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 K-12 education—not just the

The 2017 holiday season is in full swing, and as always, by this point in the year, I am getting tired.  Our family has been to 6 Christmas concerts in 12 days…baked 20 dozen cookies…made (and decorated) 3 gingerbread houses…wrapped upteen gifts…and attended 8 holiday parties, each with its own gift exchange.

My alma mater’s football team is on a pretty impressive winning streak. The James Madison Duke Dogs won their 25th consecutive game in dramatic fashion this past Friday night. Clad in their signature purple and gold jerseys, they defeated Weber State in the quarterfinal round of the FCS playoffs. Harry Holtzclaw of

Over this past weekend, I joined the masses of Americans out shopping for Christmas.  I went to eight stores across three counties in under six hours.  Afterward, I joined most of Fauquier County on Main Street to watch the Warrenton Christmas parade with my family.  And, to end the weekend, my husband and I had

This past Thanksgiving week, my wife and I made the somewhat suspect decision to travel to the Gulf Coast of Florida and back (with a layover in Dallas) with our three children, ages 8, 6, and 3. While our time in Florida with family friends was a lot of fun, the travel part was not. […]

Sarah Yakel So, every relationship seems to have the fun one—the cool parent, the fun loving spouse, the crazy sister…and, as you may have already guessed, Nathan is the fun partner here.  He posts about cool beer toting burros or cult shows like Stranger Things.  I post about tax reform.  Sorry. As you may

The new normal in our industry is media outlets and analysts alike coming up with the latest and greatest “term” that we should all be focusing on and worrying about. Lately, I have seen the term “melt up” used quite a bit, and it is somewhat obviously an oxymoron. I might argue that whoever came […]

Most of us remember the 90’s sitcom Seinfeld—as one of Nathan’s and Sarah Irving’s favorite shows, it is often quoted here at Meridian.  As for me, I am still afraid of licking cheap envelopes.  Seinfeld also indelibly marked things like the Soup Nazi, Fesitvus, and yada yada yada in our culture. Seinfeld

We celebrated our youngest daughter’s 3rd birthday over the weekend. It was a very nice gathering with friends and family. And the kids even went swimming which must have been pretty darn cold. Peppa Pig was the dominant theme, and Molly cutely identified each of the British-based cartoon’s characters sitting atop