If you are an avid reader of our blogs (if avid readers of our blogs even exist!), you may recognize this blog’s title from a previous post years ago. For those who aren’t aware, it refers to the song Changes by David Bowie. One of my favorite lyrics in that song is “turn and face […]

One of the historical realities of the stock market is that it typically has performed poorest during the month of September. The September Effect is a worldwide phenomenon; it doesn’t only affect U.S. markets. A reason could be that most mutual funds cash in their holdings to harvest tax losses. Another particular

This summer has been a challenging one, with quite a few family members, friends, and clients of ours all struggling with care challenges for aging parents, spouses, or friends.  We’ve watched the struggle of figuring out how to let someone age in place with dignity, and it is a huge burden for family or friends

As much as I try to avoid the noise and focus on what matters to our clients and the investments we hold, I still find myself getting frustrated when I see the financial (and many other) news outlets reporting on the levels of the Dow Jones Industrial Average (aka The Dow or DJIA). Why is […]

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 when our […]

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 economic uncertainty and reasonable

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 passed on to heirs, regardless of

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 […]

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 tackle the general math on home