Sound Investing

In this podcast, Paul examines the outright lies made by industry leaders about the difference between index funds and active management.  They hope to skew your thinking to their advantage – not yours. Trillions of dollars in Americans' retirement savings are invested in large and small accounts managed by banks, brokerages, mutual funds, and insurance companies, which continue to fight...

Paul talks with  Barbara Friedberg , financial writer and former investment portfolio manager, about his popular  4 fund combo  and how and why to implement it. Among their discussion is how the 4 fund combo strategy outperformed the S&P 500 over the last 92 years. From 1928 through 2020 the Merriman 4-fund portfolio earned an average annual return of 11.7% versus the S&P 50...

Paul gives listeners a taste of what he will be discussing Sept. 25, 2021 at the  Puget Sound Chapter of the American Association of Individual Investors (AAII ) and at AAII’s virtual  Annual Investor Conference  Sept. 30 and Oct. 1. The title of the Puget Sound Chapter talk is, "The Ultimate Buy and Hold Strategy—on Steroids!” and for the Investor Conference it is, “20 Things...

In this podcast, Paul talks briefly about his upcoming  2-1/2-hour workshop, “The Ultimate Buy and Hold Strategy — on Steroids!” for  the Puget Sound AAII Chapter on September 25, as well as the September 30-October 1 virtual AAII National Conference. For more information and to register for the Conference,  click here . Paul answers the following questions from subscribers to his f...

In the podcast, Paul introduces a  new Fine Tuning Table  that compares different combinations of two equity funds (S&P 500 and Small Cap Value), providing the best way to look at the risk and return implications of combining these two great asset classes.  For over 20 years we have produced these tables representing combinations of an equity asset class, or equity por...

In response to the continued discussion on the Bogleheads forum asking, “ Why Does Anyone Listen to Paul Merriman? " Paul takes this opportunity to "share a wonderful teaching moment" from the comments of those who follow the work of John Bogle. Particularly, Paul considers the criticisms leveled against him regarding the recent performance of small-cap value funds, which he has been recommending...

Paul addresses a long thread on  Bogleheads.org  forum asking, "Why does anyone listen to Paul Merriman?" and recommends listeners follow the Bogleheads site for a variety of perspectives, and especially Rick Ferri’s excellent podcast interviews. Then, taking a detailed look at the latest return data on the 11 "No-Nonsense Portfolios,” he compares the annual and decad...

The Merriman Financial Education Foundation Lifetime Investment Calculator is built from the 2021 fine tuning tables and includes enhancements like showing nominal vs. real returns, growth with contributions, fixed and flexible distributions. We don’t know the future, but the past contains many events that could happen again. The last 51 years include numerous wars, booms, busts, and periods of hi...

In this podcast you’ll learn about a free online presentation for high school students and parents, the introduction of The Merriman Financial Education Foundation Lifetime Investment Calculator to be released Aug. 18, and the implications of investing in individual stocks. Paul begins with an invitation to an upcoming online presentation open to the public on August 16, 5-7 p.m. PT. Wha...

In this podcast, Paul Merriman answers 10 questions recently submitted by his listeners and readers at  paulmerriman.com . See additional links referenced below. What changes would you recommend to your 10-fund portfolio at retirement when you need the money to live on? 0:30 What should a late starter do to get caught up?  What do you recommend for investors who don’t have any experience...

How much and what equity asset classes will investors choose for their portfolios? While this podcast is aimed at young investors, it also has implications for older investors who have a portion of their portfolio invested for younger heirs. Daryl Bahls has produced two new tables that give us a long-term view of the implications of the proportion of your portfolio that is committed to equites and...

Please note our free offer at the end of these podcast comments. In this podcast, Ed Fulbright , CPA, PFS, a fee-based advisor and host of Mastering Your Money ™ radio show, talks with Paul Merriman about such topics related to financial freedom as: · Why is saving more important than spending? · What is the power of starting to invest early versus later? · Why are is small-cap so important to a p...

Don, Tom, and Paul Merriman get together again to discuss the pros and cons of owning stocks and the stock market.

Please take advantage of our free offer at the end of these podcast notes. The granddaddy of all investment decisions is the choice between stocks and bonds. While most investors know stocks make more than bonds, few know that even a small investment — as little as $25 dollars a month — can easily lead to the source of a million dollars in retirement and money left to others. This podcast explores...

Ever wonder why it’s fairly easy to plan something and much more difficult to stick with it? Inspired by a brief post on  Seth Godin’s blog , about “Lines and curves,” Paul discusses this phenomena that sidetracks many sincere investors. (See Godin’s post below). He makes the case that the work he and his team do is like a ruler's "straight line," while the “curves” are what you have to deal...

In this podcast, Paul makes the case that all 12 ways presented in his book, We’re Talking Millions! 12 Simple Ways to Supercharge Your Retirement, are EACH worth a million dollars or more.   It’s not just that an investor would make a million dollars, but that in each decision, or fork in the road, one fork would make an EXTRA million dollars more than the less productive path. Many people f...

Paul, Tom and Don discuss the time frame over which investors should remain patient and how much return can reasonably be expected. They reference the article- “ How Long is a Long Run?” , by Craig Israelsen .

The questions and topics in this podcast came out of the wonderful responses to the question posed to our free newsletter subscribers, "How we can keep you engaged?”Most of your studies offer returns over 30, 40, or more years.  For those of us who don’t have that kind of time, what can you tell us about the likely returns we should get?   In Paul’s response he references a terrific new...

Warning: this podcast is geared for investors who like numbers.   It is focused on some of the best lessons from Paul's favorite book on investing. The Matrix Book 2021 is 100 pages (8 1/2 x 14) almost entirely dedicated to listing the annual returns of dozens of asset class, some from 1926 to 2020 and others starting where records of those asset classes were first tracked.  Those asset...

In this episode of "Talking Real Money/Sound Investing,” Paul Merriman, Tom Cock and Don McDonald each bring a “common investor myth” that the three discuss. Paul’s myth: “We don’t believe in market timing.’" Tom’s myth: Rebalancing means beating the market and makes you more money. Don’s myth: "I’m entitled to a high rate of return on my investment." The conversation on myths starts at 1:35. Get...

Paul takes you “behind-the-scenes” to the work he and his foundation have been doing this year along with what is upcoming, including Chris Pedersen’s new 2 Funds For Life book, Daryl Bahl’s new tables and an exciting calculator in development to construct your own situation using our tables of historical data. And he addresses some frequently asked questions from young, mid-career and retired inv...

Today, on our joint  Talking Real Money / Sound Investing  podcast, Don and Paul Merriman discuss index funds and why they are the only way to build a decent portfolio. It's almost impossible to beat the market, so just be the market. Paul and Don show you: The best indexes to own based on science. Keeping costs low. The differences between funds and ETFs. How to maintain your long-term...

Welcome to another joint Talking Real Money/Sound Investing podcast. Today, Don, Paul, and Tom update you on the latest cryptocurrency news. Plus, with more than 10,000 mutual funds and ETFs available in the US, how do you choose the best ones for your portfolio?

In this engaging conversation with Romanian financial educator, writer, podcaster and YouTuber, Victor Vulpescu , Paul covers a wide variety of investor issues you likely may not have heard before in this way. He talks about his own life as “a series of opportunities and mistakes” and addresses the pitfalls of thinking “You only live once” and other ways investors trip themselves up with emotional...

Paul Merriman interviews Tim Ranzetta, President of Next Generation Personal Finance ( NGPF.org ), about his organization’s commitment to financial education for teachers and students, which is extraordinary. NGPF was created on the belief that financial literacy is the key to creating stable futures for the next generation. It promotes financial education in our public schools, and provides free...