“Math gives us the reason to invest, and history gives us the courage to invest.”

— Paul Merriman, The Math and History of Investing

In This Edition

›In Honor of John Bogle’s “Baby”

›One of the Best Presentations of My Career

›Truth Teller Articles Worth Your Time

›This Week’s Podcast: The Math and History of Investing

›Testimonials

From Paul

In Honor of John Bogle’s “Baby”

My friend Mark Hebner, president of Index Fund Advisors (IFA), has built an amazing website. If you enjoy historical studies showing different combinations of equity and fixed-income asset classes, you would be hard-pressed to find a larger collection of tables, charts and graphs than at IFA.com. Truly, it’s mind-blowing!

But today I want to highlight Mark’s clever and entertaining “tip of the hat” to John Bogle and the birth, 50 years ago, of what became the Vanguard 500 Index Fund. Mark calls it “The Ballad of John Bogle.”

I believe the additional wealth that single Vanguard fund has produced for investors — through lower operating expenses, lower trading costs and lower taxes — amounts to hundreds of billions of dollars. And that’s only part of Bogle’s legacy. It doesn’t include the additional hundreds of billions investors may have gained because competing mutual fund companies were forced to lower their expenses to compete with Vanguard and the growing index-fund revolution.

And, of course, the initial savings are only the beginning. Every dollar not lost to unnecessary expenses and taxes remains invested, with the opportunity to compound for decades. That may be John Bogle’s greatest gift to investors: he didn’t simply create a lower-cost fund. He helped create a lifetime of compounding on money investors otherwise would have lost to unnecessary expenses.

One of the Best Presentations of My Career

Last week I presented the first of five Zoom sessions for teachers who use the outstanding free curriculum from Next Gen Personal Finance. When I finished, I was not happy with my performance.

I had the opportunity to teach about 150 real teachers — the people educating some of the most important investors in our society: our kids and grandkids — and I thought I had missed the mark. Several times I forgot what I was about to say. (That seems to happen a little more often as I get closer to 83.) And several times I wandered away from my main point because another “important” investing lesson popped into my head.

I went to bed thinking I could have done much better. Then, the next morning, I saw the teachers’ evaluations. I was stunned. Almost everyone completed the survey, and the responses were extraordinarily encouraging. These are either some very kind teachers — or they genuinely found the information worthwhile!

Here are the survey results:

See the Survey Results

Why am I sharing them with you? Because perhaps they will encourage someone reading this newsletter to invite me to speak to their group.

Teachers were asked:

“On a scale of 1–10, where 10 is ‘Highly Recommend’ and 1 is ‘Not Recommend,’ would you recommend this session to a colleague?”

Of the 146 teachers who answered that question, 115 gave the presentation a 10. I share that number not because I thought I gave a 10 — I certainly didn’t — but because it reminded me of something important: what matters most isn’t delivering a perfect presentation. It’s delivering information that can make somebody’s financial life better.

Many of you belong to organizations, retirement groups, investment clubs, alumni groups, professional associations or community organizations with people who have a genuine hunger to learn how they might improve their financial future. If you know such a group, I have a simple offer: if someone is willing to organize the Zoom call and bring together the audience, I’m ready to go to work. No speaking fee. No products to sell. No financial relationship to establish. Just financial education.

As always, our compensation is finding out that your financial life is getting better.

Truth Teller Articles

Worth Your Time This Week

A few recent pieces from our Truth Tellers that I think are well worth your time.

A Short History of Trend Following and Momentum

Ben Carlson

If You Can: How Millennials Can Get Rich Slowly

Bill’s short, free booklet on the handful of habits that build lifetime wealth — one of the best things a young investor can read.

Bill Bernstein (free PDF)

Financial Fysics

Don’s complete book, free to download — the simple physics of building wealth: spend less than you earn, invest the difference broadly, and let time do the heavy lifting.

Don McDonald (free PDF)

Companion podcast (a discussion of Chapter 9): The Confusion-to-Risk Ratio →

This Week’s Podcast

The Math and History of Investing

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, the math and the market history every long-term investor needs to know.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• The Math of Compounding [01:43] — how finding an extra 0.5% to 1% in returns — or starting just five years earlier — can add millions to your lifetime wealth.

• The Power of Starting Early [09:48] — why your initial investment years build your foundation, and how both bull and bear markets work in favor of young, disciplined savers.

• Budgeting Strategy [19:43] — applying the “Pay Yourself First” rule and the 50/30/20 framework to establish sustainable saving habits.

• Stocks vs. Bonds [22:44] — understanding why stocks are low-risk for long-term growth, while bonds carry inflation risk over decades.

• Market Diversification [30:08] — why 4% of companies generate nearly all stock-market gains, and how owning total-market index funds ensures you don’t miss out on them.

• Equity Asset Classes [37:59] — comparing large-cap blend, large-cap value, small-cap blend and small-cap value to reduce volatility and boost returns.

• Target-Date Funds [49:38] — why automated, age-tailored allocation helps investors stay the course and avoid emotional mistakes.

Tune in to discover how staying the course, keeping expenses low, and letting history guide your strategy can transform your financial future.

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Testimonials

“Hearing Paul’s information and insights was incredible. His energy is contagious! The knowledge and experience he has and is willing to share is beyond valuable. Thank you for this opportunity.”

— High school teacher who attended “The Math and History of Investing”

Thanks for listening, for sharing this information with others, and for your generous donations. And please keep getting the free We’re Talking Millions link into the hands of people who might be helped.

All the best to you and your family,
Paul Merriman

From Paul Merriman

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I Thought I Bombed. Then I Saw the Reviews.