"Whether you're investing in art or in securities, no one should confuse value and price."

In This Edition
JB Taylor: Small Caps Haven't Been This Cheap in 25 Years
Your Top Retirement Questions, Answered by Christine Benz
Latest Podcast
Testimonial

Since so much of our work is based on adding value to a diversified portfolio, I thought many of you would enjoy listening to or reading the transcript of an interview with Truth-Teller Christine Benz, Dan Lefkovitz of Morningstar and JB Taylor, Wasatch Global Investors CEO.

The title, "JB Taylor: Small Caps Haven’t Been This Cheap in 25 Years"
immediately made me drop what I was doing and read the transcript.

As you learn what Taylor has to offer keep in mind he is very much like every other active manager I have met. He can support what he is doing with lots of evidence. Plus the fund has a great long term track record.

I know many of you will want to know how Wasatch Small Cap Value Fund (WMCVX) has done compared the Avantis Small Cap Value ETF (AVUV). Before I give you the results I think it’s important to understand WMCVX has 62 companies in the portfolio, 61% turnover, average size company is $3.6 billion and an expense ratio of 1.17%. AVUV has 764 companies, 7% turnover, $2.6 billion average size company and an expense ratio of .25%

According to Morningstar, the return of AVUV, since it started 9/30/2019, through 3/8/2024, has been 89.73% vs. 62.87% for WMCVX. And of course I have to remind you past performance does not predict future returns.

Your Top Retirement Questions, Answered by Christine Benz: Thursday, April 4 at 4:30PM

Here is list of 10 topics I hope to cover:

Changes in distribution strategies with better bond returns
Latest research on rebalancing
Selecting the best target date fund
If you build a target date fund what %s would you recommend
Time to put money into cryptocurrency
What kind of investor could have all of their money in equities
How many years of performance should investors use in order to understand risk
High yield bonds vs. money market funds
Cap weighted vs. asset class weighted portfolios
When to take annual distributions: Monthly, quarterly or annually

If you interviewed Christine what would you like to ask her? Let me know at paul@paulmerriman.com

Latest Podcast- Fine Tuning Your Asset Allocation 2024 Update

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 Your Asset Allocation Tables⁠. Each one assumes the use of one of the nine Sound Investment equity portfolios. Paul focuses on two of them and expects that those who are interested will be able to view the rest of the tables on their own.

The two tables use the S&P 500 (⁠Table B1⁠) and the U.S. 2-Fund (50/50 S&P and Small Cap Value) (⁠Table B9⁠). Each of these tables represents the annual returns of 11 combinations of equities and bonds. The goal is for investors to find the combination of equities and bonds for their risk limits and and return expectations.

Paul will be monitoring the ⁠YouTube video ⁠and will respond to questions there or you can email Paul@paulmerriman.com

Testimonial

I want to thank you and the team at the MFEF for all the work and dedication you are putting in the mission.

Thanks to you, I learned about the small cap value premium and discovered Larry Swedroe and Ben Felix, who proved to be excellent teachers. Being only 23, this has changed the course of my financial future.
C.C.

The truth about investing: ‘Common sense’ can be the worst advice

Fine Tuning Your Asset Allocation 2024 Update

Bootcamp #4 Fine Tuning Your Asset Allocation 2024 Update

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In This EditionJB Taylor: Small Caps Haven't Been This Cheap in 25 YearsYour Top Retirement Questions, Answered by Christine BenzLatest PodcastTestimonial

In This Edition
JB Taylor: Small Caps Haven't Been This Cheap in 25 Years
Your Top Retirement Questions, Answered by Christine Benz
Latest Podcast
Testimonial