"Active management is a beauty contest in which the average contestant is kind of ugly."
Truth-Teller John Rekenthaler

In This Edition
Putting the Truth Tellers to Work
AAII Houston Chapter- Chris Pedersen
Latest Podcast
Testimonial

I recently got an email from a young college student who is evidently moving to action and setting a course for saving money for retirement. She asked a simple question; How much should I save for retirement?

I almost gave her a one or two line answer but decided the simple question is very important and needs more than a simple answer. If you get this decision right you are likely over half way to being financially independent at retirement.

I decided to put our Truth-Tellers to work. Here are articles that 7 or our 14 TT have published.

Ben Carson has a terrific book on the topic. It is short and should help any young investor with the topic of saving. Everything You Need To Know About Saving For Retirement

Plus, here is a recent article on the topic from Ben. https://awealthofcommonsense.com/2024/05/whats-the-right-savings-rate/

Christine Benz, who is presently on sabbatical was kind enough to suggest https://www.morningstar.com/personal-finance/how-calibrate-your-target-savings-rate

Jonathan Clements is as common sense as they come on the topic. https://www.marketwatch.com/story/assume-youll-live-forever-and-plan-accordingly-planning-for-retirement-for-the-rest-of-your-life-bdea5677

Jim Dahle of The White Coat Investor always has terrific recommendations with lots of numbers and suggestions in his articles.

This time about the recommended saving rate. https://www.whitecoatinvestor.com/safe-savings-rate/

Most of us follow Rob Berger’s video work but he also writes at Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/robertberger/2024/03/29/how-much-to-save-at-every-age-and-income-level/?sh=500ad8c85975

For younger and first time investors Two Cents on PBS has some terrific short videos. https://www.pbs.org/video/is-it-even-possible-to-save-for-retirement-zhm1ax/

I’m a fan of Thebalance.com articles as they are well done and peer reviewed before publication. https://www.thebalancemoney.com/retirement-savings-how-much-is-enough-2894342

Given the decision regarding how much to save is a million dollar decision, I hope a review of these articles will be helpful in reconsidering your saving commitment.

Please let me know if this approach is helpful in finding answers to the important financial decisions.

Demystifying Diversification — Asset Class & Portfolio Essentials with Chris Pedersen

May 18, 2024 10:30 am- noon (Central Time)

Chris will show us how a study of different investments’ (asset classes) long-term past performance and diversification can help us achieve our financial goals. Three things you will learn from this presentation are:

Past performance does not guarantee future returns, but it provides valuable insights for setting expectations.

Asset allocation is key to managing volatility and achieving financial goals. By combining different investments, we can create a path tailored to individual risk tolerance.

Understanding historical performance across asset classes allows us to construct well-balanced portfolios for a successful financial journey.

Chris Pedersen is Director of Research at The Merriman Financial Education Foundation and creator of the 2 Funds for Life investing approach to augmenting target-date funds. He is an engineer by training, and a new opportunity finder by nature. In his work for the foundation, he develops and maintains a set of best-in-class exchange-traded fund (ETF) recommendations, the customizable Merriman Aggressive Target Date glidepath calculator and regularly contributes to articles and podcasts. Like the rest of the Merriman Foundation staff, his work is motivated by a genuine desire to learn and help, free of any financial incentives or conflicts of interest.

Registration: This meeting will be online only. Registration information will be available in the first week of May.

Latest Podcast- 2 Funds for Life Q &A

Join Paul and Chris to follow up on Chris’ video on ⁠"2 Funds for Life Update 2024"⁠. In this discussion Chris covers the history of the development of this popular portfolio, as well as his ⁠new table⁠ that covers the expected returns for all of the periods from ages 20 to over 90.

The discussion included comments on:

The advantages of Blackrock over Vanguard target date funds and why it should make over .5% a year more over their lifetimes.
The reasons paying more for a small cap value fund may pay big rewards over the long term.
The advantages and disadvantages of the more aggressive 2 Funds for Life Portfolios.
How to build the Portfolio by using several different accounts
The impact of rebalancing vs. letting the 2 funds grow independently

⁠Watch video here

Testimonial

In thank you note from student in my class at Western: "To preface, I haven’t had any experience with the world of stocks or finance until taking this class. I’ve mostly gone my life thinking that money is safest if it’s just sitting in a bank account, slowly building fractional interest returns. However, I’m delighted to say that the lecture yesterday was genuinely enlightening. Before then, I didn’t know that 10% was an obtainable yearly growth when investing. For some reason I always thought that stocks were too volatile to put money into. I guess I was never curious enough to commit to researching what the returns are usually. The thing that stood out to me the most was the visualization of newslhow money can grow extremely quickly just clicked when looking at it. It struck me as odd to think that people could be investing their money and passively growing it. It’s really surprising that more people either don’t know about it or choose to ignore investing. It almost feels like a cheat code to prep for retirement given the correct circumstances. After yesterday, I’m even more interested in seeing where finance can lead in the coming course sessions."

Juice up your S&P 500 fund for higher returns

Latest Podcast- Understanding the Pros and Cons of Annuities with Stan Haithcock

Truth Teller Corner- Ben Carlson

Understanding the Pros and Cons of Annuities with Stan Haithcock

Call To Action!

Here are a few simple ways to support the financial education work of The Merriman Financial Education Foundation, a registered 501(c)3. In so doing you help better the lives of individuals, families and communities, creating more opportunities for all.

Subscribe to our weekly “Sound Investing” podcast, available on your favorite listening platforms and leave a review. Tell us what you think!
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In This EditionPutting the Truth Tellers to WorkAAII Houston Chapter- Chris PedersenLatest PodcastTestimonial

In This Edition
Putting the Truth Tellers to Work
AAII Houston Chapter- Chris Pedersen
Latest Podcast
Testimonial

Putting the Truth-Tellers to Work