PODCAST · business
Sound Investing
by Paul Merriman
Weekly podcasts with Paul Merriman. Strategic planning for investing at every stage of life.
Episodes
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Office Hours: Teachers Questions Answered
In this special office-hours session, Albert and I answer the questions teachers have been sending in across our four NGPF classroom sessions — more than 500 educators strong. We move fast and cover a lot of ground: 1. How a young person can open a first investment account (and why $1 is all it...
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The $5 Million Pay off for a Financially Literate High School Graduate
WATCH THE VIDEO This is the fourth of five presentations I recorded for Next Gen Personal Finance (NGPF.org) and am sharing with Sound Investing listeners. I titled this one “The $5 Million Payoff for a Financially Literate High School Graduate” — but I could have called it the $42 million…
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The Inside Story About Diversification
Harry Markowitz called diversification "the only free lunch in finance." In this session, part of Paul's series for Next Gen Personal Finance educators, Paul Merriman explains what that means in practice, and why a well-diversified portfolio can help investors stay the course through good markets...
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The #1 Reason to Use Index Funds
Watch the video here. This is the second of five presentations Paul recorded for Next Generation Personal Finance (NGPF.org), whose free curriculum reaches some 150,000 teachers. The sessions weren't open to the public, but NGPF has allowed Paul to share each one with Sound Investing listeners.…
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The Math and the History of Investing
WATCH THE VIDEO Want to build a multi-million-dollar retirement portfolio without gambling on single stocks? This is the first session of the four-part series I recorded for the teachers of Next Gen Personal Finance — and I’m sharing it here with you. In it, I break down the timeless principles,...
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Get Out While You Can or Stay the Course
Paul opens with news of a new opportunity to reach young investors: a five-part series for Next Generation Personal Finance (NGPF.org), available to some 150,000 teachers who use NGPF's free curriculum. Topics include the math and history of investing, the case for index funds, the inside story…
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The Investing Myths That Cost a Fortune
WATCH THE VIDEO It was a pleasure to be invited back on System Trader with Jack Lempart. Here is a list of the main topics we covered: CHAPTERS 0:53 • My own biggest mistake 3:15 • Why “the stock market is a casino” is exactly backwards 6:48 • “I don’t have enough money to start” — what $100 a...
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Paul and Chris Follow-Up: The Rick Ferri Small-Cap Value Debate
Paul and Chris reflect on Paul’s recent discussion with Rick Ferri. Paul adds information he wished he’d included, and Chris reacts to Paul and Rick’s positions. Together, they discuss the behavioral, trust, and performance benefits and trade-offs of seeking meaningful diversification by adding...
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Paul Merriman and Rick Ferri: A Conversation Decades in the Making
Watch the video here. Paul sits down with Rick Ferri — not for a debate, but for the kind of honest conversation two people can only have after spending their careers chasing the same goal from different directions. Rick makes the case against tilting: the small cap premium largely disappeared…
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Preparing for an upcoming debate with Rick Ferri: Total Market portfolios
This Friday I'm sitting down with my friend Rick Ferri for a debate that I think matters a great deal, even though — or maybe because — Rick and I agree on almost everything. We both believe in diversification, low costs, index funds, ignoring predictions, and staying the course. Where we part…
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Finding the Perfect Advisor, a Battle Over Words and VT vs. AVGE
Paul returns from three days at the Garrett Planning Network retreat with a lesson that has almost nothing to do with investments — and everything to do with getting your money's worth from professional advice. Garrett advisors work by the hour, a business model Paul believes eliminates the...
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AVGV, Truth Tellers, AI and Finding Your Why
Paul discusses his upcoming trip to Minneapolis to address almost 100 hourly financial planners at the Garrett Planning Network annual retreat — then shows, in real time, how he uses AI alongside the Truth Tellers. This example is prompted by a Ben Felix video arguing that most people save…
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Stuff Happens: Perspective From Ben Carlson's Risk and Reward
The hardest part of investing isn't choosing funds — it's building a set of beliefs strong enough to keep you disciplined when the market, the news, and your own emotions all conspire to pull you off course. In this episode, Paul sets aside the usual fine-tuning tables and turns to one of his...
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Is it possible that factor investing won't work?
A longtime listener wrote in after watching a Ben Felix video making the point that factor investing may not beat the S&P 500 by the end of an investor’s lifetime — and could even do worse. His question was simple: is factor investing really worth the effort? Paul’s answer turned out to be two...
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Back from the Baltic and 12 of your questions
Paul returns from a two-week Baltic cruise refreshed and ready to dig into the numbers. He opens with a 12-month performance review of the recommended portfolios at Avantis, DFA and Vanguard — Avantis averaged 31.1% across the 10 equity asset classes in the Ultimate Buy and Hold, versus 27.7% at...
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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…
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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...
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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...
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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. CHAPTERS 00:00 — Intro 01:11 — Funds vs. their indexes 06:04 — Which asset...
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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...
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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...
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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...
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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....
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Q&A With Chris Pedersen and Daryl Bahls: Thinking Through Your Portfolio Choices
Paul sits down with Chris Pedersen and Daryl Bahls for the first Q&A session in months — and this one is built around the questions readers and listeners ask most often. Chris and Daryl share what they're working on next (Best-in-Class ETF updates, Target Date Fund work, telltale charts,...
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2026 Best in Class ETF Portfolios
Paul and Chris introduce the new Avantis and DFA Best-in-Class fund family recommendations and talk about the shift away from evaluating and recommending à la carte choices from multiple fund providers. They emphasize that the quality and breadth of the offerings from Avantis and DFAhave reached…
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Christine Benz: Practical Retirement Planning from Morningstar's Top Expert
This special two-part session opens with Paul Merriman solo — paying tribute to Tim Ranzetta of Next Generation Personal Finance, sharing the latest numbers on state-mandated financial literacy, and walking through Daryl Bahls' quilt charts to show annual earnings invested in the S&P 500…
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Larry Swedroe: The Evidence-Based Rules Every Investor Needs to Know | Bainbridge Financial Literacy Series 2026
Paul Merriman sits down with Larry Swedroe — author of 22 books and one of the most respected voices in evidence-based investing — for a conversation that covers everything from the five factors that actually matter to why Bitcoin might go to zero. Larry explains why judging your investment...
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PlanVision: Low Cost Flat-Fee Financial Planning for Do-It-Yourself Investors
Paul Merriman sits down with Mark Zoril, founder of PlanVision, in the first episode of a new series spotlighting affordable financial planning options for do-it-yourself investors. Mark built PlanVision in 2012 around a simple premise: investing isn't as complicated as the financial services...
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Paul Merriman on Managing $1.6 Billion But Never His Own Money
At 82 years old, I still work. Not because I have to, but because I want to. I joined Brian Herriot and Kirby Denison on “The Time Freedom Podcast” to talk about exactly that. But we ended up covering a lot more than I expected. Here's something that might surprise you: I managed money for...
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Q & A Deep Dive
Q&A Highlights How does a 4-fund portfolio compare to a 10-fund portfolio? What is the best way to invest for a child’s future? Is it too late to use a diversified strategy like the 10-fund portfolio at age 50? Can I create and test my own custom portfolio using your tools? How should I invest...
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DFA & Avantis ETFs: Building the Ultimate Lifetime Equity Strategy
Paul Merriman is dedicated to helping do-it-yourself investors build portfolios they can stick with for life. In this episode, he shares what he believes is the closest thing to a perfect long-term equity strategy he's ever seen. Paul traces the evolution of index investing — from John Bogle's...
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Flexible Retirement Withdrawals: Why Taking Less Can Give You More
In this episode, we explore how flexible (variable) withdrawal strategies can strengthen your retirement plan—and why fixed, inflation-adjusted withdrawals may increase risk over time. Using detailed distribution tables—including Table F1.3 (flexible withdrawals) and comparisons to Table D1.3...
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Boot Camp #6 Fixed Distributions
In Boot Camp #6, Paul Merriman walks through real historical data starting in 1970 to test what happens when retirees withdraw 3%, 4%, or 5% from a $1 million portfolio — adjusted for inflation — across some of the toughest market conditions in history. This episode covers: The difference between...
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2026 Boot Camp #5 Fixed Contributions
In Boot Camp #5 of 10, Paul delivers what he believes is the most important session in the series—especially for new and early investors (teens, 20s, 30s, and anyone just getting started). Instead of treating investing like speculation, Paul reframes it as building—or buying—a business over...
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Bootcamp #4 |Fine-Tuning Your Asset Allocation for Retirement & Long-Term Growth
How much should you really have in stocks vs. bonds — and what happens when the market turns south with a vengence? In Boot Camp #4, we break down the fine-tuning asset allocation tables that show exactly how different combinations of equities and bonds have performed from 1970 through 2025. This...
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Bootcamp #3 | How to Choose the Right Portfolio (Returns, Risk & Diversification)
Welcome to Bootcamp #3 of the Sound Investing Series with Paul Merriman — where real investing data meets practical long-term strategy. 📈 In this session, Paul breaks down the performance of diversified portfolios vs. the S&P 500 using decades of historical data going back to 1970. You’ll learn...
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Boot Camp #2: The Ultimate Buy & Hold Portfolio
In this second session of our 10-part Boot Camp series, we dive into the piece that’s helped shape decades of investing decisions: The Ultimate Buy & Hold Portfolio. For nearly 30 years, this research—co-created with the late Rich Buck—has explored a simple but powerful question: What happens…
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Bootcamp #1 | The $10 Million Decision | Stocks and Bonds
What if small decisions — just a half-percent here or an extra year there — could change your financial future by millions? In this episode, we continue our annual Boot Camp series by tackling one of the biggest forks in the road investors face: stocks and bonds. Drawing on nearly a century of...
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A Surprise, a Big Thank You, and What’s Coming Next
Sometimes the best moments are the unexpected ones. This week brought one of those moments when Daryl Bahls delivered an extraordinary surprise: access to every table used across our entire investing Boot Camp Series — months of work, ready ahead of schedule. That gift makes it possible to move...
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Better Than VTSAX, Choosing Asset Allocation, Target Date Funds, Protecting Against Scams, and More
Upcoming Event + What’s New Before jumping into today’s questions—there are some good ones—I want to share a quick note. I’ll be at the Annual RetireMeet on March 7 in Bellevue at the Maidenbauer Building. I’ll be there all day at the booth and will be discussing the inside story on...
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Sound Investing Q&A: ETFs, Portfolios, Risk, and Retirement
In this week’s Sound Investing episode, Paul Merriman answers a wide-ranging set of listener questions — from choosing ETFs and building portfolios to managing risk in retirement and investing wisely at every age. One of the biggest takeaways? There is no universally “best” ETF or portfolio. The...
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What 2025 Taught Us About Investing (And Why “Normal” Matters)
For first-time listeners, welcome! In this opening episode of the year, Paul Merriman—founder of the Merriman Financial Education Foundation—looks back at 2025 to uncover what the markets taught us and how those lessons can help do-it-yourself investors make better decisions going forward.…
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Pediheart Podcast #366: A Focus On Financial Health With Mr. Paul Merriman
The following are Dr. Pass’ note to his podcast: This week we end 2025 with a Pediheart tradition - an episode on personal finance for medical professionals with noted authority on index investing and personal finance, Mr. Paul Merriman. Paul is a retired investment advisor who now has a popular...
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The Importance of Keeping Investing Simple!
In this episode, Paul shares the thinking behind what he believes may be one of the most important projects of his career—a project guided by a single goal: That every investor who follows our work will know how to invest for the rest of their life. To explain why that goal matters, Paul walks...
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Paul Merriman on Long-Term Investing, Compounding, and Building Wealth
Compounding Project Podcast – Episode 36 In Episode 36 of The Compounding Project Podcast, legendary investing educator Paul Merriman shares timeless insights on long-term investing, the power of compounding, and how everyday investors can build lasting wealth. Paul explains why starting early is...
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AAII Q&A Series (Part 3 of 3)
Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve been recording a series of Q&As that came out of a presentation I gave in November for the American Association of Individual Investors — AAII. At the end of that nearly two-hour talk, I promised that I’d do a podcast answering every single question that came…
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AAII Q&A, Part 2 — 12 More Questions Answered
Paul continues his three-part series responding to questions from his November 8 AAII presentation. In this episode, he digs into risk-parity portfolios, the role of gold, how the 10-Fund Strategy compares to the S&P 500, growth vs. value, rebalancing discipline, and how to choose the right bond...
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Thanksgiving, AAII Q&As. Retirement Portfolios, Value Tilts, International Diversification, and Investing a Lump Sum
Recorded from our new home on Bainbridge Island and released on Thanksgiving, this episode is equal parts gratitude and practical investing help. I open with my annual tradition of writing a fresh Thanksgiving list—people, communities, and institutions that have shaped my life and this work. I’m...
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Supercharge Your Retirement with Paul Merriman
Paul Merriman brings 60+ years of investing experience to the Retire Today podcast, breaking down what really determines retirement success. Most investors think it’s about picking the right fund or timing the market—but Paul says the biggest threats aren’t headlines. They’re costs and emotions.…
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AAII Presentation Follow-Up: ETF Tax Efficiency, Rebalancing, and Smarter Diversification
First, a big thank-you to everyone who joined me for the AAII presentation last Saturday. I appreciate your patience during my rocky Zoom start—and a special shout-out to Suzette Moskwa, who saved the day by running the slides! As promised, I’m following up on your chat comments and questions…
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Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Sound Investing have?
Sound Investing currently has 567 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Sound Investing about?
Weekly podcasts with Paul Merriman. Strategic planning for investing at every stage of life.
How often does Sound Investing release new episodes?
Sound Investing releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 567 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
Where can I listen to Sound Investing?
You can listen to Sound Investing on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
Who hosts Sound Investing?
Sound Investing is created and hosted by Paul Merriman.
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