New Year’s resolutions – they’re the annual ritual of racking your brain to come up with the perfect, attainable goal that will make you a better person. They also represent the annual cycle of contemplation, excitement, early success and often, failure.
Over the years I’ve struggled to come up with a “good” resolution – one that I’ll stick with after the early part of January when I’m tired of the overcrowded gym and avoiding desserts. Like most people, I have given up on almost every New Year’s resolution that I made, until this year. (more…)
Since 1999, Merriman CIO and Portfolio Manager Dennis Tilley has been on a journey to help our clients make wise investments. While certainly an important job that he takes very seriously, Dennis believes making smart investment choices is only a means to an end of being able to live the life our clients want. Dennis knows maybe better than anyone else that Merriman’s mantra, “invest wisely, live fully,” is all a matter of balance.
When Dennis was growing up, he watched his father work hard and save so that he could reach his long-held goal of retiring early. When his father reached that goal, Dennis saw firsthand that an early retirement could be more a curse than a blessing. While his dad enjoyed retirement at first, over time he was left asking, “Now what?” (more…)
I recently heard a TED Radio Hour story on NPR about Lux Narayan, an entrepreneur and data analyst. His organization spent two years analyzing the obituaries in The New York Times, looking for threads of commonality between the people who were featured. Then, his team created a word cloud of the text to show which words turned up most often.
One word showed up in large, bold type is help, because these people made a positive impact on the lives of others. They helped. (more…)
As football season is fully underway, many of us get swept up in the weekly excitement of watching our favorite teams take on their rivals. Maybe you’re closely watching the ups and downs of your Fantasy Football team and strategizing about who to start each week and what the most beneficial trades may be. It’s an exciting time of year for many fans. Let’s take this opportunity to highlight the work one football player is doing off the field. (more…)
In 2006, during the first football game played in New Orleans’ Superdome since Hurricane Katrina tore through the city the previous year, Steve Gleason, a safety for the Saints, blocked a punt against the Atlanta Falcons. The blocked punt resulted in a Saints touchdown and marked the beginning of the winningest season for the Saints up to that point. More than that, though, the blocked punt turned into a symbol for the resiliency of New Orleans. Looking at challenges Gleason has faced in his own life, it’s easy to view the blocked punt as a symbol of his own resiliency as well. (more…)
Many people in your life – from your fourth-grade teacher, to your parents, to your employer – have likely touted the benefits of setting goals for your future. You may have written down you would go to medical school and be a doctor, or get married and have children or buy your first home by 25. We create life plans and vision boards that project where we would like to be at some point in our future. And then often, they collect dust. They get pushed to the bottom of a stack of junk mail on your counter and you lose motivation.
As wealth advisors, we start with your personal goals. During our discovery meetings with clients, we spend time learning what’s important to them around money. Helping clients live fully requires understanding the values behind the goals, and without that, the numbers can feel meaningless. (more…)
Have you ever heard the proverb about the cobbler’s children? It essentially states that the cobbler’s children, although surrounded by well-made shoes, have the most worn out shoes. Or that doctors are the worst patients? The same can be said for wealth advisors.
Each part of the wealth management process presents potential challenges. Merriman helps solve these challenges with the help of a professional team of advisors, researchers, and operations staff, with the client services department acting as the glue that holds it all together.
It’s true, not all CFP® professionals are created equal. This article discusses why you might want to seek out a CFP® and some common differences to help you in your search. It’s important to educate yourself on what financial planning really means and to ask a lot of questions before deciding who to hire.
So you’ve decided to hire a financial professional to help you navigate your future. You’ve talked to friends and family members, and while you trust their recommendations, putting your financial future into the hands of someone else is a very big deal. You need to do...
