Clarity for what comes next.
Research-informed financial planning for professionals and families approaching retirement or navigating an important life transition.
Meridian Atlas Planning brings the interconnected pieces of your financial life into one coordinated strategy helping you understand your choices, evaluate the trade-offs, and move forward with greater clarity.
When life changes, your financial decisions change with it.
Years of saving and planning may have brought you to an important turning point. Now, decisions involving your career, retirement, investments, taxes, benefits, family, and lifestyle must work together.
You may be asking
01
02
03
04
05
06
07
08
Important financial decisions should not be made in isolation.
A retirement date affects more than your last day of work. It can change your income, taxes, healthcare, investment strategy, Social Security decisions, estate plan, and the support you can provide to your family.
Meridian Atlas Planning helps you see how these decisions connect.
01
See the complete landscape
We begin by understanding your financial position, priorities, responsibilities, and concerns not by starting with a product or predetermined recommendation.
02
Evaluate the possible routes
We model alternative scenarios and explain the trade-offs, giving you a clearer basis for making important decisions.
03
Put everything in order
We turn numerous accounts, benefits, documents, goals, and unanswered questions into an organized and prioritized strategy.
04
Adapt as life changes
Your plan should provide direction without assuming that your life, the markets, or your priorities will follow a straight line.
Planning for life’s financial turning points
Meridian Atlas Planning works with accomplished individuals and families whose financial lives have become more complex or are about to change significantly.
01
Approaching or entering retirement
You have spent years accumulating resources. Now you need a strategy for using them intentionally and creating income that can support the life ahead.
02
University faculty and academic leaders
Academic careers can involve pensions, multiple retirement accounts, complicated benefits, consulting income, and career decisions that do not fit conventional planning assumptions.
03
Executives and established professionals
Equity compensation, deferred compensation, concentrated investments, variable income, and demanding careers can create important opportunities and difficult trade-offs.
04
Navigating a major life event
An inheritance, career change, loss of a spouse, business transition, relocation, or other significant event may require you to reconsider several parts of your financial life at once.
One coordinated financial strategy
Recommendations are developed as parts of a connected strategy not as isolated solutions.
Your financial plan may address:
01
Retirement timing and income
02
Investment strategy and portfolio withdrawals
03
Social Security and pension decisions
04
Tax-aware financial planning
05
Employer benefits and executive compensation
06
Insurance and risk management
07
Healthcare and long-term-care considerations
08
Estate-planning coordination
09
Charitable and family-gifting decisions
10
Major purchases and lifestyle choices
11
Legacy and family priorities
Colin Slabach, Ph.D., CFP®, RICP®
Financial Planner | Professor | Retirement Researcher
Research-informed planning. Explained clearly.
Meridian Atlas Planning was founded by Colin Slabach, Ph.D., CFP®, RICP®, to bring rigorous financial analysis and thoughtful, understandable guidance to the decisions that shape people’s lives.
Colin is a university professor and financial-planning educator with specialized experience in retirement income, behavioral finance, investment decision-making, and applied financial research.
His work combines three perspectives
- The analytical discipline of a researcher
- The clarity and patience of an educator
- The practical judgment of a financial planner
Colin believes a good financial plan should do more than produce numbers. It should help you understand your choices, recognize the trade-offs, and make decisions you can carry forward.
Start with an introductory conversation
We will discuss what prompted you to reach out, the decisions in front of you, and what you hope planning will help you accomplish.
Determine whether MAP is the right fit
We will explain how we work, what your engagement could include, and the applicable fees. You will have an opportunity to ask questions before deciding whether to proceed.
Organize and evaluate your financial life
If we agree to work together, we will gather the relevant information, identify your priorities, and evaluate the choices available to you.
Put your strategy into action
You will receive clear recommendations, prioritized next steps, and ongoing guidance appropriate to your engagement.
You do not need to have everything figured out before starting.
If retirement or another important life event has created new questions, Meridian Atlas Planning can help you understand where you stand and determine what deserves your attention next.