Sarah Yakel
Christmas Deconstructed
Yesterday, we did one of my favorite holiday traditions. Much to the consternation of my husband, the morning of New Years Day is when we take down every inch of Christmas decorations and put it all away. Jonathan would happily leave all of the decorations up for another few week
Sarah YakelJan 2, 2018Yankee Swap
The 2017 holiday season is in full swing, and as always, by this point in the year, I am getting tired. Our family has been to 6 Christmas concerts in 12 days…baked 20 dozen cookies…made (and decorated) 3 gingerbread houses…wrapped upteen gifts…and attended 8 holiday parties, eac
Sarah YakelDec 19, 2017Cyber Thieves Don’t Take Holidays
Over this past weekend, I joined the masses of Americans out shopping for Christmas. I went to eight stores across three counties in under six hours. Afterward, I joined most of Fauquier County on Main Street to watch the Warrenton Christmas parade with my family. And, to end the
Sarah YakelDec 5, 2017Counting Blessings
This weekend, our family went on a little mini-vacation to the Gaylord hotel in National Harbor. If you’ve not been, the hotel is quite stunning when decked out for Christmas. Numerous trees, twinkling lights, water fountain shows set to Christmas music, gingerbread villages—Chri
Sarah YakelNov 21, 2017The Individual Medley
As a relatively new “swim parent,” I have learned a lot about swimming and swim meets in general. For those of you experienced swim parents, you are probably doing a combination of cringing and smiling right now; cringing at all of the early morning practices and smiling at all o
Sarah YakelJul 11, 2017Professional Nitpicker
Unfortunately for me and my family, I recently learned that the Professional Nitpicker does in fact exist and is apparently widely known. While I am tempted to go for the obvious joke and say that I thought that title belonged to my wife, I won’t go there. I am sure the same can
Sarah YakelJun 28, 2017Rules of Thumb: Financial Planning Hack?
I recently heard a radio story about Fidelity Investment’s Rule of $2,000. In an effort to simplify college planning for parents, Fidelity says that in order to determine how much you should have saved currently for your child’s college expenses, multiply your child’s current age
Sarah YakelJun 20, 2017Don’t Fear the Reaper
It may be a bit of a stretch to work in a Blue Oyster Cult reference to the title of this blog post, but I just couldn’t help myself. You’re welcome for putting that song in your head for the rest of the day! For some reason, it’s the song I think of when […]
Sarah YakelJun 13, 2017Introducing Baby Grace!
For those of you who may not have known, our client service specialist, Gretchen gave birth to a beautiful and healthy baby girl in April! While Nathan and I are struggling to keep up with all that Gretchen does around Meridian (she does a great job of keeping our office organize
Sarah YakelJun 6, 2017Watch D.O.G.S.
First, I hope you all enjoyed your Memorial Day weekends. I will steer clear of Memorial Day as a topic this year, as I am fairly sure that’s what I wrote about last year at this time! This past Friday, I took my second turn volunteering at my kids’ school via the Watch D.O.G.S.
Sarah YakelMay 30, 2017Sell in May and Go Away
Like all catchy adages, the annual stock market advice to “Sell in May and Go Away” does have a kernel of truth to it. A 2015 white paper studied the returns of the stock market over various years from May – October versus November – April and found that on average, the November
Sarah YakelMay 23, 2017The Mom Trifecta
As you all know (or better know!), this past Sunday was Mother’s Day. As always, it served as a reminder how important moms are in all of our lives. As a parent myself, there is an extra level of appreciation for what our parents do for us as children. One of the first things I [
Sarah YakelMay 16, 2017