Sound Investing

WELCOME TO SOMETHING NEW. After working together for many years, Paul Merriman, Tom Cock and Don McDonald are teaming up for a new audio/video podcast every two weeks. The audio podcasts will become a part of both the Talking Real Money and Sound Investing podcast feeds and the videos posted here and at paulmerriman.com. In this episode, Tom, Don, and Paul discuss cryptocurrencies in detail, explo...

Stan The Annuity Man®, by the title of this podcast, summarizes two key points of this conversation with Paul Merriman, as part of Stan’s “Fun With Annuities Podcast Celebrity Series.” Stan writes in his podcast notes, “I’d choose Paul Merriman advice over that of Warren Buffet.  Once you listen to this podcast, you will know why.” Meanwhile, Paul considers Stan “a Truth Tellers among financi...

In this conversation, Paul Merriman talks with Rational Reminder Podcast hosts Benjamin Felix and Cameron Passmore , about how the right habits and investing approach can add millions to your retirement nest egg. Topics include: Paul’s investing philosophy, and how it’s been influenced by the work of Eugene Fama. Why Vanguard’s portfolio allocation ensures that clients have the smoothest possible...

Paul Merriman interviews Larry Swedroe , renowned speaker and prolific writer on the science of investing, about his new, updated book, The Complete Guide to a Successful and Secure Retirement . But the discussion focuses on the validity of Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, including the Dogecoin, the $36 billion dollar joke.  Larry wrote a blog about cryptocurrencies in 2017.  He stan...

Many of the risks we face in retirement are relatively under our control, while others are not. In this presentation  Christine Benz https://www.morningstar.com/authors/30/christine-benz—  Morningstar’s  Director of Personal Finance ,  author of  30-Minute Money  Solutions: A Step-by-Step Guide to Managing Your Finances   and co-host of “The Long View” ...

The world of investing had a wild ride in 2020, and is continuing into 2021. In this presentation,  Paul Merriman explores the history and nature of stock market bubbles, long bull markets and short bear markets, day trading, hedge funds and the uncertainty that can accompany market bubbles. Issues covered include the good, the bad and the ugly about Robinhood, 4 free lunches of investing, wh...

Paul talks with Christine Benz and Jeff Ptak about his commitment to indexing, why he believes in small value stocks, the perils of performance-chasing, and more. They covered such topics as: Best ways to get young people to understand investment process How to get investment information to people who need it most Why Paul was attracted to index funds and DFA The future of the value premium The ri...

This podcast is a must for anyone within 5 years of retirement as Paul discusses the annual update on the comparison of fixed and flexible distributions in retirement. The tables are intended help you determine how much you need to retire and how much you can take out without the risk of running out of money before running out of life. Paul illustrates key points using Tables 10 , 4...

How much money can you take from your investments in retirement?  Planning for this “distribution" involves the biggest series of investment decisions of your lifetime. How much do you need to accumulate in order to retire without fear of running out of money before you run out of life? How much can you take out?  How much should you have in equities and how much in bonds?&nbsp...

This podcast is one of the most important for young investors. Most young investors are going to build their wealth on their home and their investments in tax-free or tax-deferred IRAs, 401(k) or similar tax-sheltered growth. Both types of investments will grow with the use of monthly payments. This podcast will help you understand how the monthly dollar-cost-averaging process works. Many inv...

The two previous podcasts —   The Ultimate Buy and Hold Strategy 2021  and  How to Simplify the Ultimate Buy and Hold for Higher Returns   — were dedicated to building the  Ultimate Buy and Hold Strategy  with the traditional 10 equity positions, as well as 2 additional similar portfolios with fewer funds. Plus there were value-only portfolios that produced...

This is the second podcast in a series of what Paul Merriman thinks are "the most important investment information” the Merriman Financial Education Foundation updates annually. Paul starts with a quick review of the previous podcast,  The Ultimate Buy and Hold Strategy Update 2021 regarding the 10 equity asset classes.  For those who did not hear the previous, it will help to...

Paul Merriman discusses the 2021 updated Ultimate Buy and Hold Strategy, designed to show why the 10 equity asset classes should be part of a diversified portfolio. This new study uses an expanded base of returns so that all 10 equity asset classes are reflected in the 1970 to 2020 period. While the expansion of returns makes the returns more dependable, the results are virtually the same as...

In this fast-paced, fun and educational interview by Paula Pant — the self-described “writer and instigator” behind the weekly podcast, “Afford Anything” — Paul and Paula discuss: Meeting Vanguard founder John Bogle 2 Funds for Life What’s wrong with Target Funds? What’s different about investors today? Why should investors make more in future? Should you add internationals to your...

Of the many mutual fund and ETF portfolios on our website,  paulmerriman.com , which of the dozen-plus portfolios is most appropriate for you, given your risk tolerance and need for investment return? The goal of this lively discussion — with Paul Merriman, Chris Pedersen and Daryl Bahls — is to help you decide. Topics covered include: A short history of the  Vanguard , Fidelity , T...

Paul Merriman is amazed at the interest in GameStop. People he's known for years and never had an interest in the stock market are getting involved…. only emotionally for most, but for many both emotionally and financially. In this podcast, Paul explains the difference between going “long" and ‘short” in the market, and what drove him to buy GameStop when it was selling for under $10 a s...

Paul Merriman, founder and president of  The Merriman Financial Education Foundation , Chris Pedersen, director of research, and Daryl Bahls, director of analytics, discuss the  2021 Best-in-Class ETFs   Paul starts the discussion with a short history of his commitment to providing  mutual fund recommendations   He makes it clear that they are not CFPs, CFAs or regist...

Paul announces Chris Pedersen's  Best In Class ETF Recommendations for 2021  and Paul’s  updated Mutual Fund  recommendation s for Vanguard, Fidelity, T. Rowe Price and Schwab. In anticipation of next week’s Zoom call to discuss the new portfolios and fund recommendations, Paul Merriman, Chris Pedersen and Daryl Bahls are soliciting questions from you, our listen...

Paul introduces Don McDonald, Co-Founder of   Vestory Investment Advisory  and co-host of  "Talking Real Money"  podcast, who will be producing “money minutes” for most of our podcasts. Don also produced the soon-to-be-released audio version for our latest book,  We’re Talking Millions! . Paul discusses the upcoming  Retiremeet America 2021  free online conferenc...

This podcast addresses the most important investment lessons of 2020 from The Merriman Financial Education Foundation ’s research team, Chris Pedersen and Daryl Bahls. In each case there is a table/chart/graph that helps illustrate the lesson. (See more below. Also, WATCH as a VIDEO ). In this a year-end Zoom call, Chris discusses his recent studies on using “2 Funds for Life after 60” as well as...

In this presentation Paul discusses the advantages of Vanguard, best cash management fund, best equity fund, best balanced funds, best bond funds and more at Vanguard. He also explains how retirees can buy a pension for the rest of their life and make more than 7% a year, most of it tax free. Paul mentions how investors can receive a free library of books on annuities from  stantheannuityman....

In this year-end holiday message for 2020, Paul speaks to the importance of financial education and sharing knowledge as a form of caring for yourself, your loved ones and future generations. In keeping with the of mission of The Merriman Financial Education Foundation , a free PDF of our latest book, We’re Talking Millions! 12 Simple Ways To Supercharge Your Retirement, will soon be available to...

Joe Saul-Sehy , of the award-winning podcast " Stacking Benjamins ,” interviews Paul on the a wide variety of topics, such as: What was the key to your investing success? How do you bridge the gap between the spender and a saver in a relationship? Why did you started the latest book,  We’re Talking Millions! 12 Simple Steps To Supercharge Your Retirement,  with a discussion of infla...

I’m very near retirement. What advice would you recommend? :46 What four Vanguard and Fidelity funds do you recommend for your 4-Fund Strategy ?  (Recommendations are discussed in the article, “ Don’t just default to the S&P 500: Consider the simple 4 funds ”.) 6:04 How can a European use your  4-Fund Strateg y? 7:42 How about using the  4-Fund Strategy in the U.K.? 11:49 Should...

In this insightful interview by Doc G of Earn & Invest , authors Rich Buck and Paul Merriman talk about their new book, We’re Talking Millions: 12 Ways To Supercharge Your Retirement . They cover topics such as their long-time professional collaboration, simplicity in investing, risk, beating the market, portfolio recommendations and the magic of compound interest over time. Buy We’re Talking...