“Human felicity is produced not so much by great pieces of good fortune, that seldom happen, as by little advantages that occur every day.”

— Benjamin Franklin

In This Edition

→ Everything Is Faster Now — That’s Exactly Why You Need This Book

→ Truth Teller of the Week: Christine Benz

→ Paul’s May AAII Journal Cover Article

→ Bonus Read: Correction vs. Crash

→ Latest Podcast

→ Support Our Mission

Feature Article

Everything Is Faster Now. That’s Exactly Why You Need This Book.

If you want a glimpse into the future of investing, I want to point you to one short article by Ben Carlson. It’s called “Everything Is Faster Now.”

In just a few minutes, Ben puts into words something every investor feels — but may not fully understand: the world is speeding up. Markets move faster. News spreads faster. Fear spreads faster. And unfortunately — mistakes happen faster, too.

As Ben points out, in just the past few years we’ve watched unemployment go from normal, to crisis, and back again in record time. Oil prices swung from positive, to negative, to extreme highs. Interest rates rose faster than at almost any time in history. His message is clear, even if he doesn’t come right out and say it: the future will not be slower. It will be more unpredictable.

So What Should Investors Do?

This is where Ben Carlson shines. He doesn’t respond to a faster world with more complexity. He responds with clarity and discipline. And that’s exactly why his new book, Risk and Reward: How to Handle Market Volatility and Build Long-Term Wealth, is a must-read.

Because if everything really is faster, then the investor who wins is not going to be the one who reacts fastest. It will be the one who is best prepared.

The Trap Most Investors Fall Into

When the world speeds up, most investors do the wrong thing. They watch more. They trade more. They worry more. They chase more. And as a result — they earn less. Ben’s work reminds us of something I’ve been teaching for decades:

The biggest risk isn’t market volatility. It’s investor behavior.

What Ben Teaches — and Why It Matters

If you’ve followed Ben’s writing at A Wealth of Common Sense, you already know his gift: he takes a complex, emotional, unpredictable world and explains it in a way that makes you want to do the right thing — and stick with it. His philosophy lines up beautifully with what we teach: keep it simple, focus on the long term, diversify broadly, avoid extremes, and control what you can — costs, behavior, discipline.

One of his most important lessons is this: trying to go to extremes in investing has a greater chance of leading to failure than success. That’s wisdom. And it’s the kind of wisdom you rarely hear on financial television.

A Simple Recommendation

I hope you’ll do two things this week. First, read Ben’s article, “Everything Is Faster Now.” It will take just a few minutes — but it may change how you see the world. Second, pick up his new book, Risk and Reward (released May 11, 2026).

Because in a faster, noisier, more unpredictable world, the investors who succeed won’t be the ones chasing the next idea. They’ll be the ones who understand how markets behave, how they themselves behave, and how to build a plan they can live with — no matter what happens next.

Pre-Order Risk & Reward

Disclosure: Our Foundation is an Amazon affiliate, which means we receive a very small amount from purchases made through our links. This helps us continue providing free financial education.

Truth Teller of the Week

A Voice You Can Trust: Christine Benz

Each week we’d like to introduce you to one of the educators we call “Truth Tellers” — people whose work is built around helping you make better financial decisions, without conflicts of interest. We don’t receive compensation for recommending them. Our only reward is knowing you’re getting guidance you can actually trust.

This week’s Truth Teller is Christine Benz.

Christine is the Director of Personal Finance and Retirement Planning at Morningstar — and one of the clearest, most generous voices in retirement planning today.

I’ve been recommending Christine’s work for years, and her recent book, How to Retire: 20 Lessons for a Happy, Successful, and Wealthy Retirement, is one of the best things I’ve read on the subject. It’s a series of conversations with twenty of the most respected experts in the field — covering everything from withdrawal strategies to Medicare to the emotional side of leaving work behind.

What sets Christine apart isn’t just what she knows — it’s how she communicates it. She has a rare ability to take complicated retirement topics and make them feel approachable, honest, and human. Whether she’s writing for Morningstar, hosting The Long View podcast with Jeff Ptak, or speaking at the Bogleheads conference, the message is always the same:

Plan thoughtfully. Keep costs low. Stay the course.

That’s the heart of everything we teach, and it’s why I trust her work as much as anyone’s in the industry.

If you’re anywhere near retirement — or helping a parent or friend who is — I encourage you to follow her work. Read her articles at Morningstar. Listen to The Long View. And if you only do one thing, pick up a copy of How to Retire. It’s the kind of book you’ll want to keep on the shelf and return to.

See All Our Truth Tellers

On the Cover

Paul’s May AAII Journal Cover Article

We’re thrilled to share that Paul’s latest article, “Choosing an Equity Portfolio You Can Live With for Life,” is the cover story of the May 2026 AAII Journal.

The article explores a truth Paul has been teaching for decades: the path to investing success matters as much as the returns themselves. Three takeaways at the heart of the piece:

→ Investing success depends on emotional resilience — the ability to stay invested through volatile markets.

→ Traditional risk metrics miss the real risk; portfolios should be evaluated by the behavioral challenges they create.

→ Choosing a sustainable portfolio mix helps investors endure downturns and achieve long-term financial success.

The goal is to find a path smooth enough that you will stay on it.

Read the Full Article

Bonus Read

The Difference Between a Correction and a Crash

While you’re waiting for Ben Carlson’s new book to arrive, here’s a 2013 piece of his that holds up beautifully: The Difference Between a Correction and a Crash.

Ben puts a useful frame around something every long-term investor needs to understand: corrections are common, crashes are rare, and trying to time either one is a great way to miss out on the long-term gains the market provides. It’s a short, calm, historically grounded read — exactly the kind of perspective worth keeping handy for the next bumpy stretch.

Latest Podcast

Q&A With Chris Pedersen and Daryl Bahls: Thinking Through Your Portfolio Choices

Sound Investing Podcast

In this week’s episode, 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, Paul talks about a smarter way to use AI for the questions outside our wheelhouse, and the team works through six reader questions about portfolio design.

If you’ve ever wondered whether your portfolio is “right,” this conversation will help you think about it the way Chris and Daryl do.

Listen to This Episode

What You’ll Hear (Timestamps)

8:30 — Should I combine the Worldwide Four Fund, U.S. Four Fund, and Worldwide All Value with a small cap value tilt?

16:00 — How do I read the Sound Investing tables to compare portfolios?

30:30 — Worldwide All Small Cap Value vs. the U.S. Two Fund — which is better?

38:15 — My Vanguard Four Fund uses VOO, VTV, VB, and VBR — am I using the right ETFs?

41:30 — How do Vanguard, Fidelity, Schwab, DFA, and Avantis compare on size and value exposure?

46:30 — How do I get help with Merriman portfolios when I need it?

Resources Mentioned

→ Watch on YouTube

→ Portfolio Configurator

→ Table B2 (Fine Tuning)

→ Table H2 (Sound Investing Portfolios)

From Our Community

A Viewer Reacts to the Best-in-Class Boot Camp

After Paul and Chris’s recent Boot Camp video on our Best-in-Class recommendations, this comment came in — and it captures exactly the kind of journey we love hearing about:

“Great video Paul, and great to have Chris back for I believe the first time this year. In the past, I was a big believer in Vanguard, but your work has convinced me that Avantis and DFA are worth it. Therefore, I began checking out both the Avantis & DFA ETFs last year. Thank you for all your work. I look forward to each video. You guys and Daryl are all great.”

— YouTube viewer

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Everything we do at the Merriman Financial Education Foundation — the books, the podcast, the Boot Camps, the Truth Teller resources, the calculators, the new website, and the Sound Investing app — is offered free of charge. None of it would be possible without the generosity of readers and listeners like you.

If our work has helped you make better financial decisions, please consider making a tax-deductible contribution. Every gift — large or small — helps us reach more do-it-yourself investors with the kind of unbiased, evidence-based education that can change a financial future.

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