Maria McLendon

Maria has over 15 years of experience in advertising, sales and brand management. She is skilled in orchestrating internal and external resources to develop and implement marketing, sales promotion, advertising and public relations programs.

A creative and visionary thinker, through her career she has earned award recognition from The Public Relations Society of America and The Advertising Federation for print, web, outdoor and broadcast advertising.

Maria shares her big ideas and creativity with her husband, Aaron, and two young sons. As a family they enjoy spending time on the water and can be found boating, water skiing and knee-boarding on Lake Ray Hubbard on sunny days in Dallas.

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When it Comes to Planning Your Financial Future, Don’t Go it Alone.

   February 15, 2017     1287  

We live in a high-tech world where information about all topics under the sun is available at your fingertips. We are moving toward self-service and automatic access to everything. I love that I can look at my checking account balance on my phone; I love that I can make dinner reservations with a couple of clicks, and I love that I can confirm a dentist appointment with a one-letter text message response.

While high-tech solutions offer tremendous convenience, some things are still much better when they are high-touch. One of these things is retirement planning and creating a financial plan for the future. (more…)

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A Gift That Will Last a Lifetime

   November 14, 2016     1507  

I still have Jack-o-lanterns on my porch, and I just received a stack of catalogues in the mail telling me about the hottest gifts for the holidays.  It seems like too much, too soon.  And for many, the months of November and December are filled with far too much.  They are filled with too much food, too much hoopla, and too much spending.  In fact, it is estimated that the people of the United States will spend $2,875,000,000¹on Thanksgiving Dinner Food in 2016.  (That’s right, we’re going to eat almost $3 BILLION dollars.)  But, that’s nothing.  It’s literally a drop in the year-end spending bucket.  It is estimated that Americans will spend a whopping $52 BILLION² on holiday shopping between Nov. 1-Dec. 16th. (more…)

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What I Have Learned about Saving for Retirement

   October 17, 2016     1498  

It is stunning to me that annuities have such a bad reputation. Many consumers think of annuities as extremely complex financial vehicles with high fees and inflexible contracts. High profile financial gurus often tell their television viewers or telephone callers that annuity products are offered by shysters and should make you turn and run for the hills.

Truth be told, I bought into this viewpoint when I was less educated about what these products were and how they worked. (more…)

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