Alex Merriman Art

Alex Merriman Art Gestural and Color Field Painter

Financial Planner for People Close to Cancer

We've raised $10,000 at Colors for Cancer since 2022. You'll miss being a part of it next Thursday if you don't get a ti...
08/24/2026

We've raised $10,000 at Colors for Cancer since 2022. You'll miss being a part of it next Thursday if you don't get a ticket.

The 5th annual Colors for Cancer is next week, September 3rd at 6pm.

Join us at Capital Blue Cross Connect in Center Valley on 9/3 from 6pm - 8pm.

Four local artists exhibiting work, with new mediums that haven't been show before at CfC including metal work!

Food from ZeKraft, which my wife will be chasing me around trying to make sure I eat during the event.

Raffles, giveaways, and a community painting that everyone in the room can put some color on. Even folks that can't draw a stick figure.

Admission is $40, and the ticket is the donation. Every dollar goes to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance.

This is the coolest cancer fundraiser in the valley and you're invited. Space is limited and Zeke's only making food for people with tickets.

Link in comments and my profile.

Colors for Cancer 2026 is September 3rd, 6 to 8 PM, at the Capital Blue Cross Connect in Center Valley.Most fundraisers ...
08/19/2026

Colors for Cancer 2026 is September 3rd, 6 to 8 PM, at the Capital Blue Cross Connect in Center Valley.

Most fundraisers ask you to donate in the middle of your dinner. We hand you a drink and a room full of art.

Every event I was invited to the room fall silent during the fundraising portion, so I eliminated that with Colors for Cancer.

Your ticket is your donation to the Colorectal Cancer Alliance. It also covers food and drinks all night, plus five raffle tickets. You could win original paintings from me or custom Colors for Cancer gear.

We had a great registration day yesterday and just broke the first $1,000 raised this year. Tickets are $40.

Give, eat, and maybe walk out with a painting.

Register today. Link's in the first comment.

In April, a doctor found a precancerous polyp in my colon. I'm fine. But I sat in that chair thinking about my grandfath...
08/14/2026

In April, a doctor found a precancerous polyp in my colon. I'm fine. But I sat in that chair thinking about my grandfather.

He spent his life in financial services. Cancer still took him six months after diagnosis.

My pap lost his fight in early December at the age of 47. It's why Colors for Cancer exists, and this year it turns five.

So here's what I'm doing.

If you've faced cancer or survived it, I'll build you a one-time financial plan. Free. Two to three meetings where we look at your cash flow, investments, and insurance and how that affects treatment.

And we'll connect you with the right folks to help organize your estate.

You get a clear look at where you stand.

Diagnosed, surviving, or love someone who is? DM me "ONE-TIME" and we'll start.

Joanna makes $185,000 and had $100,000 in the bank. I told her to stop saving.The money was in the wrong place.Nearly 14...
08/05/2026

Joanna makes $185,000 and had $100,000 in the bank. I told her to stop saving.

The money was in the wrong place.

Nearly 14 months of expenses sitting in checking, earning almost nothing. Her 403(b) was underfunded, not receiving the full match and she had no brokerage account at all.

She kept saving because it felt good.

For a stable hospital W2, six months is a more realistic cushion. That's $42,000. The other $58,000 was doing nothing.

We right-sized the cash and moved the rest into the accounts that had been starving. Funding the 403(b) to get the full match, and funding the brokerage to beat inflation and maintain liquidity.

At a normal long-term return, that $58,000 roughly doubles every decade it stays invested. In the bank, it barely moves.

My job that day was to give her permission to stop saving into the wrong buckets.

Frank's leaving his $300,000 IRA to his kids and brokerage to the cancer center he loved. Bad move.His kids will owe inc...
08/04/2026

Frank's leaving his $300,000 IRA to his kids and brokerage to the cancer center he loved. Bad move.

His kids will owe income tax on every dollar they pull from that IRA. Around $80,000 gone to the IRS.

The cancer center is tax-exempt. It could have taken that IRA and paid nothing.

Flip it. Leave the IRA to the charity. Leave the brokerage account to the kids.

The stock in that account gets a step-up in basis when Frank passes, so the kids could sell it and owe almost nothing on the gain.

The charity gets the full gift and the kids minimize taxes.

Frank had updated beneficiaries, they were just pointed the wrong way.

Paid Artist Showcase September 3rd at this years Colors for Cancer. $125 artist fee.I'm selecting four artists to show t...
08/03/2026

Paid Artist Showcase September 3rd at this years Colors for Cancer. $125 artist fee.

I'm selecting four artists to show their work at this year's event on September 3 in Center Valley. Each will receive a $125 Artist fee.

The crowd is always an interesting mix of account executives, lawyers, business development professionals, and business and agency owners and artists!

Colors for Cancer 2026 will benefit the Colorectal Cancer Alliance. And we're happy to support the artists this year as well.

Applications close August 21.

If you know an artist in the Lehigh Valley who should see this, tag them in the comments.

Steph was about to write a $12,000 check to her favorite charity and miss a chance to not pay Uncle Sam on some old stoc...
07/31/2026

Steph was about to write a $12,000 check to her favorite charity and miss a chance to not pay Uncle Sam on some old stock.

She owns some NVIDIA she bought years ago for $1,100. It's in an old brokerage account that a friend told her to open because graphics cards were going to be huge! It's worth $12,000 now.

Selling it to fund the gift means a $10,000 gain and a $1,500 capital gains bill at 15%.

So write the check? No. We donated the shares directly instead.

The charity still gets the full $12,000. Steph skips the $1,500 in capital gains tax and still deducts the whole gift.

Steph's donation to charity saved her $1,500 in taxes.

10 people showed up to my art show in 2017... the leftover hors d'oeuvres and drinks put a hole in my stomach.22 year-ol...
07/30/2026

10 people showed up to my art show in 2017... the leftover hors d'oeuvres and drinks put a hole in my stomach.

22 year-old me had no idea how to network or get people to come to an event. That show was a lonely experience for me and the people that came to support me.

I was embarrassed for making the venue set it up and under delivering on how many folks showed up.

That 2017 show would be the last time I showed artwork for 5 years.

When I walked into that same venue in 2022 and asked to host an event there, I wasn't sure what they'd say.

The last event had been a waste of time and money for the staff.

After telling them about Colors for Cancer and the small painting events I'd been a part of they decided to give me another chance.

A few months later the first Colors for Cancer took place. Seeing more than 70 people talking about art and cancer fundraising gave me a genuine moment of pride.

And since that moment 170 have showed up for Colors for Cancer and I'm confident we will add more to that total this year than we ever have.

If you haven't been to the coolest art cancer fundraiser in the Lehigh Valley, we're looking forward to seeing you September 3rd at 6pm in the Capital Blue Cross Connect!

Your ticket is your donation to Colorectal Cancer Alliance.

We've come a long way from an empty room full of food.

A client of mine has $375,000 invested and travels internationally 2-3 times a year... in his early 30sMost people assum...
07/29/2026

A client of mine has $375,000 invested and travels internationally 2-3 times a year... in his early 30s

Most people assume he must be sacrificing something.

He's not. Anymore.

He's debt-free and when he comes into my office asking, "Can I afford this trip?"

My answer every time: "Yes. We've built a plan that let's you do what you want."

When we first started working together he didn't put money towards vacations the way he wanted to. He had the money, but didn't prioritize it.

Now trips to Italy and Jamaica are about when instead of how.

If you're 30 and making more money than your parents, DM me 'PORTRAIT' for a 15-minute chat on how to spend guilt free and fund those retirement accounts.

I woke up at 5am yesterday to give out free beignets to golfers.Courtesy of The Bayou, of course!Had a great Monday morn...
07/28/2026

I woke up at 5am yesterday to give out free beignets to golfers.

Courtesy of The Bayou, of course!

Had a great Monday morning helping set up the Golf 4 Cancer event.

Thanks to the Cancer Support Community for continuing to put on great community events.

If you haven't met James Pepe, reach out to him to see how you can get involved.

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