Sound Investing

In this podcast (also watchable as a YouTube video), Paul Merriman, along with Director of Research Chris Pedersen and Chief Analyst Daryl Bahls get together on a Zoom call to answer additional questions submitted during the ChooseFI Facebook Live event, for which time did not permit on the original recording. The event was hosted by Jen Mah on May 9, 2020. Below are the list of questions. For an archive of hundreds of other investment-related questions and answers, see Ask Paul.

1. What are the 2 funds you use in the 2 Funds for Life portfolio? 3:56
2. How do you think Vanguard Total Stock Market and Total Global Market will perform in the future? 7:10
3. For people taking early retirement, how does the possibility of a serious decline affect the sequence of risk returns?  (See Distributions). 9:34
4. You have many allocations of stocks and bonds setup as pies at M1 Finance. What’s an easy way for people to get started? (See M1 Finance and Our About M1 Finance). 21:00
5. What information on your website should help me determine what should be my distribution between equities and bonds? Is there a rule of thumb for specific ages? (See Fine-Tuning Your Asset Allocation). 25:14
6. What has been the long-term difference in returns for the 2 fund vs the 10 fund portfolios?  31:27
7. How much of your recommended portfolio is in international stocks? (See the Ultimate Buy and Hold strategy). 38:43
8. What are your thoughts on future returns for Small Cap Value? (For more on SCV, click here).  43:43
9. You mentioned the impact of setting aside $1/day for a child early on. Where is the best place to be doing this? 529s? UTMAs? Bank of Mom? (See “Turn $3,000 in $50 million”). 48:52
10. Is value's fall from grace related to the increase in the influence of mutual funds and ETF's? 55:27
11. If already retired, what target date fund do you choose? Do you choose the target date fund of the year you retired? (See Target Date Funds).  01:01
12. Your portfolios are used by many people to create their path to retirement. Do you suggest adjusting stock/bond allocations as you near retirement age, much like you would with a target date fund, or select one portfolio based on your risk tolerance and ride it out the entire way?” 01:04
13. Where to add a SCV fund for taxes? Taxable, tax deferred or tax free? 01:08:20
14. Momentum and Quality are additional factors that historically produced outsized returns. Did you consider adding to the Ultimate Buy and Hold portfolio index funds that track these factors? (See Best In Class article).  01:10:13
15. I would like to also do market timing with half of my investments. How do I find someone to do that for me?  (See Merriman Wealth Management and Camria Funds). 01:15:16