Paul Merriman

Paul Merriman responds to a podcast listener who wrote: “I am convinced your 4-Fund Combo is a portfolio I want to add to my portfolio. My question is, how confident are you in the past performance of these four asset classes from 1970-2019 AND how confident can we be about any performance?" Before …

In May, Paul Merriman, founder of The Merriman Financial Education Foundation, and Chris Pedersen, director of research, were guest presenters at two ChooseFI online events, via Facebook Live on May 9 and Zoom on May 16. On May 9 Chris and Paul made separate presentations: Paul on “12 Investment Decisions Guaranteed to Change Your Financial Future" and …

While it is easy to show young investors how to make an extra million dollars over the course of 50 years or more, it’s not so easy to do for retired investors looking at 10 to 30 more years. But there are ways! Here Paul suggests 10 different ways to add a million dollars …

In this podcast (also watchable as a YouTube video), Paul Merriman, along with Director of Research Chris Pedersen and Chief Analyst Daryl Bahls get together on a Zoom call to answer additional questions submitted during the ChooseFI Facebook Live event, for which time did not …

While the coronavirus pandemic has changed everyone’s life — and hopefully without illness or loss — for The Merriman Financial Education Foundation it has been a huge game changer, in a very good way. In this podcast Paul shares some new ways he’s able to serve more investors and he answers seven questions …

"Many people, including myself, tend to consider the bad things that might happen before considering the good outcome that is more likely to happen,” " says Paul Merriman. "That challenging state of mind requires having a "little house” plan... just in case the list of catastrophic events actually happens.  The massive loss of employment …

For the past eight weeks, Paul focused on what he considers among the most important decisions an investor is likely to make in a lifetime. In this podcast he quickly reviews those key decisions through the articles, podcasts and tables that were recently created to help investors be the best they can be. …

In discussing the latest Fixed Contribution Tables, Paul gives investors an opportunity to explore the differences between many of the various strategies that he, Chris Pedersen and Daryl Bahls have developed. In discussing the Tables, Paul first provides an overview for those in the early years of investing, and then a more thorough …

This podcast introduces the Distribution and Contribution Tables for the 4-Fund Combo, plus Paul discusses how these results compare with the other equity asset classes on the  Fine Tuning, Distribution and Contribution tables. More than 60 new and updated tables are now available at PaulMerriman.com, generously created by Daryl Bahls. These tables are …

One of the biggest financial decisions we make can be the choice of distribution strategy in retirement. In this podcast Paul compares the risks and returns of flexible and fixed distribution strategies, not just in terms of money available for retirement expenses but also for heirs and charities at the end of life. He …

From explaining how index funds are built to his opinion on how far the market will fall; from where to find resources for teaching high schoolers about personal finance to custodial accounts and rebalancing Target-Date funds, Paul answers 20 questions from his readers and listeners. Scan through and listen to those that interest you …

When the market finally turns around and heads back up, what kind of portfolios are likely to perform better than the market in general?  In this podcast Paul shares what he calls the Comeback Portfolio.  During the discussion he uses some existing tables plus a couple of new tables to make his case.  For those who want to …

Listen to Sound Investing on your favorite listening platforms: Bear Markets and Fixed Distributions The two most important articles and podcasts The Merriman Financial Education Foundation produces each year are the "Ultimate Buy and Hold Strategy” — which helps you determine what equity asset classes to hold in your portfolio — and 

Listen to Sound Investing on your favorite listening platforms: Focusing on small-cap value from every angle Paul knows, this podcast compares Price-to-Earnings ratios, Price-to-Book ratios, average size company and one-year and 40-year period returns.  Paul shares the latest academic research on small-cap value, comparison of risk and return for S&P vs. small-cap value asset classes, and the likely …

Listen to Sound Investing on your favorite listening platforms: Paul shares writings and wisdom from two of his trusted Truth Tellers, George Sisti of On Course Financial Planning and Dr. Jim Dahle of The White Coat Investor.  Both of these experts are focused on helping people be better buy-and-hold investors.  George's blog post is titled “Here We Go Again!” and Jim’s …