Sound Investing

Paul Merriman
  • 0.0 (0)
  • Investing
  • Updated weekly

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

  1. They're Back... Talking Real Money - Investing Talk

    5 hr ago

    They're Back... Talking Real Money - Investing Talk

    I joined my longtime friend Tom Cock for a special edition of Talking Real Money — a wide-ranging conversation about the evolution of indexing, the proposed changes to the S&P 500, and why investors should understand both the strengths and limitations of traditional index funds. I explain why firms like Dimensional Fund Advisors and Avantis Investors use a more flexible, evidence-based approach than traditional indexing, and how academic research has reshaped portfolio construction over the past several decades. We also explore lessons from market history, including the importance of understanding major bear markets, determining appropriate risk levels, and building portfolios that align with your personal goals rather than chasing maximum returns. I share insights from the latest Dimensional Matrix Book and explain why I believe studying 100 years of market data helps investors stay disciplined during inevitable downturns. Finally, I introduce a simple but powerful strategy for helping newborns and young children build substantial retirement wealth through small annual investments that can compound over many decades. CHAPTERS0:11 Special guest Paul Merriman joins Talking Real Money0:55 Long friendship and investing partnership between Tom and Paul1:20 S&P 500 rule changes and earlier inclusion of major IPOs like SpaceX2:07 Historical examples of S&P 500 additions and omissions2:35 Microsoft’s delayed entry into the S&P 5002:56 NVIDIA replacing Enron in 20013:29 How index rule changes can affect future returns and volatility4:08 Why indexing remains the preferred strategy for most investors5:16 Traditional versus non-traditional index funds6:37 How Avantis and Dimensional incorporate factors beyond company size8:05 Why factor-based investing differs from traditional indexing9:02 Problems with rigid index reconstitution schedules10:16 Momentum, flexibility, and portfolio management advantages11:22 Introduction to Dimensional’s annual Matrix Book11:53 Using market history rather than forecasts to guide investing decisions13:09 Lessons from past bubbles, crashes, and lost decades14:20 Why Paul trusts academic research more than Wall Street forecasts15:14 The case for small-cap value investing15:49 Clarifying Paul’s allocation to small companies16:53 Investing for heirs, charities, and future generations18:10 Remembering investor panic during the 2008 financial crisis19:18 Determining an appropriate risk level for retirement portfolios20:43 Different investor goals: beating the market, maximizing returns, or minimizing risk21:28 Peace of mind versus maximum growth21:55 Helping young people build retirement wealth early22:54 The $365-per-year retirement funding concept24:09 Final thoughts and appreciation between Tom and Paul Questions? Comments? Click!

    27 min
  2. Ben Carlson and Paul Merriman on Full Disclosure

    24 Jun

    Ben Carlson and Paul Merriman on Full Disclosure

    Paul Merriman joins host Roben Farzad on Full Disclosure for a rare conversation alongside Ben Carlson, director of institutional asset management at Ritholtz Wealth and author of the new book Risk and Reward: How to Handle Market Volatility and Build Long-Term Wealth. Roben called it a “truth teller tandem” — the first time these two have sat down together — and the result is an hour of warm, candid, data-grounded talk about how individual investors can actually succeed. The conversation opens with a great question: does a century of S&P 500 history mean anything when index funds didn’t even exist for most of it? Paul explains why those long-run numbers still matter — not as a promise of the next ten years, but as a guide to the full range of what markets can do. From there, Paul and Ben trace just how far investing has come since Paul entered the business in 1966: the death of the 8.5% sales load, the arrival of IRAs and 401(k)s, fractional shares, and commission-free trading. As Ben puts it, the barriers to entry have been bulldozed, and today’s investor has a better shot at strong net returns than ever before. But more choices bring more temptation. Paul and Ben dig into diversification as a risk-management tool — why a tilt toward small-cap value and a meaningful allocation to international stocks can pay off over a lifetime, even when the S&P 500 is dominating the headlines. They revisit the lost decade of 2000–2009, the lessons of Japan’s 1989 peak, and the hard discipline of rebalancing into the pain when an asset class is out of favor. They also get practical about the things keeping investors up at night: inflation as one of the biggest risks most people underestimate, the real trade-offs in today’s bond market and long-duration Treasuries, and an honest look at the FIRE movement — including why meaning, longevity, and a 30- or 40-year retirement complicate the dream of retiring early. Throughout, Paul shares his own story, including why, at 82 and with more than he needs, he still holds half his portfolio in equities because of a caution he’s carried since his twenties. Ben closes with the thought that may stay with you longest: the most important thing an investor can understand is not the market — it’s themselves. Knowing which mistake you’d regret more, and what you can truly live with, is the foundation everything else is built on. Watch video here.

    1 hr
  3. Evidence-Based Investing, Index Funds & Staying the Course

    17 Jun

    Evidence-Based Investing, Index Funds & Staying the Course

    I recently sat down with Steve Chen on his Boldin Your Money podcast for a wide-ranging conversation about evidence-based investing — and why it matters more than ever in a world of speculation, hype, and constant financial noise. We covered my early days as a stockbroker in the 1960s, the psychology that trips investors up in downturns, how low-cost index funds transformed personal finance, factor investing and small-cap value, and why younger investors are being pulled toward gambling-like behavior through apps, crypto, and prediction markets. Whether you're just starting out or planning for retirement, I think you'll find it time well spent. KEY TOPICS DISCUSSED• The difference between investing and speculation• Why staying the course is emotionally difficult• Wall Street incentives and investor behavior• The origins of index fund investing• Factor investing and small-cap value explained• Why diversification matters long term• Rebalancing strategies and portfolio management• Financial literacy and generational investing habits• Why gambling behavior is becoming normalized• How AI tools like ChatGPT and Claude are changing education• The psychology behind successful long-term investors TIMESTAMPS00:00 Introduction02:55 Paul Merriman's start in investing05:20 Wall Street incentives and conflicts of interest08:35 Why investing is harder than it looks12:25 Investing vs speculation15:40 Why people panic during market crashes17:30 The psychology of staying the course19:10 Generational wealth and financial literacy23:40 The case for index funds28:45 Factor investing explained32:30 The four-fund portfolio strategy36:00 Rebalancing and long-term returns38:00 ChatGPT, Claude, and financial education42:15 Market valuations and investor behavior45:30 Building wealth intentionally49:00 Gambling culture and modern investing51:45 Teaching financial literacy to younger generations54:00 Final thoughts on long-term investing RESOURCES MENTIONEDPaul Merriman Foundation: https://www.paulmerriman.com/Try the Boldin Planner for free: https://go.boldin.com/podcasttep110 Watch Video here- https://youtu.be/y_i5wrr_tfM

    1hr 7min
  4. Paul & Chris Tackle 10 of your Investing Questions

    10 Jun

    Paul & Chris Tackle 10 of your Investing Questions

    Paul and Chris answer 10 listener questions in one hour — covering asset allocation, investor behavior, funds, indexes, and fund management. They also dig into Daryl Bahls' hot-off-the-press alternative portfolio analysis. CHAPTERS00:00 — Intro01:11 — Funds vs. their indexes06:04 — Which asset can I drop?10:50 — Buy and hold for a lifetime?16:04 — Tracking errors20:24 — How many years to trust a strategy?27:05 — The impact of 10% cash28:18 — What's a "good enough" return?31:57 — The new worldwide 4-fund portfolio42:29 — Too old for small-cap value?44:56 — Avantis and DFA48:27 — AVES for emerging markets value54:04 — Outro LINKS & FILESSound Investing Quilt ChartsCallan Periodic Table of Investment ReturnsTwo Funds for Life CalculatorLifetime Investment CalculatorDaryl's 4-Fund Portfolio Analysis (WW 4-Fund)Other Fine Tuning Tables (50/50)2FFL Fine Tuning Table — Allocations Watch Video Here

    57 min
  5. Mike Piper- Bainbridge Financial Literacy Series 2026

    3 Jun

    Mike Piper- Bainbridge Financial Literacy Series 2026

    In Session 3 of the 2026 Bainbridge Community Foundation Spring Financial Education Series, Paul sits down with Mike Piper — CPA, Personal Financial Specialist, and the voice behind the Oblivious Investor blog and the free Open Social Security calculator — for one of the warmest, most practical conversations of the series. Mike has a rare gift: taking the topics that intimidate most investors and making them feel obvious. Over the course of the hour, he and Paul work through the handful of decisions that genuinely shape a retirement. Mike opens with a quietly radical idea: if you've prepared well, "more than enough" isn't the exception — it's the most likely outcome. Because we have to plan for long lifespans, poor markets, and high medical costs that usually don't all come to pass, most disciplined savers end up with leftovers. From there, he explains which dollars to spend first each year, how age and capital gains should steer whether you draw from taxable or retirement accounts, and why the step-up in basis matters more than most people realize. The conversation turns to the human side of money, too — how to talk a couple through it when one spouse is aggressive and the other can't stand the thought of the stock market, why both positions are almost always driven by fear, and how framing the trade-offs around the people you love often brings them closer together. Mike and Paul also tackle the spendthrift-child dilemma, the case for matching a young person's Roth IRA, and why small gifts early can dwarf an inheritance received at 70. On Social Security, Mike makes the point that most people get the risk exactly backwards: delaying benefits isn't a gamble — it's insurance against the scary scenario of living a very long time. He walks through what really happens if Congress does nothing before the trust fund shortfall around 2033 (hint: the program doesn't disappear), and the range of fixes on the table. Throughout, both men return to the same theme — simple, low-cost, broadly diversified portfolios keep beating the clever alternatives, and the Bessembinder research helps explain why. Stick around for the closing exchange on using AI to learn from the "Truth Tellers" — and Mike's cautionary tale about a chatbot that invented an entire tax-code provision, word for word and completely convincingly, that simply does not exist. LINKS:Mike Piper's blog — obliviousinvestor.comOpen Social Security — opensocialsecurity.comMike's books on Amazon — https://bit.ly/49BQugdOblivious Investor — https://bit.ly/4oeIacsWe're Talking Millions! (free PDF and audio) — https://www.paulmerriman.com/free-booksIf You Can by Bill Bernstein (free PDF) — https://www.paulmerriman.com/free-booksPlanVision — Mark Zoril — planvisionmn.comThe Bessembinder study — "Do Stocks Outperform Treasury Bills?" https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance/hendrik-bessembinder-do-stocks-outperform-treasury-bills Watch the Video- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bB2ccYRLSOI&feature=youtu.be

    1hr 34min
  6. Automating Your Portfolio: M1 Finance vs. Fidelity Basket Portfolios

    27 May

    Automating Your Portfolio: M1 Finance vs. Fidelity Basket Portfolios

    In the final episode of the 2026 Boot Camp series, Paul Merriman sits down with Chris Pedersen and Daryl Bahls to tackle the last fork in the road every investor faces: how to and how much automation to use. After all the boot camp decisions — stocks versus bonds, which equity asset classes, how much fixed income, how to handle contributions and withdrawals — the final question is how much of the day-to-day management you should hand off to a tool, and which tool is right for you. Chris walks through how M1 Finance “pies” let buy-and-hold investors put their portfolios on autopilot: automated contributions, on-the-fly rebalancing as new money comes in, fractional shares, and one-button rebalancing. He explains the pre-configured Merriman portfolios — the Ultimate Buy and Hold, Worldwide and US Four-Fund, All Value, All Small Cap Value, and the Aggressive Target Date glide path in five-year increments — and an important limitation: once you grab a pie, there’s no live link back to the source, so website updates won’t change your account. Paul then makes the case for Fidelity’s Basket Portfolios as an alternative, especially for anyone uneasy about moving large sums to a younger company. He covers the flat $4.99-per-month fee regardless of account size, eligible account types, the TFLO short-term Treasury workaround for holding cash, and why Fidelity may fit investors already in the Fidelity ecosystem. The team compares trading windows, account minimums and how each firm counts the $10,000 threshold, and Daryl shares that M1 has grown from about $1 billion in 2020 to roughly $12.5 billion in assets under management. The conversation closes with practical guidance on mixing and matching Sound Investing portfolios, the question everyone’s asking — “how long do I have to wait for small cap value?” — a reminder not to flail or chase recent performance, why the 10-fund Ultimate Buy and Hold strategy still stands, and a clear explanation of the move from AVUS to AVLC and where AVSC fits. CHAPTERS 00:00 - Intro03:10 - M1 Finance13:45 - Fidelity Baskets24:27 - Portfolio Combos29:55 - When to Change Allocations42:44 - AVLC vs. AVUS45:15 - Outro LINKS: Sound Investing Portfolio Pies M1 Finance Pie Tutorial (Mobile App) M1 Finance Pie Tutorial (Web Interface)

    46 min
  7. Bill Bernstein: 50 Years of Investing Wisdom

    20 May

    Bill Bernstein: 50 Years of Investing Wisdom

    In this interview from the 2026 Bainbridge Community Foundation Annual Financial Education Series, Paul sits down with Bill Bernstein — neurologist, financial historian, and author of The Four Pillars of Investing and If You Can — for a wide-ranging conversation drawn from 50-plus years of investing experience. Bill explains why you're only rewarded for taking risk in well-regulated markets (and why crypto doesn't qualify), how today's market echoes the late 1990s, why the "reverse glide path" makes sense the older you get, and what the Bessembinder research really tells us about the cost of trying to pick winners. Paul and Bill also debate withdrawal strategies, the case against long bonds, and whether tilted small-value investing still works once "the bozos know about it." A masterclass in evidence-based investing from one of the most respected voices in the field. CHAPTERS00:00 Intro from Matt Longmire, Bainbridge Community Foundation02:50 Welcoming Bill Bernstein03:50 Why The Four Pillars of Investing belongs on every DIY investor's shelf05:50 Risk vs. reward — and why Bitcoin doesn't qualify08:30 How many asset classes do you really need?11:50 Where today's market resembles the late 1990s13:40 Are REITs still worth holding?15:50 The case for automating everything19:45 Why retirees need to fear sequence-of-returns risk21:30 Paul's 5% rule vs. the 4% rule25:30 The two-bucket theory and the reverse glide path27:30 Prediction markets, gambling, and "being the house"32:00 The sociological signs of a bubble35:00 Speculation vs. gambling — gold's real return40:00 The Bessembinder study: why 4% of stocks make most of the returns46:00 Why rich people plan three generations ahead49:00 Audience Q&A58:30 Tilted index funds (DFA, Avantis) — worth it?01:03:50 The future of Social Security01:07:00 Closing thoughts and book recommendations LINKS: The Four Pillars of Investing — Bill Bernstein (2nd ed., 2023) If You Can — Free PDF from Bill Bernstein The Bessembinder Study — "Do Stocks Outperform Treasury Bills?" Bainbridge Community Foundation Ben Carlson's New Book on Risk and Reward

    1hr 11min
  8. Boot Camp #9 - 2 Funds for Life and Target-Date Funds

    13 May

    Boot Camp #9 - 2 Funds for Life and Target-Date Funds

    Chris and Paul explain what target-date funds are and do, and how to augment them with some small-cap value to get the broad diversification benefits of the other Sound Investing portfolios. They describe several approaches and tools investors can use to determine what might be best for them. CHAPTERS 00:00 Intro 03:03 Target-Date Funds 07:00 Glide Paths 15:17 TDF Backtesting 19:55 TDF Weaknesses 26:20 "Easy" 2FFL 34:46 "Moderate" 2FFL 37:48 "Aggressive" 2FFL 41:00 Customizer 52:15 Calculator 61:07 Books 66:00 Outro LINKS: Wharton: Target Date Funds & Portfolio Choice in 401(k) Plans Morningstar: “2026 Target-Date Fund Landscape” Chris' Tables of 2 Funds for Life and Target Date Funds (PDF)

    1hr 8min
See All (553)

About

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

Information

  • Creator
    Paul Merriman
  • Years Active
    2019 - 2026
  • Episodes
    553
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Paul Merriman
  • Show Website
    Sound Investing

You Might Also Like