"There is no better-paying hobby/side gig than managing your own investments, and it pays you more and more each year.” James Dahle, Founder of The White Coat Investor

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Timeless Wisdom
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Our team of Truth Tellers have a lot of wisdom to share. I was struck by this simple list of investment wisdom from Jim Dahle, Founder of The White Coat Investor.

TIMELESS WISDOM
I knew many of these things 20 years ago, but they are just as true now as they were then. I have had the opportunity to spend two decades having them reinforced to me. All successful investors should internalize these bits of timeless wisdom. These lessons include:

Don’t be grumpy about taking RMDs — you’ve got lots of options

There are many roads to Dublin. There are hundreds of reasonable ways to invest. Just pick one and stay with it.
Index funds work because they must. It's just math, and it always works. It doesn't work because the market is efficient (although it is efficient enough that the right move is to act as if it is perfectly efficient). It works because costs matter.
Stay the course. Investing can be simple, but it's not easy. It's not easy because it takes time and you have to stick with your plan no matter what happens. That's hard for humans.
Diversify. Diversification protects you from what you don't know and what you can't know. Being diversified means always being unhappy with something in your portfolio.
Earning and saving matters. In fact, it matters more than your investments. Most of America (and the world) has an income problem. People dramatically overestimate the difficulty of doubling their income. People also suck at saving money. The secret to having large investment accounts is putting a lot of money in there.
Individual stock investing is a bad idea. If professional active fund managers can't beat the market before their costs and taxes, what makes you think you can? Don't you have something better to do with your time than lose your hard-earned savings by picking stocks?
Avoid speculative investments. If it doesn't pay interest, have earnings, or generate rents, it is, by definition, speculative. That doesn't mean you can't make money with it, but it's far closer to gambling than investing. If you can't resist it all together, at least limit how much you put into these “investments.”
Market timing doesn't work long-term. If it was as easy as you think it is, everyone would be doing it successfully. It turns out that everyone's crystal ball is cloudy.

Q&A's

Q:The last 7 years, I have done much better with VTI than small cap value. Only time will tell what the.next decade will hold.

Paul: Over the last 96 years small cap value has produced about 12 times what the S&P 500 or Total Market Index produced. That's the good news. The bad news is about half the time the S&P 500 does better than SCV. At age 81 my wife and I have about half our equities in large companies and half in small companies. By the way, over the last 5 years VTI and AVUV are up 91% and 96% respectively. @investingwitha-aron8055

Q: I sure would have loved to hear more about that 6 different small cap indexes and the 2.5% differences between the most and least productive.

Paul: Here is a link to the study that includes the different small cap indexes as well as large cap indexes.

What’s Happening at Western Washington University

Here is a link that shows some of the financial literacy work that is going on at Western Washington University.

Latest Podcast/Video Paul Merriman: Millionaire Index Fund Investing Portfolios

The Marriage Kids and Money Podcast is dedicated to helping you do just that. Each week, Andy Hill interviews personal finance experts, millionaire parents and financially independent couples to find out how they achieved their success. He then takes that information and breaks it down into digestible takeaways that will help you win with money.

With over 400 episodes and counting, Marriage Kids and Money has been awarded “Best Family Finance Content” by Plutus two years in a row and "Content Creator of the Year". We review everything from how to achieve family financial independence to how to help your kids become future millionaires (who are generous).

Paul Merriman shares how DIY investors could become millionaires through a 2 Fund Portfolio and/or 4 Fund Portfolio! GUEST BIO - Paul Merriman When I sold my investment advisory practice, I founded a financial education foundation designed to help do-it-yourself investors of all ages improve their investment returns, at less risk and with greater peace of mind. I am the author of 8 books including "We're Talking Millions! 12 Simple Ways to Supercharge Your Retirement."

⁠⁠Watch the video here.⁠

Paul Merriman: Millionaire Index Fund Investing Portfolios

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In This EditionTimeless WisdomQ&AWhat’s Happening at Western Washington UniversityLatest Podcast

In This Edition
Timeless Wisdom
Q&A
What’s Happening at Western Washington University
Latest Podcast