I interviewed Stan Haithcock, the expert I depend on when I have questions about annuities. We will dig into single premium life annuities (SPIA), multiple-year guaranteed annuities (MYGA) and other insurance products that are often over sold and over priced. What is the truth and how can you get what you need at the right price? Join me and Stan as he answers my questions and yours. Stan Haithcock, also known as "Stan the Annuity Man" is recognized as one of the top independent annuity agents in the United States. Stan has authored seven books on annuities — all free on his website— and has p ..read more

Join Christine Benz, Director of Personal Finance and Retirement Planning at Morningstar, for answers to seven of the biggest questions facing those entering or in retirement. Financial literacy is empowering—yet good, practical education about financial management is too often out of reach for people, especially those with limited incomes. Former BCF Board member Paul Merriman—founder of The Merriman Financial Education Foundation—has dedicated his retirement to providing free education for all ages about how to secure a more stable financial future.   On behalf of BCF, every year Paul o ..read more

Today, we bring you an exclusive conversation between two investment gurus, JL Collins and Paul Merriman. They debate the secrets of building wealth, focusing on investment strategies, index funds, and the potential power of small-cap companies. If you're looking to sharpen your investment acumen, this episode is full of knowledge and insights! Join us as we navigate through the crucial aspects of long-term investing, risk management, and the dynamics of the S&P 500 and Total Stock Market Index Fund. Paul and JL dissect the importance of diversification, disciplined strategies, and the psy ..read more

So, you've chosen to be a buy-and-hold investor following one of Paul's Sound Investing portfolios.  Now, the question is, what to buy?  It's time to become a knowledgeable shopper. Chris Pedersen describes the attributes that make an ETF or mutual fund more or less suited to implementing the portfolios we've discussed.  He then shows how to use Morningstar and Portfolio Visualizer to evaluate funds and points to the Best-in-Class recommended funds he's chosen. Finally, he demonstrates how the Portfolio Configurator can compare different fund family implementations and calc ..read more

Chris Pedersen shows how to automate investing with simple 2-fund portfolios.  He discusses how target-date funds work and how to combine them with small-cap value funds to achieve results similar to more complicated portfolios.  He highlights the 2 Funds for Life fine-tuning table in the Portfolio Configurator and shows how it can be used to set expectations based on different allocations. He also shows how 2 Funds for Life approaches can be compared to Sound Investing portfolios using the Configurator.  Finally, he takes advantage of Paul's absence to praise Paul's exampl ..read more

In this podcast Paul addresses the advantage of using a Flexible Distribution strategy.  He starts by mentioning the earlier podcasts that focused on the Sound Investing Portfolios, Fine Tuning Your Asset Allocation Tables and Fixed Distribution Tables D1.4, D1.5, D9.4 and D9.5. He then focuses on  Flexible Distribution  Tables F1.4, F1.5, F1.6, F9.5 and F9.6. The following are links for listeners who want to review all the Fine Tuning Tables, all the Fixed Distribution Tables and all the Flexible Distrib ..read more

The move from the accumulation to distribution period of an investors lifetime includes some very important decisions. What asset allocation between equities and fixed income? What combination of equity asset classes in the equity portion, as well as fixed income asset classes? What amount of distribution will be made annually? Will the payments be monthly, quarterly or annually? Will payments be adjusted for inflation and how often? Will the distributions be based on a fixed distribution with regular adjustments for inflation (the topic in this presentation) or on a flexible basis (the topic ..read more

In segment #5 of the 2024 Book Camp Series Paul applies all of the first 4 segments lessons to putting the portfolios to work by making a regular monthly investment into several of the Sound Investing Portfolios. For those coming to the series for the first time Paul suggests listening to the first 4 segments. #1 Stocks vs. Bonds: The $10 Million Decision #2 The Ultimate Buy and Hold Portfolio 2024 Update #3 Sound Investing Portfolios: 2024 Update #4 Fine Tuning Asset Allocation 2024 Update In his presentation Paul references Tables J1a, A1a, H2a, B1, B9, C1 and C9. The purpose of the podcast ..read more

In the previous three podcasts we have addressed the long term decision between investing in stocks vs. bonds, what equity asset classes you might use in building your equity portfolio and how to combine the different equity asset classes to build the best portfolio for your different investments. The purpose of each of the Boot Camp Series is to address some of the most important investment decisions.  In this podcast I discuss the question of how much fixed income an investor should  hold in their portfolio. There are 9  Fine Tuning Yo ..read more

In this podcast Paul addresses the construction, returns and risks of the Sound Investing Portfolios. Table H1a lists the 9 Sound Investing Portfolios and includes percentages of each of the asset classes included in each portfolio.Table  H2a lists the risk and return data for each portfolio.  The table compares profitable  years, unprofitable years, decade returns and total return of a $10,000 investment. Table H3a lists the portfolios annual return for each year for the period 1970-2023. Paul encourages listeners to pose questions regarding the Sound I ..read more