problems, and in some cases, less options for beneficiaries. All types of

Headed Up the Mountain

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This past weekend, my family and I headed into Shenandoah National Park for a camping weekend. It was very nice to get away to nature and have no choice but to be out of cell range. I think it was healthy for all of us to take a break from the plethora of devices we […]

What the Heck is a Proxy?

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If you own shares of a publicly traded company or fund, you have likely received a proxy statement and/or proxy card whether you know it or not. They are often mailed in the form of thick envelopes that look intimidating and can be quite confusing. I would suspect that most individual investors often ignore them

Sleeping In

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At my house, waking up early has become somewhat of a rarity. That’s not something I thought I would ever say with three young children, but it has in fact happened (rejoice!). Dear parents of very young children, sleep depravity eventually ends, but you might think it never will! Both because of school being out