Business
**Sound Investing**

Weekly podcasts with Paul Merriman. Strategic planning for investing at every stage of life.

Latest Episodes:

What path are your investments on? Jun 22, 2022

Show notes

Many investors are worried about their future and what’s happening in the markets. In this podcast, Paul focuses on a series of new tables. He believes these tables represent one of the best pieces of historical information for understanding the likely path that your investments will take in the future. They were created by Daryl Bahls, Director of Analytics for The Merriman Financial Education Foundation.

See the Tables here: https://paulmerriman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Sound-Investing-Portfolio-Quilt-Chart-1928-2021-V1.3-1.pdf

They provide the picture of five different portfolios over their history from 1928 to 2021: 1. All S&P 500; 2. All Small Cap Value (USSV); 3. All Value (USAV) half Large Cap Value and half Small Cap Value; 4. 4-Fund (US4F) with 25% of each of four major asset classes; 5. 2-Fund strategy (US2F) with half USSV and half S&P 500.

What should you do next? Jun 15, 2022

Show notes

To help answer the many recent emails asking, “What should I do next?” Paul offers his “sound investing" ideas. He begins with a reference to a a recording by JL Collins in 2019, titled "A Guided Meditation for When the Stock Market Is Dropping," (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOGU94eL07E), and then walks you through the importance of examining and understanding the historical tables provided at his Foundation’s website (https://paulmerriman.com). He also shares information that relates to JL Collins' view of the future and how his view differs, as is meaningfully illustrated in the accumulation tables for the same portfolios.

See link to the Fine Tuning Your Asset Allocation table for the S&P 500: https://paulmerriman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/Fine-Tuning-Tables-50-50-2022-1.pdf and https://paulmerriman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/12-Fine-Tuning-Tables-70-30-2022.pdf

See link to U.S. 4-Fund table: https://paulmerriman.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/2-4-Fund-Equity-Returns-1928-2021-C.pdf

signup

Strategies for Financial Success—The Roadmap After Graduation Jun 08, 2022

Show notes

What are the challenges facing university graduates, and all young people, entering the work force? Paul addresses students at Western Washington University with clear information on how to become well-informed and successful investors over a lifetime. He warns about the role of emotions and importance of creating an informed investment plan to have more than enough, because life rarely goes according to plan. He explains the huge impact of an additional .5% in annual returns over a lifetime, mutual funds and target date funds, and the steps to follow in his book, We’re Talking Millions—12 Ways To Supercharge Your Retirement and the strategy of “5 Years Can Make You A Multi-Millionaire.” This and much more in this podcast/video.
The Powerpoint in the video illustrates many of the concepts. Click here to watch.

Read the article: “Save like mad for five years—retire with millions”
Watch the video: “How A 5 Year Investment Can Make You A Millionaire”
Listen to the podcast, “5 years of investing and you can become a multi-millionaire”
Get your free copy of We’re Talking Millions at: https://paulmerriman.com/signup

The Future of Investing: The Good, the Bad and the Ugly Jun 01, 2022

Show notes

In this new presentation, Paul addresses seven of the biggest investment decisions, provides a brief history of investing and makes predictions for the future. Through the evolution of Wall Street, he shows what savvy investors believe today in terms of saving on fees, diversification and asset class investments, and he elaborates on recommended portfolios and how “5 years can make you a multi-millionaire!”

This was presented to Bainbridge Island’s Oatmeal Club, of which Paul is a member. The Oatmeal Club is a group that’s been meeting weekly on Bainbridge Island for 40 years to share “stimulating conversation, intellectual presentations and, before Zoom, a real oatmeal breakfast.” You can read more about The Oatmeal Club here: https://theislandwanderer.com/bainbridges-oatmeal-club-is-the-home-of-stimulating-conversation-intellectual-presentations-and-before-zoom-real-oatmeal/

Watch the accompanying slideshow on the video.

5 years of investing and you can become a multi-millionaire May 25, 2022

Show notes

Young investors can build a retirement worth up to $50 million from an investment of just $6,000 per year for the first 5 years of contributions to a Roth IRA or Roth 401(k). Paul Merriman, Chris Pedersen and Daryl Bahls show you how — with or without the help of parents or grandparents.

Paul discusses a strategy for young children that requires monthly contributions of just $25 to fund the $6,000 investment in early-Roth IRA or Roth 401(k), and each shares his recommendation for young investors after the first 5 years. They address the challenge of getting a young investor to “stay the course” when the market is in decline, and Paul shares the story of an uncle who requires three promises from family members he helps get started in investing for retirement.

Referenced Links:

“5 Years Can Make You a Multi-Millionaire” shows the impact of an all-equity portfolio using Small Cap Value or a 50/50 balance of Small Cap Value and the S&P 500.

This new table shows the percentage of time that Small Cap Value makes long term returns of 12% to more than 14%.

See video, “How To Use Portfolio Visualizer” by Chris Pedersen

Watch this as a video.

What’s New for Social Security 2022 May 18, 2022

Show notes

This is MUST LISTEN presentation for everyone yet to claim Social Security and/or survivor benefits, and otherwise learn how to maximize your benefits. MaryBeth Franklin, author of Maximizing Social Security Retirement Benefits, shares her expertise in this interview with Paul Merriman and answers a number of viewer questions. This presentation is part of Financial Literacy Month, sponsored by the Bainbridge Community Foundation (https://bainbridgecf.org/) and The Merriman Financial Education Foundation (https://paulmerriman.com/the-merriman-financial-education-foundation/)

You’ll learn:
• How claiming age affects the amount of Social Security benefits received by retirees and their surviving spouses;
• How earnings from a job can reduce benefits if claimed before full retirement age
• Strategies to reverse early claiming decisions and create larger future benefits.

Links mentioned in the presentation:
Mary Beth interview with retirement researcher Wade Pfau, titled, “Retirement income strategies for 2022 and beyond”: https://retirement-repair-shop-with-mary-beth-franklin.simplecast.com/episodes/retirement-income-strategies-for-2022-and-beyond-DeARkylF

Mary Beth interview with Joe Elsasser, founder of Covisum, discussing Social Security’s solvency, possible reforms, taxes and benefit strategies. Covisum has a free calculator to help people make better decisions on when to start taking Social Security. https://www.investmentnews.com/podcasts/retirement_repair_shop_mbf/joe_elsasser
Here is a link to her book, Maximizing Social Security Retirement Benefits:www.maximizingsocialsecuritybenefits.com
Which covers:
– The ABC's of claiming Social Security
– How Social Security benefits are taxed
– What survivors need to know to maximize their benefits
– What claiming strategies are disappearing for most new retirees
– How recent changes to Social Security claiming rules affect married couples and divorced spouses
– Plus, much more including new rules & strategies to help maximize benefits

Do-it-yourself investor: be the best! May 11, 2022

Show notes

Times are changing and many investors are asking, “What changes should I make in my portfolio?” To answer, Paul discusses how to be a successful do-it yourself-investor. He also mentions free upcoming presentations, along with recommended recent articles and an interview on defining characteristics of a successful do-it-yourself investor.

Join Paul online with the AAII New York Chapter on May 11 at 6:30 p.m. ET for “The Ultimate Buy and Hold Portfolio, on Steroids!”

Webinar is free. Preregistration is required.Register here:https://bit.ly/3FuhEp9

Attend the Retiremeet conference on May 14, 8:00 a.m.–3:00 p.m. PT

Free for online attendees and small fee to attend (includes lunch). Paul speaks about investing in small-cap value for 30 minutes starting at 1:00 p.m. Get all the details and get your tickets at: https://retiremeet.com/

Read this new MarketWatch article: “The Only Two Stock Funds You’ll Ever Need” (https://paulmerriman.com/the-only-two-stock-funds-youll-ever-need/). The article includes a link to an updated table showing 12 combinations of the S&P 500 and small-cap value from 1970-2021.

“The Eleventh Commandment,” by George Sisti, offers a humorous and truthful approach to your investment decisions, especially during turbulent times. (https://oncoursefp.com/images/Vectors%20May%2022%20final.pdf)

Simple & Effective Balanced Lifetime Portfolios, 2022 Update May 04, 2022

Show notes

Looking to achieve massive diversification across industries, geographies, stocks, bonds, and various equity premium factors? Chris Pedersen, Director of Research at The Merriman Financial Education Foundation and author of 2 Funds for Life: A quest for simple & effective investing strategies, shows several simple portfolios that do that. He also discusses 2 Funds for Life strategies that augment target-date funds to reduce risk with age, increase expected returns, raise safe withdrawal rates, and achieve higher overall survival rates. Chris’ analysis compares past performance to more complex approaches, and shows that complexity is not a necessity in accumulation or retirement.
Watch via Video
Hosted by the Boston Boglehead Chapter on April 23, 2022. The John C. Bogle Center for Financial Literacy (https://boglecenter.net/) is a non-profit organization dedicated to improving financial literacy. The Center’s mission is to expand the legacy of John C. Bogle, the founder of Vanguard, by promoting the principles of successful investing and financial well-being through education and community. The Center envisions a world of well-informed, capable, and empowered investors. Community outreach is achieved through the Bogleheads forum, wiki, and blog, as well as in-person and virtual Bogleheads chapters worldwide. Learn more at:
Bogleheads.org: https://www.bogleheads.org/index.php

This broadcast is part of the educational offerings from The Merriman Financial Education Foundation, a registered 501(c)3. If you found value in this video, here are five ways to support our mission of providing financial education to investors at all stages of life:

1) Hit the thumbs up, subscribe, leave a comment or podcast review and share the link with your social media and friends.

2) Sign up for our twice-a-month newsletter at PaulMerriman.com and join 30,000+ savvy investors who value free financial education, PLUS receive a free pdf copy of We’re Talking Millions! 12 Ways to Supercharge Your Retirement. We ask that you share it with family, friends, associates and teachers!

3) Use our M1 Finance affiliate link to set up a brokerage account and use our portfolio suggestions. If you fund your account with a minimum of $1,000, our foundation will receive a one-time affiliate fee — at no cost to you — which helps support our financial education projects.

4) Buy our latest books, We’re Talking Millions! 12 Simple Ways To Supercharge Your Retirementand 2 Funds for Life: A quest for simple & effective investing strategies, the profits from which help support our work.

5) Support our mission by making a tax-deductible donation to the Foundation. Thank you!

Podcast keywords: simple portfolios, how to invest for life, Chris Pedersen, best target date funds, life strategies that work, investing for retirement, paul merriman podcast, sound investing

The Inside Story About ESG investing Apr 27, 2022

Show notes

Paul Merriman talks with Larry Swedroe and Sam Adams about their new book, Your Essential Guide to Sustainable Investing: How to live your values and achieve your financial goals with ESG, SRI, and Impact Investing https://amzn.to/3KiV1Vh, and they address a broad range of audience questions. Larry is a prolific and respected academic-based writer committed to helping investors find better ways to invest. Co-author Sam, CEO of Vert Asset Management and former DFA advisor, describes himself as both an environmentalist and a capitalist.

Topics include:

• The history of the Socially Responsible Investing movement
• Definitions of ESG, SRI, Impact investment
• How different methodologies and outcomes depending on motives of investor
• Risk and return for investors and
• What are ESG scores?
• How “sin stocks” have out-performed high ESG-scored companies until recently
• Growth and value stocks
• How investor demand for better ESG scores is changing corporate behavior
• What is factor investing? and Larry’s book, Complete Guide to Factor Based Investing
• How to apply asset classes and factors

• Active or passive management of ESG funds?
• The importance of investor commitment

Paul Merriman talks with Larry Swedroe and Sam Adams about their new book, Your Essential Guide to Sustainable Investing: How to live your values and achieve your financial goals with ESG, SRI, and Impact Investing [insert Amazon affiliate link spelled out], and they address a broad range of audience questions. Larry is a prolific and respected academic-based writer committed to helping investors find better ways to invest. Co-author Sam, CEO of Vert Asset Management and former DFA advisor, describes himself as both an environmentalist and a capitalist.

Paul suggests that this book is “a must read” for all trustees and board members of non-profit organizations who want to get into the ESG business. He also plans for his Foundation’s team to develop a list of recommended portfolios for ESG funds for his subscribers at paulmerriman.com.
Jim Hopper, executive director of the Bainbridge Community Foundation, introduces this Financial Literacy Month event co-sponsored by BCF and The Merriman Financial Education Foundation, and coordinated by Paul Merriman.

How To Have More Than Enough in Retirement Apr 20, 2022

Show notes

In this insightful interview by Morris Taletovic of Moki Finance, Paul shares, for the first time, stories and lessons from his journey in the financial arena as a former advisor, and as an educator and founder of The Merriman Financial Education Foundation. They discuss Paul’s free books, his mentors, cultivating a long-term-investment mindset, and his advice about small-cap value. Paul elaborates on the difference between having “enough” and having “more than enough” in retirement, and how investors can get to “more than enough.” He explains how to create a legacy for a child with a very small investment. The last 15 minutes is spent fielding great questions from Moki’s subscribers.

Here is a link to the video.