NEWSLETTER Fall 2016

Wealth Management, LLC

Meritas Wealth Management, LLC 100 Larkspur Landing Circle, Suite 110, Larkspur, CA 94939 t: 415.300.4560 f: 415.461.4022

In This Issue

New York Public Library

Gregg on the Board of CMCM

The Pacifics Game

Medical Empowerment

Financial Planning Magazine

Warriors

The Foundation for Financial Planning

Medical Empowerment

How do you become an empowered health care consumer? A recent blog post on the Forbes magazine website, authored by financial planner/doctor Carolyn McClanahan, suggests that the relationship be-tween doctors and patients is entering a third phase of its long-term evolution. Phase one was paternal-istic, where the doctor told the patient what to do and the patient was expected to do it. With the rise of the Internet, the relationship has become more informational—the doctor provides the patient with a number of choices, and the patient chooses one of them. The problem with an informational relationship is that most patients aren’t really equipped to relate the choices to their health goals, which means they can be railroaded into inappropriate care. The new par-adigm is a collaborative approach, where the health care provider takes the time to understand the pa-tients’ goals, needs and resources, and then helps them decide the care that is most appropriate for their situation. It takes two to make this work, which means that you, the patient, will need to more actively participate in your doctors’ visits. How? McClanahan recommends that you write out, in advance, your current symptoms, your current medication and some information about your diet. Write down the questions you would like the doctor to answer during your visit. Also in advance, if you have complicated issues ask for a longer appointment. During the visit, make certain the doctor answers your questions in layman’s terms rather than medical jargon. If testing is ordered, ask what the doctor wants to learn from the test, and how the results might change the approach to treatment. If the doctor cannot provide a clear answer, ask if the test is really necessary. Ask what you can do to improve the situation—like changing your diet or adding a more rig-orous exercise regimen.

FALL 2016 NEWSLETTER page 2

Last month was a special one for Meritas, as our very own Kacy Gott was featured in the September issue of the Financial Plan-ning magazine. Not only was Kacy interviewed for the article The Case of the Missing Income Source but he even made the cover! The Case of the Missing Income Source discusses how the cur-rent ultralow interest rates translate to low bond yields which in turn means that soon-to-be (and not-so-soon-to-be) retirees are now faced with finding a different source of income to rely on in their retirement. For Advisors, this means changing the dialogue with clients and helping them envision their retire-ment in a different way. We are proud of Kacy and his valuable contribution to the fi-nancial planning community. Check out the article here: http://mydigimag.rrd.com/publication/?i=332562#%22issue_id%22:332562,%22page%22:40 to learn more about planning for retirement.

Financial Planning Magazine

Before the visit is over, make sure you know what’s going to happen next, and why. If the doctor seems hurried or impatient with your questions, or is not able to tell you how you can improve your health circumstances on your own, then ask for a referral to the appropriate nutritionist, physical therapist or a more patient medical practition-er. If you’re dissatisfied, make sure the doctor and the health care organization understands why—because you won’t get collaborative health care unless you actively participate in helping such organizations to evolve to the next level of doctor-patient relationship.

Medical Empowerment con’t.

Warriors

Basketball season has arrived! As many of you know, Gregg is an avid fan and sea-son-ticket holder for the Bay Area’s favorite NBA team, the Golden State Warriors. Periodically, we have tickets that become available that we love to have clients use. If you are a Warriors fan, let us know, and we’ll contact you if tickets become available. They are fun seats and include a parking pass! Please email Jen at Jen@Meritaswealth.com to express your interest, noting “Warriors” in the subject line.

FALL 2016 NEWSLETTER page 3

At Meritas Wealth Management, we are very passionate about the transformative power of financial plan-

ning—helping people live more intentional lives and bringing them peace of mind. Our passion goes beyond

the work we do with our clients… we participate in professional organizations and teach students in local

financial planning graduate studies. Teaching new planners enables us to help more people than we can

touch directly. We are able to improve even more peoples’ lives through our support of the Foundation for

Financial Planning.

The Foundation’s mission is to help people take control of their financial lives by connecting the financial

planning community to people in need. It is the nation’s only charity devoted solely to supporting the deliv-

ery of one-on-one pro bono financial planning.

The Foundation accomplishes its mission by providing grants to local, regional and national nonprofits to

support programs that link financial planners to underserved populations including cancer patients—where

a financial plan can provide peace of mind amidst a catastrophic event, members of the military, both active

and veterans, and victims of domestic violence—where a financial plan can help empower the victim to end

the abusive relationship. Financial planning doesn’t get much more powerful than that.

The Foundation works with programs like “Homes for Our Troops,” which helps wounded veterans by

providing them with a home and a year of pro bono financial planning. “Homes for our Troops” understands

that it’s not enough to give someone a fresh start with a new home. By adding the financial planning com-

ponent to their program, they significantly increase the recipient’s ability to remain in control of their finan-

cial life and keep their home.

Since 1995, the Foundation has provided more than $5.8 million in grants to support programs that link fi-

nancial planners to people in crisis or need. The programs have served more than 378,000 people, and have

included over 58,000 personalized, one-on-one planning sessions. To date, the Foundation has engaged over

15,000 industry professionals, whose pro bono work has amounted to 157,000 hours, valued at over $31

million.

Kacy Gott has served on the Board of Trustees for the last 3 years and, beginning January 1, 2017, will serve

a 2-year term as Chair of the Board. Meritas is proud to support the work of the Foundation.

The Foundation for Financial Planning

Earlier this year the New York Public Library announced that its digital collections are now available as high-resolution downloads with no fees or permission required. The collections include over 180,000 items such as prints, manuscripts, streaming videos, vintage maps and photographs and a wealth of other items. This increased access to the collections is intended to facilitate sharing, research and reuse by scholars, artists, educators, technologists, publishers, and Internet users of all kinds. Check out the collec-tions for yourself by following this link:

https://www.nypl.org/research/collections/digital-collections/public-domain

New York Public Library Public Domain Collections

FALL 2016 NEWSLETTER page 4

Gregg on the Board of CMCM

Meritas always saves some time for fun, too! This July under the summer sun the gang attended a Pacifics

game at Albert Park in San Rafael. With good food, good drink, and good company, the Meritas Team

cheered on our local San Rafael baseball team.

Due to his strong belief in giving back to the community, Gregg is serving on the board as Vice Chair for

the Community Media Center of Marin (CMCM). CMCM is a non-profit organization that gives resi-

dents of Marin County access to communication technology, media training and other tools needed to

create TV and online media content. Their mission is to “educate and advance the way residents,

schools, and governments connect and strengthen our communities through media.” As technology

and media are rapidly growing industries, the CMCM’s work to provide media tools to the community

at a low cost is an important cause. We applaud Gregg for volunteering his extra time to this local non-

profit!

The San Rafael Pacifics