All three of our kids have birthdays within one month of each other, so we are all busy figuring out which family member is getting what for which kid***. Not to mention the annual discussion with each child of who they are going to invite, and where will the party be? It can all be […]

This week, we are enjoying the last of summer in Sandbridge, Virginia: For the last several years, we meet my family at the beach the last week of August, before Labor Day. During this “shoulder” week, rental prices drop substantially and the beach is much less crowded now that most Virginia school systems have

I love a good accent. I love hearing clipped British notes, the slow Southern drawl, or my favorite—the lilting Irish brogue. Hence, the reason why my favorite economist is Dr. David Kelly from J.P. Morgan—he discusses the world economies with sly humor and a lovely Irish lilt. He is easy to listen to, and not

If you were born in the late 70’s or early 80’s, you might remember the No Fear “lifestyle” clothing brand that was very popular in the mid 90’s and early 00’s. Personally, I found the brand and the attitude that its wearers often embodied a bit off-putting. If you still wear any of these t-shirts

Yesterday, my son Ethan celebrated his 9th birthday.  He was super excited for his cake and his gifts—most of all his new skateboard.  To Ethan, 9 is a pretty important year—it is the last year in the single digits.  He says he feels like he is really growing up… There are some milestone birthdays in

For most of us with kids, summer presents the challenge of keeping our children occupied (hopefully constructively!) until school starts again. Camps are certainly a popular option as they take up big chunks of the summer and allow kids to explore activities outside of a typical classroom setting. Our middle daughter

The financial services industry loves acronyms—as an example, I am a CFP1 that works at an RIA2 which makes me an IAR3—yeesh!   At Meridian we try to strip all of the jargon and opaque phrases from our conversations, as we want to help people truly understand their money and what it can do for them […]

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 of the great experiences for both

I write this blog post from Las Vegas—we are here for a few days to celebrate my husband’s birthday.  As a financial planner, I am not a huge gambler.  My normal life is filled with assessing odds, the lurking risks and potential rewards, so it is hard to ignore the fact that Vegas has horrible […]