A Qualified Team, Committed to Your Family’s Future

Colin Meeks
Owner
I’m the founder of Maryland Financial Advocates and a Certified Financial Planner. My biggest accomplishment in life so far is raising my 2 sons to be fine young men – it’s been quite a fun ride and I’ve got a lifetime of great memories and stories, but we’re definitely not done.
I’m a generation X’er – born in the early 70’s between the baby boomers and the millennials. I grew up watching The Jeffersons, Sanford and Son, Taxi, and Cheers. I played lacrosse until I hit my early 20’s, now I’m just a spectator with a pair of bad knees.
In my spare time, I love to play golf, cook, coach any sport that my boys are playing, and just enjoy every day. I’m not handy and have no ability or desire for any DIY projects, so if you see me with a power tool please step in and stop me. I’d much rather be watching a baseball game or enjoying happy hour by the water with family and friends.
Some professional stuff you may want to know….
I’ve been in the financial planning business since 1994 and started my own practice in 1998. I am a Certified Financial Planner (since 2001). You can check my background with the CFP® Board, FINRA, and SEC.
My practice is in Baltimore, Maryland, and we serve around 100 families. Some of our clients are local but many are scattered around the country, the farthest one being in Bellingham, Washington.
I’m active in the special needs community and do a fair amount of planning for families raising a child with special needs. I got into this area of planning after seeing a lot of confused and stressed out parents who want help but don’t know who to ask or where to start.
I also specialize in eldercare financial planning, so if you are caring for an aging relative and feel blindsided and overwhelmed by everything you’re dealing with, just know that there are professionals like me that can help. It’s never too late to plan and there may be options that can help you and your family – don’t be afraid to ask.
We do most of our planning engagements virtually – meaning that we see each other face-to-face over our computers, tablets, or phones. We have found that using technology greatly reduces the costs and increases the benefits to our clients. No drive time, no traffic, no stressing out over being late/early to a meeting, and we can meet whenever and wherever we both are – really cool!
But if you are in the Baltimore area, we can certainly meet in person in our newly renovated modern office.
I definitely can’t help everyone that stops by our website, but that doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t connect. If you have a question about special needs planning, eldercare planning, or financial planning in general, please feel free to get in touch. I’m happy to take a quick phone call or email to see if what I do may help you.

Matt Burns
Client Service Coordinator
Office Manager
Matt Burns joined Maryland Financial Advocates in 2025 as an Office Manager and Client Service Specialist. He supports the office in a variety of capacities including administrative and technical support, communications, and database management.
Prior to joining MFA, Matt served as an Office Manager/Executive Assistant and Marketing Specialist at Cerity Partners in New Jersey. In this role he supported the senior executive team and advisor staff in a wide range of administrative and financial planning tasks.
He is a former United States Marine with a diverse 30+ year office management and marketing background. Earlier in life, Matt enjoyed an extremely successful and varied career as a director, producer, choreographer, sound engineer, sound designer, singer, dancer, and actor in countless professional theatrical productions both here in the United States and abroad.
Matt resides in Abingdon, MD where he owns and operates Audio Alchemy, a professional digital audio/video recording studio. There he produces music, sound, and video design creations for a wide variety of multimedia applications.
In his free time Matt enjoys kiteboarding, creating in his studio, and spending time with his family.
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