Meridian Financial Partners
Words from the Wise
If you’ve turned on the TV, seen a newspaper, been on social media at all–or followed this blog–you are already aware that it has been a rough year so far in the markets. In fact, it has been historically awful. The challenge in times like these is to stay focused and clearheaded
Sarah YakelJul 26, 2022
The Value of Planning
Market news has continued to be painful to watch, with bonds, stocks, and now commodities falling this year. The Meridian team has written about opportunities that we see in previous blogs (like this one or this one), and we continue to talk to our clients about the unfolding eco
Sarah YakelJun 29, 2022
You Are My Sunshine – My Only Sunshine
Happy Summer Solstice! I just returned from a wonderful week at Lake Michigan with my family. I love them dearly and a great way to look after them is to make sure I have beneficiaries named on my accounts. Beneficiary designations are the way that certain types of assets are pas
Sarah YakelJun 21, 2022
Get Paid to Wait
Stock market decline, and how much lower for how much longer remain among the top questions we are getting from clients lately. All you have to do is look at our recent blog posts to see that! This is despite an S&P 500 return of +6.6% for the last week of May. Granted, we are […
Nathan GilbertJun 7, 2022
Following Up
Lucy and Tyler’s blog last week on the financial implications of installing solar panels triggered quite a few follow up questions from our loyal readers! (Thank you to all of you who take the time to read our posts—we appreciate your feedback and questions!!!) So, we wanted to t
Sarah YakelMay 31, 2022
Forward Thinking
The markets have always been a predictor of what’s to come. Everything feels bad, looks bad, and the outlook seems pretty bad on many fronts for the rest of this year. The market, both on the stock and the bond side, agrees with that sentiment. Hence, the terrible performance for
Nathan GilbertMay 10, 2022
Should I Pay or Should I Go?
Recently, we have been fielding many questions about whether it is more prudent to use excess cash to pay off a mortgage or go invest. While we do answer this question with regularity, the interest in paying off (or accelerating paydown) a mortgage seems to have risen over the pa
Sarah YakelMay 3, 2022
The Name’s Bond, I Bond
In most cases, inflation is the enemy of investors. There are multiple repercussions when prices rise, most of which are bad. Gas prices are up throughout the country. In a recent trip to the PNW I filled up for well over $5/gallon! The Federal Reserve typically looks at raising
Sarah YakelApr 26, 2022
Investors and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Quarter
It has been a rough start to 2022, and as quarter numbers are finalized, they are just confirming how rough it has felt for all investors: Source: Bloomberg, FactSet, FTSE Russell, MSCI, NAREIT, Standard and Poor’s, JP Morgan Asset Management. The only thing that is positive in 2
Sarah YakelApr 12, 2022
An 8% Raise
Just because you are eligible for Social Security benefits doesn’t mean you should start taking them right away. We often hear our clients ask about taking social security as soon as they are able, using reasoning such as: “I don’t know how much longer I’ll be around.” – none of
Nathan GilbertApr 5, 2022
The Big Picture
When thinking about the blog topic for the day, the only thing that seemed appropriate to write about is the ongoing conflict in Ukraine and the economic fallout seen in the market over the past few weeks. Heavy topics to take on in a short blog post, so please excuse the length
Sarah YakelMar 8, 2022
Retirement: How Much Do You Need to Save?
Most people have plans to retire and even have a fairly good idea of how they’ll use that new-found free time, but few actually know how much money they’ll need to save in order to afford retirement. There’s an old age golden rule of having $1 million set aside for you to retire,
Sarah YakelMar 1, 2022