

Sound Investing
Paul Merriman
Weekly podcasts with Paul Merriman. Strategic planning for investing at every stage of life.
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jul 5, 2017 • 59min
Why picking stocks is only slightly better than playing the lottery
PLUS a new index study and 6-month and 15-year returns for DFA and Vanguard Paul’s MarketWatch.com article, “Why picking stocks is only slightly better than playing the lottery” has such a provocative title that he was not surprised to get a lot of responses. Because the title was intended tongue-in-cheek, he was surprised how many …

Jun 28, 2017 • 42min
10 lessons from meeting with John “Jack” Bogle
Paul reflects on his 90-minute meeting with Jack Bogle, the founder of Vanguard Family of Funds. They discuss Jack's trusted research, his focus on US large cap companies, the almost cancellation of the S&P 500 fund offering, and the role luck played in his success.

Jun 21, 2017 • 24min
Getting the most out of your 401k
What’s wrong with 401k’s and what can investors do to improve the outcome? Paul poses answers to these questions plus tells the story behind his suggested 401k portfolios, starting in 2011. His intention was to update those plans as the companies made changes. For a number of reasons the updates didn’t get done. Now, with the help …

Jun 14, 2017 • 49min
Invest now or wait for the next correction
In this first-ever interview by Paul for his weekly podcast, he speaks with blogger and columnist Rob Berger of doughroller.net about some of the most difficult questions investors face in this high flying market. Like Paul, Rob educates the public with many valuable recommendations and resources. They discuss the best ways to plan and …

Jun 7, 2017 • 41min
Flexible retirement distributions 2017 update
In the last podcast, Paul focused on accessing retirement distributions for those using fixed distributions with adjustments for inflation. This approach is particularly suited for investors who retire without a lot of extra money saved. If you have not listened to the last podcast, Paul strongly suggests you take the time to learn about the reasons he …

May 31, 2017 • 58min
Taking fixed distributions in retirement 2017 update
One of the most important decisions an investor will make is how much to take out of their investments in retirement. That, in conjunction with the right balance of equities and fixed income, can lead to smooth sailing or some rough seas during retirement. In this podcast Paul compares using the S&P 500 equity asset class, a …

May 24, 2017 • 1h 11min
Q&A from AAII presentation, May 20, 2017
As promised to the more than 125 attendees of this Puget Sound chapter presentation, Paul answers the following 20 questions. Since many investors have the same or similar concerns, this podcast should be of interest and use to a broad range of investors, from first-time to well into retirement. 1. If many people invest in small caps, …

May 17, 2017 • 49min
May 2017 Update of Fine Tuning Your Asset Allocation
This is the second of the four most important podcasts I do each year. For those who have listened to previous Fine Tuning Your Asset Allocation podcasts, this one is the best I’ve done. I normally discuss only the implications of investing in the worldwide equity portfolio, along with many combinations of fixed income. The purpose of this discussion …

May 3, 2017 • 34min
The Ultimate Buy & Hold Portfolio Update 2017
The Ultimate Buy-and-Hold Portfolio Update 2017 Every year Paul updates his Ultimate Buy & Hold Portfolio. In this podcast he covers the original 50/50 U.S. and international equity asset classes, AND the recent all-value portfolio (find those tables here). What if you added each of the asset classes – that have …

Apr 26, 2017 • 26min
The truth about mutual fund performance
The 2017 SPIVA Study – which measures the performance of actively managed funds against their relevant S&P Index benchmarks –is out and the facts are here for investors to see. In this podcast, Paul covers the highlights of the study. The answers to some most important investment questions are found in this report. Are actively or passively managed …


