Financial Planning
Happy (?) Tax Day
For most people, tax season officially comes to an end today, April 17th. All of us have the weekend and a Washington D.C. holiday to thank for the extra two days. Because the traditional April 15th fell on a Sunday this year, that would have pushed the tax filing deadline to Mon
Nathan GilbertApr 17, 2018
Short Range Optics
My family and I just returned from a trip to see the Grand Canyon—we are all exhausted and overwhelmed with all of the beautiful things we saw. None of us had ever been to the Grand Canyon before, so we had no idea what to expect. A friend of ours tried to explain it by […]
Sarah YakelApr 10, 2018An Old Door & Old Interest Rates
About 58 years ago, my grandparents (and my mom and her 4 siblings) moved from Pasadena, California to the Northern Virginia area. The new owner of the Pasadena house planned to have the house demoed in order to build a new, more modern home. According to my family, my grandfathe
Nathan GilbertApr 3, 2018
Riding out the Storm
This is my daughter Melanie: While she may look pleasant and mild mannered, don’t let that fool you. She turned twelve this year, and it seems we have entered the growing, changing (read: hormonal) phase of life. Melanie’s mood can change lightening fast. Here is a chart of her m
Sarah YakelMar 27, 2018A Shocking Surprise
This weekend, my family and I took a little trip to Lake Anna. We stayed in a lovely house right on the water, and kayaks were provided. As the weather was a cloudy and cold 40 degrees, I had no desire to get our in a kayak on the lake, but not to be dissuaded, […]
Sarah YakelMar 13, 2018Wondering Whether You Weathered the Weather
I am sure most of you reading this experienced some sort of extreme wind and/or weather conditions this past weekend. All in all, I think Meridian and staff were very fortunate to have avoided any significant damage or long-term outages. Although, my partner Sarah’s kids’ school
Nathan GilbertMar 6, 2018
It Takes Diff’rent Strokes To Move the World…
As I write this blog, I am sitting at the second sports practice of the three we have tonight. Melanie just finished soccer practice, we are currently at Ben’s basketball practice, and we still have Ethan’s basketball practice to go. All of our kids are blessed with great coaches
Sarah YakelFeb 27, 2018
Don’t Be a Waffler
When you’re an 8-year-old kid like my son Coleman, and you LOVE sports, it’s okay to be a waffler. He is willing to (and pretty much does!) try anything and everything that involves a ball, stick, glove, goal, hoop, etc. As a result, he has asked us to sign him up for several dif
Nathan GilbertFeb 20, 2018
Henny Penny (aka Chicken Little)
Sometimes, when writing a weekly blog post, my partner, Sarah Yakel, and I struggle to come up with a good topic that hasn’t been covered recently and is hopefully interesting. While I am certainly not thankful for a market decline, it does provide an obvious topic about which to
Nathan GilbertFeb 6, 2018
A Field Guide to Common Tax Forms
The Tax Form Breakdown: Key Docs and Their Deadlines As Nathan pointed out in his last Meridian Market Minute, tax forms are beginning to arrive in mailboxes across the country right about now. We do get a lot of questions about what forms are coming and when, so here is a list o
Sarah YakelJan 30, 2018
Conferences Can Be Both Fun & Informative
Not Just a Vacation – We’re Learning! My partner, Sarah Yakel, and I are currently attending the Inside ETFs conference at The Diplomat Hotel in Hollywood, Florida. Yes, the weather is nice. Yes, the hotel is nice and so are the views. Yes, we are having fun (gasp!). And, yes, we
Nathan GilbertJan 23, 2018Lucky Break
While even the IRS is scrambling to figure out how to comply with the new tax act—one portion of the new bill does seem clear, and is a really nice gift for parents and grandparents of students. The new tax act allows 529 plan distributions for any eligible education expenses of
Sarah YakelJan 16, 2018