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The Meridian blog

Insights, Advice & a Whole Lot More

Welcome to the official blog of Meridian Financial Partners. We'd love to hear your comments as well as your questions. Oh, and our attorneys want you to read these disclosures.
Investing & Markets

First Quarter 2016 Market Notes

Meridian Financial Partners First Quarter Report 2016

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertMar 22, 2016
Planning Basics

Serenity Now

I love reading. I like knowing things, so I read all sorts of books, magazines, trade journals, etc. Actually (sadly?), for my birthday and mother’s day, my kids have my husband take them to the grocery store, and they buy random magazines as my gifts. (And I love it.) And, as mo

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertMar 15, 2016
Family & Life Events

Making Beer Myself

A friend of mine recently gave me a home beer brewing kit, and while I don’t have any frame of reference, I can tell it’s probably a nice one. 15 years ago, I would have viewed this kit and its potential reward very differently. Meaning, now that I have three children and a busin

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertMar 8, 2016
Investing & Markets

Brain Hijack

This year it has been hard not to notice the stock market volatility—one day it is wildly up, the next day it is wildly down. In a recent market recap, JP Morgan notes that, so far in 2016, there have been 23 days with movements in the S&P 500 of over 1% (up or down)—which […]

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertMar 1, 2016
Tax Planning

Where Are My Tax Forms?

It’s a question that we get asked every year right around this time, if not earlier. I once had a client ask about his tax forms for the prior year on January 2nd! While I admire people who want to get tax filing over with as soon as possible, is not realistic to expect your […]

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertFeb 23, 2016
Family & Life Events

“Are Your Legs Tired…”

…is the start of just one of many cheesy pick-up lines to start a conversation and hopefully find a love connection. If such a connection should spark, then the conversation typically gravitates towards family and friends, career and hobbies, etc. Interestingly, recent research p

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertFeb 17, 2016
Investing & Markets

Defense is Important

If any of you watched the Super Bowl this past Sunday, you saw what I would call a boring game. However, it was this “boring” strategy that Denver needed to employ in order win. Many (including me) thought that Carolina’s offense would be too much, and the game would be a blowout

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertFeb 9, 2016
Planning Basics

Florida and Freakonomics

Entirely missing all of the Snowzilla fun; I just returned late last week from the Inside ETFs conference in Hollywood, Florida. This conference is one of my favorite events all year—and not only because going to Florida in January should be a requirement for all of us in the DC

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertFeb 2, 2016
Tax Planning

Patience and Planning

Over the past few weeks, I have been reminded of the importance of both patience and planning in three key parts of my life. The first was traveling with my 6-year-old son. Normally, I would look forward to the opportunity for just he and I to travel without the rest of the famil

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertJan 27, 2016
Investing & Markets

Odds Are…

Some people made a lot of money during the historically awful stock market last week. Eighty-four people made over $1,000,000 on their $2 investment in this past Wednesday’s Powerball lottery drawing, with total winnings of over $1 billion. The national fascination with the huge

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertJan 19, 2016
Tax Planning

Give it Away, Give it Away, Give it Away Now

Forgive the Red Hot Chili Peppers song reference, but it was the first thing that came to my mind when I thought about gifting money to others. I have had many clients ask me about giving money to relatives recently (around the holidays), and there are certainly some misconceptio

Sarah YakelSarah YakelJan 12, 2016
Planning Basics

Three New Year’s Resolutions Everyone Should Make

Building from Nathan’s post last week…and in the seasonal spirit of making resolutions for the New Year…here are three New Year’s resolutions that we highly recommend you add to your list for 2016: “Live Life to the Fullest” — In a recent survey from GoBanking Rates, this idea ra

Nathan GilbertNathan GilbertJan 5, 2016