When the market finally turns around and heads back up, what kind of portfolios are likely to perform better than the market in general?  In this podcast Paul shares what he calls the Comeback Portfolio.  During the discussion he uses some existing tables plus a couple of new tables to make his case.  For those who want to download the tables here are the links in order of use: Summary of 1, 15 and 40 years of Equity Returns (1928-2019) Table 1 and Table 3 from Annualized Asset Class Returns by Decade: 1930-2019 Ultimate Buy and Hold Worldwide Equity Portfolio Tables (50% US / 50% Int'l) 4-Fund Combo Equity Portfolio Tables (100% US / 00% Int’l) Fine-Tuning Table  4-Fund Combo Equity Portfolio On April 11, Silicon Valley AAII is hosting an online workshop with Paul and Chris Pedersen. For those interested in attending please find the details at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/sv-aaii-april-main-event-the-ultimate-buy-and-hold-strategy-tickets-100032899094 Check out hundreds of free articles, videos, books and mutual fund/ETF recommendations at PaulMerriman.com and sign up for Paul’s free twice-a-month newsletter! https://paulmerriman.com/signup/

The two most important articles and podcasts The Merriman Financial Education Foundation produces each year are the "Ultimate Buy and Hold Strategy” — which helps you determine what equity asset classes to hold in your portfolio — and "Fine Tuning Your Asset Allocation” — which shows how much you should own in bonds to control volatility. However, when it comes time to take money out of investments for retirement, our site includes a series of tables to aid you in determining the Best Distribution Strategy. In this podcast, Paul focuses on strategies for investors who have saved “enough” but not much extra. These investors usually use a Fixed-Distribution Strategy.  There is a long series of Fixed-Distribution Tables, but today Paul talks specifically about Tables 7, 8, 9, 12 and 13. Paul also discusses the beginnings of the recent bear market, plus longer-term bear market results.  The average bear market loss is 33% to 37%, depending on the period covered.Next week Paul addresses Flexible or Variable Distributions, the "Ultimate Distribution Strategy". Be sure to sign up for Paul’s free twice-a-month newsletter here.

Focusing on small-cap value from every angle Paul knows, this podcast compares Price-to-Earnings ratios, Price-to-Book ratios, average size company and one-year and 40-year period returns.  Paul shares the latest academic research on small-cap value, comparison of risk and return for S&P vs. small-cap value asset classes, and the likely long-term impact of adding even a little small-cap value to a portfolio. He also discusses the Fine Tuning Your Asset Allocations table for small-cap value, and Tables 1 and 3 from "90 Years of Evidence Shows Investor Patience Leads to Better Returns". Also See: “All About Small-Cap Value" 2020 paper by Eugene F. Fama and Kenneth R. French paper, The Value Premium Join our community of more than 20,000 savvy investors. Sign up now for Paul’s free newsletter published every other week.

Paul shares writings and wisdom from two of his trusted Truth Tellers, George Sisti of On Course Financial Planning and Dr. Jim Dahle of The White Coat Investor.  Both of these experts are focused on helping people be better buy-and-hold investors.  George's blog post is titled “Here We Go Again!” and Jim’s blog post is “Should I try to time the market?” While Paul is not an advocate of timing for most investors, he tries to help investors understand that most comments about timing do not represent the realities of what timing is meant to accomplish, which is to protect investors during major market declines.  For those interested in timing, this link takes investors to graphs by Dr. Edward Yardini that show timing at work for 90 years. Paul's hope is that investors will see that they may have periods of feeling pleased with the work of timing, but many more periods when market timing is very unproductive. Paul also discusses changes in upcoming AAII presentations, as Don McDonald of Vestory has offered to substitute in making Paul's presentations in Boston, Westport and NYC, while Chris Pedersen may make the presentations in Silicon Valley and San Diego. None of these are finalized but we will have more on these in coming week. (Click here for upcoming presentations). Join more than 20,000 savvy investors and receive Paul’s free twice-a-month newsletter! Sign-up here.

Do you want to have a better idea of the range — or returns and risks of loss — that different equity asset classes have generated over a long period of time?  In this podcast, Paul discusses 5 tables covering the S&P 500, Worldwide Equity (50% U.S./50% International), Worldwide Equity (70% U.S./30% International), All Value (50% U.S./50% International) All Value (70% U.S./30% International).  In each case the table will show 50 years of annual returns of the equity portfolio, as well as returns with 9 different combinations of fixed income and equity. It will be helpful to listen to Paul’s podcast on the Ultimate Buy and Hold Strategy 2020 Update before listening to this podcast. Our enormous thanks to Daryl Bahls for building the tables for this podcast and the balance of the more than 60 tables we will cover in the next 2 months. Links to Tables: S&P 500 Worldwide Equity (50% U.S./50% International) Worldwide Equity (70% U.S./30% International) All Value (50% U.S./50% International) All Value (70% U.S./30% International) If you find this information of value, please like, share, and go to PaulMerriman.com to subscribe to our FREE twice-a-month newsletter. Join more than 20,000 savvy investors for Paul Merriman’s free “Sound Investing” newsletter delivered twice a month to your inbox at https://paulmerriman.com/signup/ View Paul’s videos at https://paulmerriman.com/videos/ Get you FREE “How To Invest” series books at https://paulmerriman.com/how-to-invest-series-complimentary-download/

The most important work we have done over the last 38 years has been to help investors identify the equity asset classes they should consider holding in their portfolio.  In this podcast, along with the  accompanying tables, Paul updates investors on the results of his Ultimate Buy and Hold Strategy from 1970 through 2019.  These tables are designed to help investors see the changes in risk and return when 9 equity asset classes are added to the S&P 500 index.  The discussion and tables compare portfolios of 50% U.S./50% international equity asset classes, (See Table) and 70% U.S./30% International equity asset classes (See Table) with the S&P 500.  They also compare the results for each portfolio using annual and monthly rebalancing.  Additionally, there is a complete list of funds and indexes used in the study- Data Disclosure (UBH-AV) Data Disclosure (UBH-WW).  Special thanks to Daryl Bahls for all the work he’s done in building the tables for this podcast and the balance of the more than 60 tables we will cover in the next 2 months. Link also mentioned in this podcast: Best of Class Recommendations for all the equity classes. If you find this information of value, please like, share, and visit PaulMerriman.com to subscribe to our FREE twice-a-month newsletter. Join more than 20,000 savvy investors for Paul Merriman’s free “Sound Investing” newsletter delivered twice a month to your inbox at https://paulmerriman.com/signup/  All subscribers will receive a FREE copy of Paul’s new book coming out later this year. View Paul’s videos at https://paulmerriman.com/videos/ Get you FREE “How To Invest” series books at https://paulmerriman.com/how-to-invest-series-complimentary-download/

Paul was interviewed by Rick Ferri, the host of Bogleheads on Investing, on Feb. 3, 2020. During and after the recording, scores of questions and comments were written at the Bogleheads chatroom. This podcast is Paul's reply to a number of the topics discussed with Rick and the questions and comments, broken into two sections. The first section focuses on the basic difference between the investment beliefs of John Bogle and Paul Merriman or, more appropriately, of Gene Fama and Kenneth French, the academics responsible for most of the early work on “factor” investing. The second section is Paul’s responses to many of the comments and questions posted on the Boglehead Forum after the interview aired with Rick Ferri.  These questions centered on small cap and value premiums, buy and hold vs. market timing, pros and cons of simple vs. complex strategies, how aggressive young investors should be, and Paul’s claim to making over 30% a year for 30 years. He also discusses the things he and Bogle totally agreed worked in the best interest of investors. The Bogleheads® motto is Investing Advice Inspired by Jack Bogle. We, at The Merriman Financial Education Foundation, are part of his campaign "to give ordinary investors a fair shake.” The site consists of this wiki and the Bogleheads® forum, both built by volunteers dedicated to helping people begin or improve their investing by applying our investing principles. They even built a page for Paul’s book, Live It Up Without Outliving Your Money. Also related to this podcast: Rick Ferri’s “Core-4” website Article and Tables: 90 Years of Performance Join more than 20,000 savvy investors for Paul Merriman’s free “Sound Investing” newsletter delivered twice a month to your inbox at https://paulmerriman.com/signup/ View Paul’s videos at https://paulmerriman.com/videos/ Get your FREE “How To Invest” series books at https://paulmerriman.com/how-to-invest-series-complimentary-download/

The new Callan Periodic Tables have been released and in this podcast Paul discusses 10 important lessons from the main table (2000-2019) and several other Callan tables he has not addressed before. Paul encourages listeners to review the tables (links below) and see how many important lessons you find, before you listen to the podcast. For those who find tables of numbers a good to learn, this is a “can’t miss” podcast. For a “numbers guy” like Paul, he says, “This was so much fun to record!" The Callan Periodic Table of Investment Returns, now in its 20th year, graphically depicts annual returns for various asset classes, ranked from best to worst. Created by Jay Kloepfer in 1999, the table features well-known, industry-standard market indices as proxies for each asset class. As Kloepfer notes at Callan.com, “The enduring appeal of the table is its ability to be understood at a glance. And once you’ve seen and absorbed it, you can refer to it again and again. New insights still come to me even 20 years later!” Classic Periodic Table 2020 December 2019 Monthly Periodic Table Periodic Table Collection 2019 Join more than 20,000 savvy investors for Paul Merriman’s free “Sound Investing” newsletter delivered twice a month to your inbox at https://paulmerriman.com/signup/ View Paul’s videos at https://paulmerriman.com/videos/ Get you FREE “How To Invest” series books at https://paulmerriman.com/how-to-invest-series-complimentary-download/

Can an employee convince his company’s 401k trustees to make changes?  It took 4 years for this one dedicated investor to do so and he won big. Hopefully, this story will inspire others to work this hard to change the financial futures for all 401k investors. 2:00 What is the lifetime cost of an expense ratio of .15% a year? The answer is surprising. 6:50 In what kind of investment did you earn 30% a year over 30 years? Paul has mentioned the good fortune of this investment but never before given details. 10:00 Is it true your portfolio fell from $16 million to about $12.8 million during the 10 years ending 2009?  Paul refers to Table 1 and Table 2 of the fixed distribution page. 30:45 How do you build an Ultimate Buy & Hold Portfolio if you want to eliminate international equity funds? 35:18 What do you recommend when a company’s 401k retirement plans do not offer target-date funds?  Can you still use a 2 Funds for Life approach? 37:30 Should we use a short-term bond fund for money we need for a downpayment on a house in 2-to-3 years?  This couple is considering Fidelity’s Short Term Treasury Bond Index Fund (FUMBX). 40:05 Why Japan Is So Successful at Returning Lost Property?  This is from one of Paul’s favorite weekly lists, "The Essential List" of BBC’s best articles from the week. CLICK HERE to read the article. 42:25 What market impact will It have if the U.S. produces at least a 3% growth in GDP? This will break a 13-year run of under 3% growth.  The longest previous streak was 4 years, 1930-1933. 46:10 How are young workers facing the need to adjust their future income expectations as under-funded pensions are forced to reduce the pension commitments? Paul comments on the documentary “American Factory,” where workers are coping with the reality they are going to have to accept half the income for the same job. 47:55 What are the benchmarks and realities of returns we think we make? (Paul ends this podcast on a lighter note, discussing the recent sale of the 1968 Ford Mustang Bullitt GT driven by Steve McQueen in the 1968 movie “Bullitt.”  The car was originally purchased for $3,500 in 1974 and just sold for $3.4 million.) 52:20

Paul's recent podcast, The Real Secret to Long-Term Investment Success, elicited many comments and questions at the Bogleheads forum (you can read the threads of conversation here) and from regular Sound Investing listeners. The following are questions addressed on this podcast. What does Paul think of the factor funds at Vanguard? 4:10 What impact do momentum, quality, and volatility have on your recommendations? I suggest listeners check out Chris Pedersen's article and recommendations. 22:16 Where can I see long-term real-time results of the small-cap value asset class? 24:28 John Bogle said that there was no way for a small investor to invest in small-cap value in the 30s.  Where can a small investor capture the results of the past? 31:08 If I add small-cap value to my portfolio how much will my risk go up? 34:40 Is there a similar portfolio to the 4-fund combo that includes international developed markets and emerging markets? 40:54 What are the historical trading costs and inefficiencies when trading small-cap value stocks?  Are they taken into consideration in your studies? 42:52 Are there some "real life returns" that came close to what Paul claims the historical return has been? 46:35 “What has been your biggest mistake?” Rick Ferri asked Paul in an interview for an upcoming Bogleheads podcast (which will be replayed on Sound Investing). Paul speaks about one of the most common investor mistakes and mentions this video in his answer. 49:00 Will Paul likely go to his grave with small-cap value not living up to his expectations? Paul tells investor to be patient and they will receive the premium for investing in small-cap value. 56:53 90 Years of Evidence Shows Investor Patience Leads to Better Returns

What’s the toughest challenge for many investors? Staying the course for the long term. In this podcast, Paul discusses what he considers "the most useful information for investors.” While adding new insights to his Ultimate Buy and Hold Strategy, Fine Tuning Your Asset Allocation and Distributions in Retirement articles and podcasts, Paul explores nine decades of returns for six asset classes that academics have studied for over 50 years. It turns out that the end result of the returns has been exactly what the academics predicted, but the trip was not an easy one for investors. See and download the Tables referenced here. Paul hopes that in understanding this, all investors  — especially young investors — will see that the strategy with the most predictable returns is also the one with the best predictable returns, and maintain the focus and confidence to make it through the normal ups and downs of the market without giving up.

Paul discusses the comparative returns from the Vanguard, DFA and Best-In-Class Portfolios for 2019. He also responds to 12 questions from listeners and readers of paulmerriman.com’s podcasts, articles, videos, books and recommendations for mutual funds, ETFs, 401k’s, the Ultimate Buy-and-Hold Portfolio and more.  To learn more about comparative returns, take a look at the 2-4 Fund Combo Returns 1928-2018. 12 Q&A 1.  How does the new Fidelity Small-Cap Value (FISVX) compare to our IJS and SLYV?  10:24 2.  What’s a good Vanguard Small-Cap Value Fund for a 66-year-old investor? 15:00 3.  Do you really recommend large and small-cap growth funds? 18:30 4.  Why are you so high on DFA funds? 21:00 5.  What’s your plan for helping kids with their IRAs? 26:44 6.  When will you be updating the S&P 500 Fine-Tuning Table? 31:49 7.  What does a long-time client of Paul’s old firm have to say? 33:50 8.  Where can an investor find historical data on stock and bond returns? 38:23 9.  What about supplying transcripts of your podcasts? 41:36 10.  Which is better: VTWW or FISVX small-cap value funds? 47:54 11.  How do Vanguard Value Index and Vanguard Equity Index funds compare? 50:54 12.  How much would $20,000 become in 45 years if I invest it in small-cap value? 53:04

In this podcast, Paul shares his thoughts for the coming year and answers investor questions. The S&P 500 has made 5% more than the portfolio you recommend.  Should I put it all in the S&P? 14:50 What do you think of the new Avantis ETFs?27:05 What do you think about structured notes?  In the answer I make reference to an article by Larry Swedroe:  31:34 https://alphaarchitect.com/2019/08/22/structured-notes-the-exploitation-of-retail-investors/ Can whole life insurance cash value be considered the same as bonds? 37:59 I am 27 with a wife and 2 year old daughter.  What should I do with $150,000? 41:45 I want to live on $2 million in retirement.  What dividend funds do you recommend? 48:16 What do I do if my 401k does not offer target date funds? 53:31 For a young investor do you prefer your portfolio 7 (well diversified) or portfolio 8 (all value).  58:33 This is the link to the recommended portfolios:  https://paulmerriman.com/best-in-class-recommended-portfolios-2019/

Sign up for our bimonthly newsletter at PaulMerriman.com and join 30,000 savvy investors who value free financial education. You can download a free pdf copy of We’re Talking Millions! 12 Ways to Supercharge Your Retirement at https://paulmerriman.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Were-Talking-Millions.pdf We ask that you share it with family and friends! Paul was planning a traditional "Happy Holidays!" podcast but woke up to information that set his hair on fire. While he has been writing articles about index funds for decades, the most read is “30 reasons to fall in love with index funds”.  While the most common advantages are low expenses, low turnover, massive diversification, Paul suggests the #1 reason may be staying as far away as you possibly can from commission-based sales people, con artists and other conflicts of interest typically not associated with index fund providers. Many do-it-yourself investors rely of services that have a large presence on the internet. A wonderful aspect of the internet is the ability to do meaningful due diligence on the reputations of those offering their "special ways" to perform better than index funds.  But can you depend on the information you find on the internet? Paul discusses the services of “search engine suppression consultants.”  These very clever people are wizards at making bad information disappear.  In fact, in many cases their fees are not earned until all the damaging information is totally eliminated.  He reads an example of one such article that claims to address the pros and cons of a well-known investment manager.  The pros are strong convincing points, while the cons are almost the mistakes that we would expect would be found in any firm. Paul also addresses the outrageous life-changing fees teachers are being charged and the work of an unscrupulous sales person who holds himself out as a friend of his community. The bottom line: None of these bad investments would be available through those who supply very low-cost index funds. The low costs eliminate almost any chance to misuse the investor.

Four years ago we wrote one of our most popular articles, "How To Turn $3000 into $50 million."  This article, originally published at MarketWatch, has had over 500 comments and many of them were calling the strategy crazy.  In this podcast Paul offers at least 10 solid lessons about this strategy, as well as discussing the first 4 years of returns. Lessons include return numbers that will help investors understand the unexpected path they are likely to travel with this strategy. Investors may be surprised to find that some investors in the strategy have earned a 24% compound rate of return over the first 4 years. For more articles and podcasts on this strategy, click here.

The most common question Paul receives these days is, "What is the best investment approach, The Ultimate Buy-and-Hold strategy or 2 Funds for Life?”  The potential long-term returns of these two strategies may be very similar but they will take very different paths.  The Ultimate Buy-and-Hold requires a lot more attention but offers substantially less risk than 2 Funds for Life.  2FFL is available in 2 levels of risk: one for investors who want to take a little additional risk early in the process and much more nearing retirement, and another who are comfortable with lots of risk early on and less at retirement.  This discussion concludes that the Ultimate Buy-and-Hold strategy is likely to be more appealing to those 50 and over, while 2FFL is more appealing to investors starting in their 20s and 30s. Access the Ultimate Buy-and-Hold strategy: https://paulmerriman.com/the-ultimate-buy-and-hold-strategy-2019/ Access the 2 Funds for Life strategy: https://paulmerriman.com/2-funds-for-life/ To stay apprised of Paul’s updates on these strategies and much more, subscribe to our free twice-a-month newsletter at https://paulmerriman.com/

In this interview with Ken Roberts, of Ken’s Bulls and Bears, the conversation covered many bear market-related topics such as: How big a loss should an investor expect to suffer? What should investors do to prepare for a significant decline? What should investors do to prepare for a significant decline? How have you prepared your own portfolio? Is market timing a smart way to manage the risk of a bear market? You may also want to read Paul’s recent MarketWatch article, 8 Steps You Can Take Now to Prepare for a Bear Market If you enjoy Paul’s podcasts, visit his website for free articles, recommendations for mutual funds, ETFs, 401Ks, two funds for life strategies, videos, free books and more: PaulMerriman.com

This podcast is adapted from Financial Fitness After 50, created for PBS as part of a contributors’ package of DVDs, CDs and book in 2012. To watch the video, rather than listen to the podcast, click here. Paul also recommends reading the recent MarketWatch article, written with Rich Buck, on 10 Ways to Make Your Retirement Savings Go Further. The following is the list of the rest of the DVDs in the contributors’ package: 10 Investment Guarantees Every Investor Should Know 15 Risks of Managing Your Money 20 Money Losing Myths How to Avoid the 20 Most Common Investment Mistakes Retirees Make

Paul addresses 14 questions from listeners and readers, but first he speaks to an interesting case of an investor who has greater trust in a bar of gold than a government bond-based Vanguard fund.  Where are your Fine Tuning Tables for 2019? 9:33  Where can I get a better rate of return in my checking account? 11:20  Does …

This recent Marketwatch article, “This strategy beats a total stock market fund and gives you more diversification,” attracted almost 85,000 readers in its first week, so Paul decided to address some topics and questions submitted by readers of the article. These include: The use of individual stocks vs. mutual funds or ETFs The risk of small-cap value compared …

Paul shares bear market observations and advice from Sir John Templeton, Warren Buffet and Peter Lynch, as well as offering his own ideas. He starts the podcast by reading an article by Jason Zweig, “Everything You Know About the Crash Is Wrong”.  Jason discusses a period when investors would buy funds at 150% to 200% more than their net asset …

Listen in as Paul shares insights from a special week of presentations to three very different groups interested in sound investing.  On Wednesday, he addressed high school financial literacy teachers in Washington state.  Thursday he spoke with young FIRE investors at a meeting of Choose FI Orlando, Florida.  And on Saturday, also in Orlando, he was joined by Chris Pedersen to present “Two Funds …

In this podcast, Paul addresses four different but related issues regarding the management of your investments.  When should you fire an advisor?  Paul discusses the ethics and competence an advisor and others must have. Ken Fisher’s recent problems have raised another requirement one could expect from an advisor. This could be very important to listeners who are about to …

In this podcast Paul addresses questions from his investor listeners on managing risk, pensions, early retirement and more in the current market. Topic 1:  Napkin Finance has produced a terrific graphic that compares 5 different types of experts who can help you manage your money.  Unfortunately, they forgot to include free services like ours or newsletters that …

The podcast addresses five different topics from our readers and listeners. It starts with a discussion of the likely future returns of growth vs. value. I read a short blog from Seth Godin, titled “Getting to the truth”: Your anecdote isn’t true. I know it happened. I know that your experience, your feelings, your outcomes are …

In last week’s podcast, I responded to some recent controversies about small-cap-value returns. I examined and shared my findings of a study that looked at the history of returns for many of the popular asset classes: S&P 500, Total Market Index, Large-Cap Value, Small-Cap Blend, Small-Cap Value, U.S. Long-Term Bonds, U.S. Treasury Bills and Inflation. …

Some controversy and concern seems to have risen about small-cap-value returns. While on vacation in Europe recently, I used the early morning hours to complete a study examining the history of returns for many of the popular asset classes: S&P 500, Total Market Index, Large Cap Value, Small Cap Blend, Small Cap Value, U.S. Long Term Bonds, U.S. Treasury Bills …

In this sequel to Part 1, Paul and Ed Fulbright of Fulbright & Fulbright, CPA, PA, continue their conversation about the growing interest in the Financial Independence Retire Early (FIRE) Movement on Ed’s weekly educational radio program, Mastering Your Money. Paul talks about his experience with FIRE, including the recent movie, “Playing With Fire”, his (first) …

Financial Independence Retire Early (Part 1) Paul joins Ed Fulbright of Fulbright & Fulbright, CPA, PA, on his weekly educational radio program, Mastering Your Money, to discuss the FIRE Movement.  F.I.R.E. is an acronym for Financial Independence Retire Early. It’s a growing movement of people who are practicing FIRE principles — high savings rates, frugal living, and low-cost index funds — with the expectation of …

This podcast is the audio-only version of the video, Target Date Funds: America’s #1 Retirement Investment, in which Paul illuminates why Target Date Funds are America’s best retirement investment, and how to maximize that investment with his 2-Funds-For-Life Strategy. While this strategy is ideal for young and first-time investors, it can be effectively used by investors at any stage who want to …

In this interview — with Joe Andersen, CFP and “Big Al Clopine, CPA of Pure Financial Advisors, Inc. on their podcast, “Your Money Your Wealth” — Paul makes the case that owning just two funds for life is a “home-run” investing strategy for some investors. Plus, the hosts answer your money questions: how should teachers, and others without Social Security or pension, save for retirement? …

How to avoid the big mistakes pre-retirees make Paul addresses the huge decisions facing investors in the final push to meet their retirement goals, about 10 years before retirement. Cautioning against the tendency to jump from one strategy to another or be swayed by Wall Street, Paul presents 12 points for creating a solid long-term investment strategy before you …

Paul joins old friend and Vestory advisor, Tom Cock, on Tom’s Seattle radio show, “Talking Real Money”, which begins with addressing the need for emergency money. In answering call-in questions, they discuss the major decision of when to start taking Social Security, annuities, FIRE (Financial Independence Retire Early), how often to rebalance a Buy-and-Hold portfolio at M1 Finance, possible …

In October 2018, Paul and Chris Pedersen recorded a video that offers a new and significant advantage to standard Target Date Funds. Following the release of the YouTube video, “2 Funds for Life — A simple strategy to maximize your retirement investments,” Paul responded to many questions and decided to use this podcast to expand his answers to several of …

Are you aware of the many ways that mutual funds can legally and cleverly mislead investors?  An investor should be able to expect the truth, the whole truth and nothing but the truth but, in reality, mutual funds are marketed putting the best foot forward, like almost every other highly-profitable product. In this podcast, produced for the PBS Special, “Financial …

In a recent article and podcast on diversification, Paul noted that dollar cost averaging can be a form of timing diversification. It ensures that an investor will not put all his/her money in at the top of a market. It also ensures “picking up more shares when prices are lower and fewer shares when prices are higher.” Paul suggested that …

Paul addresses each of these questions which reflect some aspect of investor’s concerns related to risks and returns. How can people invest in a system that is destined to collapse under our massive national debt? What average yearly return do you expect for your different stock/bond Best-In-Class portfolios over the next 5 to 10 years? What do you expect …

Before discussing diversification, which is always about risk management, Paul Merriman presents the returns of the Best-In Class ETF portfolio  The goal of that portfolio was to recreate the DFA portfolio Paul holds in his own account. For the first half of 2019, the advantage goes to the B-I-C ETFs. Way to go Chris Pedersen!  Regarding diversification, Paul …

Paul Merriman answers questions about a wide variety of investor concerns: profitable focus funds, using a pension as a substitute for bonds, moving DFA funds to Vanguard, the impact of higher taxes on the market, performance of major asset classes besides the S&P 500, defensive investment strategies for a bear market, popular sector funds, the impact of saving …

In this lively interview with Ken Roberts, of Ken’s Bulls and Bears, Paul and Ken discuss a range of important investor topics for every stage of life, including Millennials on “FIRE”,  Best-in-Class ETFs, maximizing returns while minimizing risk, and retirement distributions. Comparing the use of fixed and variable distributions in retirement The FIRE movement (Financial Independence, Retire Early) How …

Why is it that what seems like a great year so far would have been fairly normal in past decades? 6:03 Paul discusses why it’s different now.  He also looks at how poorly the experts have misjudged the bond market this year, and answers the following questions from his readers and listeners: Why should I invest …

These timely questions were posed by investors following Paul’s recent presentation to the AAII Los Angeles Chapter. The first question is the most often asked over the past year.  See this table to compare the returns of some of the asset classes Paul discusses. 1.  Is the value premium dead? 2:15 2.  Should investors fear …

Do you want to minimize your risk of running out of money in retirement, while maximizing your distributions? In this podcast, Paul compares the risks and returns of fixed and flexible distribution strategies using the S&P 500.  He discusses why the flexible may be the greatest financial luxury one can have in retirement. To better understand …

This recent interview with Jonathan and Brad of ChooseFi.com is both an excellent starting point for new investors and a refresher for seasoned investors as Paul discusses how to know who to trust, the role emotions play in making sound decisions and staying the course, the importance of diversification and choosing asset classes, and the pros and cons …

For more than 15 years Paul has updated his discussion of fixed and variable distribution strategies. In this podcast he discusses the pros and cons of fixed distributions so investors understand: The importance of the data used to represent returns The huge differences between 3, 4, 5 and 6 percent distributions The importance of inflation Why 3% is …

Paul addresses questions raised during his recent presentations to more than 200 AAII members in Madison and Milwaukee. Also, he recounts an exciting meeting with 2 young women (ages 13 and 15) and their parents who announced the start of their daughters’ lifetime investment journey modeled after How To Turn $3000 Into $50 …

Whether you are saving for retirement or already retired, establishing a reasonable expectation for future returns is one of the most difficult planning decisions.  What can investors learn from the past?  Are the next 10 years likely to be similar to the last 10, 20, 50 or 80 years?  Can we count on the value and …

Do you know that only 31% of Americans believe they will have enough money to enjoy a comfortable life in retirement?  Or how about this: 60% of Millennials report having made an emotional decision they later regretted to sell in a 401k plan?  This sort of emotional decision can be the very thing keeping people from having the money they …