Paul Merriman

  In an interview with Jason R. Parker – author of Sound Retirement Planning, a blog and radio show by the same name, and president of Parker Financial LLC, a fee based wealth management firm – Paul discusses retirement, staying the course, fixed income, the value of …

  For many years I've sung the praises of small-cap value for all investors. Of course, that would be a relatively small percentage for retirees and a lot for first-time investors. I have used this table of 1-, 15- and 40-year returns for large-cap blend, large-cap value, small-cap blend and small-cap value so investors can easily compare …

  My recent opportunities to educate investors have been extremely satisfying, including a presentation to teenagers and their parents on Bainbridge Island, mostly-retired investors at the AAII chapter in Portland, OR and to 200 students at Western Washington University. The following are questions that came rolling in from the groups, as well as emails from our …

  Do you think the market is close to the top and you should be considering an exit strategy? Let’s talk about market timing, as it seems a lot of investors are concerned with it, judging from the number of questions I am receiving about timing subsequent to my interview with Meb Faber and Bogleheads' comments after my interview with Dr. Jim …

    I had the recent pleasure of being interviewed by Meb Faber, co-founder and the Chief Investment Officer of Cambria Investment Management, and author of five books. We covered a lot of ground, speaking in some detail about my “Ultimate Buy & Hold Portfolio," the power of diversification, and the pitfalls of emotional investing. We discussed the benefits of …

    One of the toughest decisions in a financial plan is the assumption of returns for the equity part of the portfolio. This presentation is intended to help you in that decision. I just received my copy of the annual Dimensional Funds Matrix. This book contains 90 pages of return tables for more than 30 different asset …

    In this interview with Jim Dahle, M.D., Paul covers about a wide range of investment topics, from getting started to retirement planning and distributions. This is an excellent introduction to Paul’s work, including buy-and-hold, market timing, bonds, Bogleheads, the work of the Merriman Financial Educational Foundation, DFA and portfolio management, Do-It-Yourselfers, and much …

    Paul’s favorite distribution strateg Each year Paul updates his favorite distribution strategy. In this discussion listeners will want to have copies of distribution tables 3 and 12. These tables reflect a 5% initial distribution plus annual increases for inflation. Tables 17 and

    Paul discusses two reports from his annual "must read” list: SPIVA and DALBAR. The SPIVA report makes the strongest statistical case for index funds over actively-managed funds. The DALBAR "Quantitative Analysis of Investor Behavior 2018 Report" (no link, as investors have to buy the report) makes the case that the combination of active management by mutual funds …

    The decision to establish a fixed distribution strategy can help ensure your peace of mind in retirement. This strategy is designed for people who retire with “enough" to meet minimum cash flow needs, including future adjustments for inflation.  If you are new to our work, please read "The Ultimate Buy-and-Hold portfolio, 2018 edition" and the latest Fine Tuning Your Asset Allocations …

    Paul begins this podcast in response to tough critiques from some readers about this very popular article and podcast. He speaks to what he thinks are the most important lesson for investors. He also answers 4 Q&As from readers and listeners.: Will you create recommended portfolios for popular HSAs? What …

    For over 20 years Paul has been producing articles and podcasts on 3 important decisions investors must make.  The first is The Ultimate Buy-and-Hold Strategy, a discussion of the equity asset classes that Paul recommends investors use in their portfolio.  The second is Fine Tuning Your Asset Allocation. The third, …

    One young investor following Paul’s advice wrote to him: “Paul, thank you for everything you’ve done. The podcast, books and website have changed my life.” Paul asked him, “How so?” Thus begins this podcast sharing this young man’s response in the hope it will motivate other young investors to do the same. Q&A: What specific things …

    In a recent podcast, Paul discussed a table of historical risk-and-return data for the S&P 500.  The purpose of that podcast and corresponding table was to give investors a way to build reasonable expectations of the short- and long-term losses, as well as short and long-term returns for the S&P 500.   In this podcast the same information is presented for …

In this podcast, Paul answers a variety of recent listener questions: • Is it time to sell and move more of my portfolio into money market or bond funds? •  Can I use your Best-In-Class glide path spread sheet to manage my Fidelity portfolio?  In answering, I reference a spreadsheet that shows our recommended …