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 […]

Procrastinators rejoice!  Even though April 18—due date of taxes this year—is next week, it is not too late for a few smart moves to save on taxes for 2016. Make an IRA contribution.  Contributions to an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) are deductible and can be made all the way up to the tax filing deadline

I’ve been having a lot of conversations recently about budgeting—not because our clients are awful at it, but because it is helpful to get a handle on how much things cost every month when we are working on planning.  For those starting out, it is helpful to know how much those nebulous categories of groceries,

We hope everyone is enjoying the snow—our kids are all delighted to have their first real snow of the season.  Those who are shoveling (me and my husband) are not enjoying it as much. As with every winter storm, it has been funny to hear the hysteria in the forecasts—originally, the National Weather Service had

Of all the questions our clients face, this is certainly one of the most perplexing. Timing when to claim social security benefits has a significant and permanent impact on your retirement cash flow. In weighing your decision, consider your health outlook and longevity expectations, whether you plan to continue

Ten days into the new year, and many of us are still trying to make time to put our grand resolutions for 2017 in place. Either many of us have resolved to eat better, exercise more, start a budget, be patient with our children…or some of us are still figuring out what our goals should […]

Every year, after Santa delivers presents to the good little boys and girls around the world, he swings by Wall Street and gives one last gift to investors.  Typically, the stock market strongly rallies between December 25th and January 1st every year. PNC Financial Services’ chief investment