Sound Investing

In this engaging conversation with Romanian financial educator, writer, podcaster and YouTuber, Victor Vulpescu, Paul covers a wide variety of investor issues you likely may not have heard before in this way. He talks about his own life as “a series of opportunities and mistakes” and addresses the pitfalls of thinking “You only live once” and other ways investors trip themselves up with emotional-based decisions. They also cover such topics as: The up and downside of using leverage to reach your goals The importance of balance and habits The best time to invest Dollar cost averaging versus lump sum investing Market volatility and risk management Market timing and regrets When to rebalance your portfolio How to know when you have enough to retire And much more. According to Victor, although Romania's Main Stock Exchange was founded in 1882, only 1.5% of Romanians invest in the stock market, compared to 50% in the U.S.  He says Romanians are more comfortable buying apartment houses as they are perceived as less risky and less volatile. Additionally, with the availability of just ETFs in UCITS format, they have less investment options. However, Victor is committed to providing his fellow Romanians with sound investing information. In addition to Paul, Victor has recently interviewed Larry Swedroe, Meb Farber and Rick Ferri. He also offers an eBook and course for beginning investors and personal coaching. You can find all this at his website, translated from Romanian as “Intelligent Investor”: https://victorvulpescu.ro/ This “Sound Investing podcast is also available to watch as a video at this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9qxyLlam6c

Paul Merriman interviews Tim Ranzetta, President of Next Generation Personal Finance (NGPF.org), about his organization’s commitment to financial education for teachers and students, which is extraordinary. NGPF was created on the belief that financial literacy is the key to creating stable futures for the next generation. It promotes financial education in our public schools, and provides free engaging curriculum and professional development for any educator who is interested in the program, with an abundance of free resources for all. Learn about the results NGPF is tracking and the reasons not every student in the U.S. is being given access to this valuable, life-changing education. Discover the actions you can take to improve the financial future of your children, grandchildren and other young people (and educators) in your life and community. NGPF produced a video called “The Most Important Class You Never Had,” (watch on YouTube), which explains the critical impact of financial literacy on our lives — and how improving an understanding of finance during youth can change behavior into adulthood. NGPF focuses on helping students in grades 6-12. This interview is the final in the 2021 series of Financial Literacy Month events, “Take Control of Your Financial Future,” sponsored by The Merriman Financial Education Foundation, Bainbridge Community Foundation and Library U, a resource of the Bainbridge Public Library.

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, exploring the pros and cons of these hot speculative vehicles.

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 financial educators.” They discuss: Making decisions that are in your individual best interest. Understanding what you’re trying to achieve and what you want to do with your investments in the market. Navigating the forks in the savings road. Finding your “good enough” return. Key Takeaways: To be a successful long-term investor, you have to shut out all of the noise. There is always a “good news list” and a “bad news list” for all market decisions. Stay in your lane — investing takes time. Every stock has reason to buy, and every stock has reason to sell. If they didn’t, there would be no trade. Connect with The Annuity Man: Website: TheAnnuityMan.com Email: Stan@TheAnnuityMan.com  Book: Owner’s Manuals YouTube: Stan The Annuity Man Fun With Annuities Podcast is hosted by America’s Annuity Agent®, Stan Haithcock, The Annuity Man®. Hear brutal annuity facts with no sales pitches from one of the top independent agents in the country, licensed in all 50 states. Author of 7 books, Stan dives deep on all annuity types and strategies. It’s fun, learning the contractual truths on how annuities actually work and if they’ll fit your personal retirement lifestyle. Listen or watch how you can be livin’ the reality, not the dream. Subscribe on YouTube, Libsyn, Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Amazon Podcasts, and Spotify. This podcast is part of the educational offerings from The Merriman Financial Education Foundation, a registered 501(c)3.  If you found value in this podcast, here are five ways to support the podcast and our foundation:

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 emotional relationship with their investments. The benefits of simple vs. complex funds, and how simple funds fit with the preferences of many do-it-yourself investors. Why emotion — and not strategy — gets in the way of successful investing. The challenges of sticking to portfolios that are heavily weighted in small-cap value stocks. The difficulties in working with clients, and the role of financial advisors. Top habits and beliefs that lead to investing success; a key focus of his latest book, We’re Talking Millions. Target date glide paths. How Paul’s foundation educates investors. The relationship between money and a life well-lived. The Rational Reminder Podcast is a weekly podcast on sensible investing and financial decision-making for Canadians. Each week, hosts Benjamin Felix and Cameron Passmore, Portfolio Managers at PWL Capital, discuss topics related to personal finance, investing, behavior, and financial markets with the intention of making our listeners better, more rational investors. You can watch this interview on YouTube at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SPAYhKKDDY

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 stands by those statements. The interview also covers the following topics: investor challenges with markets at very high prices and lower expected future returns Historically low bond yields and low expected future returns Steps investors should take to live in a period of lower expected returns Additionally, Larry responds to questions from Paul and viewers about asset allocation, asset location for stocks and bonds, distribution limits, Roth conversions, considering Social Security as a bond, his own favorite asset allocation, future premiums for value and small cap asset classes, the importance of working with a fiduciary, the value of a family financial mission statement, how much to share with family members, reverse mortgages, the use of Monte Carlo studies, the role of annuities and many more important issues. Read Larry’s article, “How to Treat Social Security and Your Home in Your Financial Plan,” which addresses how investors should consider Social Security in regards to their equity/bond asset allocation. Paul strongly recommends the 2021 update of Larry’s book, The Complete Guide to a Successful and Secure Retirement, citing that investors will benefit from becoming aware of and avoiding at least 25 mistakes… every one of which is potentially  a life-changing move.   This conversation was part of a free series Financial Literacy Month presentations, “Taking Control of Your Financial Future,” co-sponsored by The Merriman Financial Education Foundation, the Bainbridge Community Foundation and Library U, a program of the Bainbridge Public Library.

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” podcast — on which Paul Merriman was recently interviewed by Christine and Jeff Ptak — showed pre-retirees and retirees how to manage your portfolio and financial plan to protect against six very serious risks.  Those risks include retirement date risk, sequence of return risk, low-yield risk, inflation risk, health care and long-term care risk and longevity risk.  She also shared her favorite in-retirement mutual funds and exchange-traded funds (ETFs), and discussed her model bucket portfolios geared toward retirees. You might also enjoy: An index of Christine’s articles at Morningstar “Morningstar’s Benz: My journey from copy editor to fund analyst”.  A great story about Christine’s career. I think parents who wonder what their child is going to do in the future will find interesting Christine’s growth that came when she took a job for reasons most of us wouldn’t have considered. You can also follow Christine on Twitter

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, whether Bitcoin is the “new gold,” how to invest in a bubble and much more. Click here for the slideshow materials. This is the first in a 5-part series of Financial Literacy Month Events on Bainbridge Island co-sponsored by The Merriman Financial Education Foundation in partnership with the Bainbridge Community Foundation and Library U, a program of the Bainbridge Public Library. Calling upon some of his favorite nationally renowned experts in their fields, Paul organized five free virtual events in April 2021 to help you better plan for your future. Presenters include Paul, Christine Benz of Morningstar, Larry Swedroe, author and director of research for Buckingham Asset Management and BAM Advisor Services, and Tim Ranzetta of NextGen Personal Finance. This podcast is part of the educational offerings from The Merriman Financial Education Foundation, a registered 501(c)3.  If you found value in this podcast, here are five ways to support the podcast and our foundation: 1)     Leave a podcast review on your player of choice. 2)    Sign up for our biweekly newsletter at PaulMerriman.com3)    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 fee at no cost to you, which helps support our financial education projects. 4)    Buy our latest book, We’re Talking Millions! 12 Simple Ways To Supercharge Your Retirement available at Amazon and other online outlets. 5)  Consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Foundation to support our mission to provide financial education to investors.  Thank you!

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 risk of value investors capitulating The pros and cons of 2 Funds for Life Why target date funds have more value The risk of bonds in a rising interest rate market Use of target date funds in retirement The value of an advisor Check out the extensive list of related articles and podcasts compiled by “The Long View” team at: https://www.morningstar.com/podcasts/the-long-view/103 Join Christine Benz Thursday April 8, 4:30-6 p.m. PT, via Zoom, for a special presentation, “Six Retirement Blind Spots and How to Fix Them”. RSVP by clicking here or email RSVP@bainbridgecf.org with “Christine Benz”. This free presentation, the second in the series of five, is part of the Financial Literacy Month series, “Taking Control of Your Financial Future,” co-sponsored by The Merriman Financial Education Foundation, the Bainbridge Community Foundation and Library U, a program of the Bainbridge Public Library. The series is free and open to the public. Registration required. For more info, go to: https://paulmerriman.com/financial-literacy-month-events-on-bainbridge-island/ Click here to hear Paul’s brief recording about Christine’s presentation.

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, 45, 11, 46, 12, 47, 49a, 57a, 58a and 59a. You may also find these two articles useful: How much should you take out of your portfolio when you retire? (fixed distributions) How do you know how much you can afford to withdraw from your retirement accounts? (flexible distributions) This podcast is part of the educational offerings from The Merriman Financial Education Foundation, a registered 501(c)3.  If you found value in this podcast, here are five ways to support the podcast and our foundation: 1)     Leave a podcast review on your player of choice. 2)    Sign up for our biweekly newsletter at PaulMerriman.com 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 fee at no cost to you, which helps support our financial education projects. 4)    Buy our latest book, We’re Talking Millions! 12 Simple Ways To Supercharge Your Retirement available at Amazon and other online outlets. 5)  Consider making a tax-deductible donation to the Foundation to support our mission to provide financial education to investors.  Thank you!