Sound Investing

In this interview with Ken Roberts, of Ken’s Bulls and Bears, the conversation covered many bear market-related topics such as: How big a loss should an investor expect to suffer? What should investors do to prepare for a significant decline? What should investors do to prepare for a significant decline? How have you prepared your own portfolio? Is market timing a smart way to manage the risk of a bear market? You may also want to read Paul’s recent MarketWatch article, 8 Steps You Can Take Now to Prepare for a Bear Market If you enjoy Paul’s podcasts, visit his website for free articles, recommendations for mutual funds, ETFs, 401Ks, two funds for life strategies, videos, free books and more: PaulMerriman.com

This podcast is adapted from Financial Fitness After 50, created for PBS as part of a contributors’ package of DVDs, CDs and book in 2012. To watch the video, rather than listen to the podcast, click here. Paul also recommends reading the recent MarketWatch article, written with Rich Buck, on 10 Ways to Make Your Retirement Savings Go Further. The following is the list of the rest of the DVDs in the contributors’ package: 10 Investment Guarantees Every Investor Should Know 15 Risks of Managing Your Money 20 Money Losing Myths How to Avoid the 20 Most Common Investment Mistakes Retirees Make

Paul addresses 14 questions from listeners and readers, but first he speaks to an interesting case of an investor who has greater trust in a bar of gold than a government bond-based Vanguard fund.  Where are your Fine Tuning Tables for 2019? 9:33  Where can I get a better rate of return in my checking account? 11:20  Does …

This recent Marketwatch article, “This strategy beats a total stock market fund and gives you more diversification,” attracted almost 85,000 readers in its first week, so Paul decided to address some topics and questions submitted by readers of the article. These include: The use of individual stocks vs. mutual funds or ETFs The risk of small-cap value compared …

Paul shares bear market observations and advice from Sir John Templeton, Warren Buffet and Peter Lynch, as well as offering his own ideas. He starts the podcast by reading an article by Jason Zweig, “Everything You Know About the Crash Is Wrong”.  Jason discusses a period when investors would buy funds at 150% to 200% more than their net asset …

Listen in as Paul shares insights from a special week of presentations to three very different groups interested in sound investing.  On Wednesday, he addressed high school financial literacy teachers in Washington state.  Thursday he spoke with young FIRE investors at a meeting of Choose FI Orlando, Florida.  And on Saturday, also in Orlando, he was joined by Chris Pedersen to present “Two Funds …

In this podcast, Paul addresses four different but related issues regarding the management of your investments.  When should you fire an advisor?  Paul discusses the ethics and competence an advisor and others must have. Ken Fisher’s recent problems have raised another requirement one could expect from an advisor. This could be very important to listeners who are about to …

In this podcast Paul addresses questions from his investor listeners on managing risk, pensions, early retirement and more in the current market. Topic 1:  Napkin Finance has produced a terrific graphic that compares 5 different types of experts who can help you manage your money.  Unfortunately, they forgot to include free services like ours or newsletters that …

The podcast addresses five different topics from our readers and listeners. It starts with a discussion of the likely future returns of growth vs. value. I read a short blog from Seth Godin, titled “Getting to the truth”: Your anecdote isn’t true. I know it happened. I know that your experience, your feelings, your outcomes are …

In last week’s podcast, I responded to some recent controversies about small-cap-value returns. I examined and shared my findings of a study that looked at the history of returns for many of the popular asset classes: S&P 500, Total Market Index, Large-Cap Value, Small-Cap Blend, Small-Cap Value, U.S. Long-Term Bonds, U.S. Treasury Bills and Inflation. …