"No matter what happens stick to your program. I've said stay the course a thousand times and I meant it every time. It is the most important single piece of investment wisdom I can give to you." John Bogle

In This Edition
The Most Helpful and Meaningful Teaching Tool
Truth Teller Corner
Latest Podcast
Latest MarketWatch Article
Testimonial

I am working on a future article/podcast/video to help investors find the most helpful and meaningful teaching tool. I want to identify the table of numbers, or a simple graph, that will help investors understand the investment process and maximize the probability they will “stay the course” for the long term.

In next week’s podcast I will discuss the aspects of two tables that are high on my list of nominees.

The first is an updated quilt chart that Daryl Bahls created in 2020. And along with the quilt chart Daryl also gave us a table to help us understand the most important implications of the quilt chart's results.

6 reasons active management is a bad idea for your investments

My hope is you will carefully consider the impact of the chart and table on your understanding of how investing works and share your comments and questions.

After we have reviewed your comments and questions Daryl, Chris and I will do a video to expand our comments on the importance and potential teaching impact of these two tables.

Please email your comments and/or questions to paul@paulmerriman.com.

Truth Teller Corner

I am always on the lookout for meaningful information that should give do it yourself investors the best shot at “staying the course.” The best consistent source of meaningful historical data comes from Ben Carlson. "How Bull Markets Work" is his latest lesson on preparing for the realities of the investment process.

"How to Determine Your Expected Retirement Date” is a title I knew would be of interest to many of our readers. In this case, Christine Benz addresses a handful of ways that one might make the decision when that date should be.

I think you will enjoy her comments about the pros and cons of waiting longer to retire.

In September Christine has a new book coming out. How to Retire: 20 Lessons for a Happy, Successful, and Wealthy Retirement.

I look forward to reading her new book. Here is the main focus of the book.

What are the secrets to a healthy, happy, and wealthy retirement?

To answer that question, longtime Morningstar columnist and podcaster Christine Benz asked 20 retirement thought leaders to go deep on a single lesson that they believe contributes to success in retirement.

Latest Podcast- How to Give Children and Grandchildren a Financial Head Start

Join Paul as he is interviewed by Ed Fulbright, CPA and host of Mastering Your Money on WNCU 90.7 FM in Durham, N.C.

How do Grandparents decide to help with education or retirement or legacy building of their grandchildren?
You often recommend small cap value as the primary investment vehicle for creating legacy for your grand children. Why did you select this investment?
You recommend a low cost strategy for $365 per year. Can you tell our listeners about how this works?
You also have different options for people who may have older children or grandchildren. Can we discuss those options?
You suggest writing a letter to a child or grandchild. Can we discuss the power of the letter to the child or grandchild?
What is the best advice you have ever received?

Latest MarketWatch Article- 6 reasons active management is a bad idea for your investments

Of all the complaints I hear from investors, one of the most frequent is some variation of “I don’t think I’m getting the return I should be getting.”

And when I dig into this topic with people one-on-one, I usually discover one of two reasons for this — or both.

First, many investors have no realistic idea what they should expect from their portfolios. They just know they want more.

Second, very often they have turned their portfolios over to people (and companies) that are essentially charging high prices to make bets with their money. Read More.

Testimonial

"Thanks to you I've cleaned up my personal brokerage account and old IRAs and simplified them (Now I don't need to follow all the social media shenanigans).

I appreciate the way you helped us see that investing can be straightforward and once I set up a formula I wanted, I know easily where each extra dollar will be invested."

Leaving Money to Your Children and Grandchildren

21 Investment Questions Every Do-It-Yourself Investor Must Answer

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In This EditionThe Most Helpful and Meaningful Teaching ToolTruth Teller CornerLatest PodcastLatest MarketWatch ArticleTestimonial

In This Edition
The Most Helpful and Meaningful Teaching Tool
Truth Teller Corner
Latest Podcast
Latest MarketWatch Article
Testimonial