Merrick Financial Group

10/16/2026

Fidelity's 2025 wealth transfer study found that roughly 67 percent of parents age 55 and older have never told their adult children what they will inherit, or whether they will inherit anything at all.

About 33 percent would prefer the kids are kept in the dark about the amount.

Their reasons should feel familiar:
✔️ Worry that a specific number will dampen a child's drive
✔️ Discomfort talking about money at all

The same study found:

Most adult children say they are ready to handle whatever they inherit and would rather shape things while their parents are still around to explain the "why" behind decisions.

Families who have inheritance strategies share some similar habits:

💬 Kids know who the financial professionals are and how to reach them
💬 Everyone knows where the estate documents are
💬 They try to manage any surprises well ahead of time

So, do you tell your children or not?

There's no single right answer here.

Sharing exact numbers isn't necessary, but most families find that a broad discussion can help with priorities and expectations.

10/14/2026

A mother in California picked up the phone and heard her daughter's voice, panicked, saying she'd been kidnapped and needed money immediately.

What she'd heard wasn't her daughter. It was an AI-generated clone of her voice.

In a 2025 study, scientists found that when people heard a cloned voice, they correctly identified the voice as AI-generated only about 60 percent of the time.

The FBI attributed more than $890 million in 2025 losses to AI-enabled fraud, and voice cloning is one of the main drivers behind that number.

It is not only older adults being targeted. Younger family members get these calls too, often framed as a sibling or friend in trouble. Older adults just tend to lose the most per incident.

Two ways to protect your family.

🔐 Agree on a private code word or question with the people a scammer is most likely to impersonate (kids, parents, spouse)

📞 If a call like this comes in and you have not set up a code word yet, hang up, then call the real person back

When in doubt, slow down and verify.

10/13/2026

You don't need superpowers to retire with confidence. You need a plan.
Your retirement decisions are too important to leave until the last minute.
Understanding your pension, Deferred Compensation and retirement income options before you have to make final decisions is a major part of preparing for what comes next.
Join Merrick Financial Group for our upcoming Complimentary Tier 2 Retirement Planning Seminar.
📅 Tuesday, October 13, 2026
🕕 1800 hrs (6:00 PM ET)
💻 Live via Zoom
For 20 years, we've helped Members of the Service prepare for retirement through education, planning and ongoing support.
That's The Merrick Way.
Register Today
Know someone approaching retirement? Share this post and invite your family, friends and colleagues to join us.
Retire with Confidence.
Plan Today. Live Tomorrow.

10/12/2026

For some, the second Monday in October marks Columbus Day, a commemoration of exploration and its role in shaping American history.

For others, it’s Indigenous Peoples' Day, a time to honor the cultures, histories, and contributions of Native communities.

Both observances point to something worth sitting with: how differently history can be remembered and how many perspectives make up a single story.

10/11/2026

Who are you planning your retirement for?
Retirement isn't only about the day you leave the job. It's about creating more time for the people and moments that matter most.
Before you get there, make sure you understand the decisions that can help shape your financial future.
Join us for Merrick Financial Group's Complimentary Tier 2 Retirement Planning Seminar.
📅 Tuesday, October 13, 2026
🕕 1800 hrs (6:00 PM ET)
💻 Via Zoom
We'll discuss the Tier 2 retirement process, pension options, Deferred Compensation, retirement income strategies and preparing for life after the job.
That's part of The Merrick Way—education first, planning ahead and looking at the complete picture.
Reserve Your Spot
👥 Invite your spouse or significant other and share this with family, friends and colleagues who may benefit.
20 Years. One Standard. The Merrick Way.

10/10/2026

⚠️ Money is one of the most consistently cited sources of stress in America.

For caregivers, that weight often increases! 😮

Having a clearer picture of where things stand can help ease some of the uncertainty that makes financial stress feel heaviest in the first place.

There's no clean solution to money stress.

Most of it is caused by the unknown. The uncertainty.

World Mental Health Day recognizes just how deeply finances can impact our well-being (and vice versa).

If financial stress has been sitting in the background of your life this year, a conversation with a professional can go a long way, be it a mental health professional or a financial professional. Pursuing comfort, understanding, and compassion is a team sport.

10/09/2026

What do you want your retirement to look like?
More time together. More mornings without rushing. More travel, hobbies, family—and maybe more long walks with your four-legged companion.
The retirement you picture tomorrow starts with the decisions you make today.
Join Merrick Financial Group for our Complimentary Tier 2 Retirement Planning Seminar.
📅 Tuesday, October 13, 2026
🕕 1800 hrs (6:00 PM ET)
💻 Live via Zoom
For 20 years, The Merrick Way has been about helping Members of the Service understand their options, plan ahead and prepare for retirement with confidence.
Register for the October 13 Seminar
Please invite your spouse, family, friends and colleagues to join us.
Plan Today. Live Tomorrow.

10/09/2026

Breast Cancer Awareness Month is an opportunity to prioritize health.

Early detection through regular screenings is one of the most effective tools we have in the fight against breast cancer.

Here are a few small things we can do this October:

✅ Schedule your annual screening if you haven't yet

✅ Educate yourself and others on risk factors and preventative lifestyle habits

✅ Support research and organizations dedicated to advancing breast cancer prevention and care

Taking charge of your health today makes all the difference for tomorrow. 🎗️

10/09/2026

Stocks finished the third quarter mixed. The S&P 500 gained 2.03%, and the Nasdaq Composite rose 2.47%, while the Dow Jones Industrial Average slipped 2.70%. Halloween is next on the calendar, with U.S. consumers expected to spend \$13.5 billion USD this year and 6.26 million Canadian children in their trick-or-treating years.

Stocks were mixed in the third quarter as economic, geopolitical, and corporate earnings news pushed the broad market higher while weighing on the Dow Industrials.

10/07/2026

There's a reason so many women business owners half-joke that their real title is "everything."

More women than ever are starting and running businesses, and they're doing it at a faster clip than the market overall.

Census data show women now own more than 14 million businesses nationwide, a number that's grown 26 percent since 2012, compared with 19 percent growth for businesses as a whole.

A lot of that growth is happening online, where women-owned businesses tend to be more digitally integrated than those owned by men.

It also means millions of women are managing key decisions from scratch:

💼 How income gets paid (salary, distributions, or owner draws) and what that means at budget time

💼 Which retirement vehicle fits, and how much room there is to contribute

💼 How healthcare, disability, and other insurance get sourced without an employer default

💼 How the business gets valued, and what a sale or transition would actually look like

💼 How personal finances stay untangled from the business's finances

Wearing a tall stack of hats doesn't make entrepreneurship harder than it's worth. Plenty of women running these businesses would say the trade-offs are part of the deal. But it does mean the hats keep stacking up, one on top of the other.

This month is a good time to tip our own hats to the women doing it all at once.