Sound Investing

What are the best practices for building retirement savings and ensuring those savings last throughout retirement?  Christine Benz, director of personal finance at Morningstar, Roger Young, CFP with T. Rowe Price, and Paul Merriman, president of The Merriman Financial Education Foundation, introduce you to the latest research and strategies to increase your odds of enjoying a financially secu...

Flexible Distributions in retirement — which Paul considers one of the greatest financial luxuries for a retiree — are discussed in this podcast updated for 2022. He helps investors see the relationship between how much is taken out for distributions, the balance of equity and fixed income asset classes, and whether distributions are adjusted for inflation or driven solely on percentage of assets...

How much should you take out of your portfolio in retirement? This is one of the biggest financial decisions you will make. In this presentation, Paul discusses the use of the Fixed Distribution Tables , updated for 2021 data.  He uses Fine Tuning Tables B1 (S&P 500) and   B9 (U.S. 4 Fund Portfolio) as the return series he will use for the discussion. He looks at 4 tables in eac...

Paul discusses the latest Equity and Fixed Income Tables (1928-2021) . Also, see updates of The Ultimate Buy & Hold Fine Tuning Your Asset Allocation , Fixed Contributions and No-Nonsense Tables . Plus, he answers the following questions: How can I determine expected risk and return of a portfolio that combines investments from several of your portfolios? Is there any benefit adding inter...

In this podcast, you’ll learn about the long-term impact of using regular Fixed Contributions and our updated Tables for 2022. For young investors, this can mean adding millions to your retirement. Before listening to this podcast, Paul suggests you review the YouTube 2022 updates on The Ultimate Buy and Hold, Fine Tuning Your Asset Allocation, and No-Nonsense Portfolios . There are 9 Tables that...

In this podcast and video , Paul Merriman, Chris Pedersen and Daryl Bahls discuss the 2022 update of "No-Nonsense Portfolios" Tables along with new tables used in a recent presentation at the 2022 White Coat Investor Conference. That presentation was entitled “The Inside Story of 150 Portfolios Better Than Yours.” The two tables compare the risk and return of 20 different portfolios.   T...

The idea began more than 25 years ago: Use tables to show the risk and reward of different equity asset classes — along with different combinations of equity and fixed income — so that investors gain a firm understanding of the relationship between long-term return and short-term risk, and make their investment decisions accordingly.  At that time, there were two tables — one for the S&P...

Since 1995 Paul has been writing and teaching Do-It-Yourself investors about the Ultimate Buy and Hold Portfolio. In this 2022 update he uses the UBH table (70-30) and UBH tables (50-50)  to make the case for 10 equity asset classes he thinks investors should consider owning in the equity portion of their long-term investments. The key takeaways: The S&P 500 can easily be “beat” without t...

What are the most important attitudes and habits of successful investors? In this podcast, Paul examines this question through the lens of “hard work,” or what is often called “grit.”  He references a special  6-minute TED talk by Angela Lee Duckworth , a psychology professor at the University of Pennsylvania. The video is about the importance of “grit” in your life. While...

Paul shares the dire predictions from several gurus and includes a list of reasons a sharp decline could happen.  He includes history of corrections and bear markets since 1950.   https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2021/02/a-short-history-of-u-s-stock-market-corrections-bear-markets/ Question:  Is the 60/40 portolio “in danger?”  Paul uses 'Fine Tuning Table 3' to show investors...

This podcast (also a video ) answers questions from our listeners, viewers and  newsletter subscribers , and updates you on our upcoming projects. Paul Merriman, founder and president of The Merriman Financial Education, is joined by Chris Pedersen, Director of Research and author of  2 Funds for Life — A quest for simple & effective inves...

In this review of 2021 investment results, Paul shares 10 lessons he thinks will be of interest to you following our advice. 1.  How many up and down days did the market produce and how that compares to longer-term profitable vs. losing periods? 2.  The market reached 70 new highs during the year.  Is that good news or bad? 3.  The biggest drawdown for the year was 5.1%.  ...

If you know anyone in their teens, you can make a significant difference in his or her life. We know that the earlier a person gets started saving and soundly investing, the more they will have for retirement and to leave to others. As a group, teenagers are at a phase where they are seeking independence, moving from childhood to adulthood, and are eager to exercise their freedom, which comes with...

Jacek Lempart, the Belguim-based host of  System Trader  “The craft of investing,” interviews Paul Merriman in this extraordinary in-depth conversation, unlike others you may have heard. It has been divided into two parts. You’ll learn: Who’s Paul, and what’s the story of his careers? How have markets changed over the years? Why is Paul a big fan of academic/scientific knowledg...

Jacek Lempart, the Belguim-based host of System Trader “The craft of investing,” interviews Paul Merriman in this extraordinary in-depth conversation, unlike others you may have heard. It has been divided into two parts.. You’ll learn: · Who’s Paul, and what’s the story of his careers? · How have markets changed over the years? · Why is Paul a big fan of academic/scientific knowledge? ·...

In this podcast, Paul makes the case for a multimillion dollar payoff if you decide to be a good Do-It-Yourself investor and do the necessary work. He considers this podcast one of his most important.  Using our Fine Tuning Tables and The Merriman Lifetime Investment Calculator , he shows 3 simple ways a conservative well-diversified portfolio, with a retirement portfolio worth only $500,000,...

This is a continuation of the conversation between Paul, Craig Appl, and Chris Pedersen who evaluated the evidence for We’re Talking Millions! using The Merriman Financial Education Foundation Lifetime Investment Calculator, Portfolio Visualizer, and Two Funds for Life back test. This part builds on Part 1, so we recommend that you view Part 1 before this. Download your free PDF copy of the book n...

About a year ago, we released the book, We’re Talking Millions! 12 Simple Ways to Supercharge Your Retirement . A few people have challenged the idea that each of the 12 simple steps, outlined in the book, can net you an additional million dollars. Paul, Craig Appl, and Chris Pedersen evaluate the evidence using The Merriman Financial Education Foundation Lifetime Investment Calculator, Portfolio...

An investment advisor and long time podcast listener recently wrote to Paul: “By any stretch of the imagination this market (S&P 500) is expensive. Back in 1987 you took your clients to cash or very near cash. Do you feel that that today is the same situation?  I’ve never market timed in my career, but today fells like the time to do it if there ever was a time.” Paul discusses what...

In this lively conversation, Paul Merriman and Daryl Bahls interview Chris Pedersen – author of 2 Funds for Life – A quest for simple & effective investing strategies (Oct. 2021) and creator of the 2 Funds for Life strategies – about the simplicity and effectiveness of these strategies and the data that supports them. Below is a link to start reading the book for free . Questions discussed: ·...

Paul address the pros and cons of cryptocurrencies. He discusses his personal opinion after reading from several articles that do a good job of presenting the basics of cryptocurrencies. In this week’s Sound Investing newsletter, Paul expands on his views about cryptocurrency. Subscribe now — always free! — at  https://paulmerriman.com/signup/  and get your free copy of  We’re Talki...

Chris Pedersen talks with Ed Fulbright, CPA, on Ed’s “ Mastering Your Money ” podcast, about the 2 funds for life strategy he developed as Director of Research for The Merriman Financial Education Foundation , and his new book, 2 Funds for Life: a quest for simple and effective investing strategies .  Chris tells the story of how Paul Merriman’s meeting with Jack Bogle, the founder of Vanguar...

In this podcast, Paul is joined by Daryl Bahls and Chris Pedersen to answer a variety of questions posed during the AAII Conference 360.  What mutual funds and ETFs do you personally own? Paul, Chris and Daryl share their individual approaches and holdings. Are there any good-to-excellent small cap newsletters Paul recommends?  In the answer Paul references  http://hu...

Cryptocurrencies, ARKK, inflation, market timing, Vanguard High Yield Bond Fund and emerging markets and mor This podcasts includes questions from a fellow advisor as well as questions from readers and listeners. Do you care that bond interest rates are below inflation and it seems that rates will stay below inflation over the next decade? Do you encourage investors to search for alternatives to b...

There can be big differences between asset class returns, as well as differences within asset classes. Why do some great funds look like dogs compared to their competitors?  How can there be over a 20% one year difference in return between two funds in the same asset class?  Paul examines these questions and recommends investors use the quilt chart constructed by Daryl Bahls to understan...