Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

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Spinola
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Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by Spinola »

Not sure if this has been posted, or if this is the best forum..

From Paul Merriman https://paulmerriman.com

"I have a Big Goal: I want to get the book (in pdf format) into the hands of a million young (or more!) — high school and college students and those new to the workforce and beginning to invest. I’m asking that all of you download a free copy and then send the link to 10 people and/or post it on your social media."

Get, and share the free ebook here with anyone you think might benefit. https://paulmerriman.com/wp-content/upl ... llions.pdf
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by garlandwhizzer »

I think Mr. Merriman is doing a good service here, not for his own benefit but rather to fill a glaring need in our society. Ignorance about investing and financial planning is rampant in our country particularly among younger generations. I believe the fundamentals of investing and financial planning should be a required part of a high school curriculum. There is scant chance that it will happen however. Providing some knowledge and background at a young age might prevent a lot of financial problems for a lot of people later in life. This is what Mr. Merriman is attempting to do. He is a accomplished student of the market and and a highly ethical and honest man. He is putting in his time and effort to genuinely help others who need help whether they realize it or not, which I believe to be admirable.

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Spinola
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by Spinola »

garlandwhizzer wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 12:20 pm I think Mr. Merriman is doing a good service here, not for his own benefit but rather to fill a glaring need in our society. Ignorance about investing and financial planning is rampant in our country particularly among younger generations. I believe the fundamentals of investing and financial planning should be a required part of a high school curriculum. There is scant chance that it will happen however. Providing some knowledge and background at a young age might prevent a lot of financial problems for a lot of people later in life. This is what Mr. Merriman is attempting to do. He is a accomplished student of the market and and a highly ethical and honest man. He is putting in his time and effort to genuinely help others who need help whether they realize it or not, which I believe to be admirable.

Garland Whizzer
I agree and truly appreciate his efforts to educate the younger (and not so young) generation. I wish I had access to this 30+ years ago. I've been sharing it with every twenty-something I know.. and older folks too.
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by Metsfan91 »

Thanks for the link Spinola. Downloaded it. was looking for the link to download without signup.
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by Gaston »

Spinola wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 11:10 am Get, and share the free ebook here with anyone you think might benefit.
Thank you.
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by CyclingDuo »

Atilla wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 5:35 pm
I believe the fundamentals of investing and financial planning should be a required part of a high school curriculum. There is scant chance that it will happen however.
Your average pensioned government legislator, government school administrator or government teacher would have no interest in seeing this type of thing gets taught. It's simply not in their frame of thought institutionally.

The avenue to get this info where it's needed is through private schools or through other channels-whatever those might be. If Big Tech titans would get on board...maybe something useful might get done on a large scale.

The mindset in the public education industrial complex won't get you there.
Well, I would disagree as it appears things are getting better with regard to teaching it in the curriculum. Sure, there is still room for improvement, but things have ramped up in recent years.

21 states currently require a class in personal finance in high school to graduate, forty-five states now include personal finance education in their curriculum standards for kindergarten through 12 grades, although only 37 states require those standards to be implemented by local school districts.
https://www.cnbc.com/2020/02/04/teachin ... es-on.html

I did take a Finance class in high school back in the 1970's that covered personal finance. Although the class was not mandatory, the class always filled up every year as the teacher was good and word of mouth from classmates was to try and get in the class. Glad to hear many states are making it mandatory to graduate these days.

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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by h82goslw »

Spinoza, thank you for posting this. Just sent it to my kid who just graduated college and started a full time job this week. Timing was perfect!
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by tetractys »

This free publication of The Merriman Financial Education Foundation shows they are serious about educating our youth. Kudos to that! Skimming the table of contents tells me Paul Merriman has some new ideas that I might be interested in—as a retiree! I’m very happy to see this and I’ll be reading this one. thanks for posting Spinola!
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by ResearchMed »

Metsfan91 wrote: Thu Jun 24, 2021 5:01 pm Thanks for the link Spinola. Downloaded it. was looking for the link to download without signup.
I just opened the link, and printed the file as a PDF to one of my folders.
It looked like it's all there, and no signup or such was necessary.

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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by AnEngineer »

lgs88 wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 12:55 pm There's plenty of things to complain about w.r.t. the public education system, but the absence of personal finance curriculum is not one of them. A personal finance course is mandatory at the public school at which I teach and many others.
This has got to be regional. I haven't heard of personal finance class being taught in school in at least 30 years.
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by markcoop »

I read through the book quickly. It is pretty good and a relatively easy read. The main advice is to combine a target date index fund with a small-value index fund. If you believe in the small and value factors it is a simple way to achieve that. He recommends 1.5 times your age in the target date fund and the rest in the small value fund. I am not a fan of that formula, but I do think adding a small amount of small value to a target date fund would serve the majority of investors. I believe the later chapters of the book were odd to include as they really muddy his message and won't appeal to the young audience as he starts to get into retirement and alternatives.

So, I would say the first two-thirds of the book are an excellent easy read and I sent the book to my 3 young adult children (early 20s). They have all recently started to invest in Roth IRAs using a target date fund. I can think of no better long-term financial investment for a young adult. If they want to get exotic a bit, they can do as the book recommends and add a splash of a small value fund.
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by GerryL »

AnEngineer wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 10:00 pm
lgs88 wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 12:55 pm There's plenty of things to complain about w.r.t. the public education system, but the absence of personal finance curriculum is not one of them. A personal finance course is mandatory at the public school at which I teach and many others.
This has got to be regional. I haven't heard of personal finance class being taught in school in at least 30 years.
I volunteer with an org called Financial Beginnings and deliver financial literacy training in high schools in my area. Some presentations are in social studies or home room classes. Others are in elective classes like economics or business. The materials are aligned with state content requirements. Financial Beginnings offers curricula for all grades, even early elementary.
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by Vegomatic »

Looks like a nice book/pdf, although I wonder why they decided to create an e-book that lacks page numbers on each page.
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by teen persuasion »

Thank you for the link. I've already shared it with a coworker nearing retirement who wants to learn more.

I just finished reading it thru. I'm confused about the combo of a target date index fund and a small cap value fund. There was constant discussion of an S&P 500 index, but aren't Vanguard target date funds based on Total Stock market, not S&P 500? Wouldn't that already include small cap?
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by Windylotus »

teen persuasion wrote: Sun Jun 27, 2021 9:52 pm Thank you for the link. I've already shared it with a coworker nearing retirement who wants to learn more.

I just finished reading it thru. I'm confused about the combo of a target date index fund and a small cap value fund. There was constant discussion of an S&P 500 index, but aren't Vanguard target date funds based on Total Stock market, not S&P 500? Wouldn't that already include small cap?
Total Stock Market only holds about 6% in small cap (blend). Very little is in small cap value.
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by Windylotus »

I have DW i401k invested in Merriman's two funds for life with a twist. I use Vanguard Total World instead of a TDF.

With our risk apatite and time horizon to retirement, we didn't want the drag of bonds in the portfolio.
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by 1789 »

It looks like author tried to find a way to simplify his 10 fund portfolio to two funds. I am far away from his expertise but as a (lower than) average investor this portfolio doesn't make sense to me.
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by waskiri »

Thank you, I downloaded the pdf and will read it.

Just in case: Other three books are free to download here:https://paulmerriman.com/how-to-invest- ... -download/

I always run a check in all pdfs I download using pdfinfo command in Linux's Terminal. All files are javascript free, one:"Get Smart or Get Screwed.." contains Acroforms.
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by fsax »

Indeed, I've read a couple of Mr. Merriman's books and found them quite helpful. I agree with many of the posters here--this is a real public service, especially given that he's now offering it for free!

But then, I'm a little biased toward thinking personal finance is important--and so are most members of this forum, I'd suppose :happy
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by pkcrafter »

Merriman's book is on target--it does not include the two objections I usually have to Merriman's recommendations--American funds and too many of them. He has simplified and is very close to the Boglehead camp. :sharebeer

You can use a target fund, small cap value fund and Wellington or Wellesley, OR you could use..........

Total stock market or SP 500
total international,
small cap value
bond
Wellington or Wellesley optional. The W/W options would also reduce international held in just a target fund if you would prefer less international than TR funds provide.

TR fund
Wellesley/wellington
small value


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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by Fortune »

Thank you for sharing..
There are a few additional books for free download - https://paulmerriman.com/books/.
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by averagedude »

Big fan of Paul Merriman, but I believe that I could do more good than him if i could just convince young people to invest in a low cost target date fund from Vanguard, Fidelity, or Schwab. Perhaps not the optimal choice,but will more than likely have better outcomes for the majority of investors over the long haul. Not knocking his opinions on investing, but he does have several strategies with some being a bit complex, and it leaves investors scratching their heads of which is the best option. Putting your money in a target date fund and forgetting about it is a simple one stop solution and should accomplish most people's reasonable goals. I can almost guarantee that he wouldn't disagree with me on this without using the phrase "small cap value".
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by Nathan Drake »

averagedude wrote: Sat Jul 10, 2021 9:55 pm Big fan of Paul Merriman, but I believe that I could do more good than him if i could just convince young people to invest in a low cost target date fund from Vanguard, Fidelity, or Schwab. Perhaps not the optimal choice,but will more than likely have better outcomes for the majority of investors over the long haul. Not knocking his opinions on investing, but he does have several strategies with some being a bit complex, and it leaves investors scratching their heads of which is the best option. Putting your money in a target date fund and forgetting about it is a simple one stop solution and should accomplish most people's reasonable goals. I can almost guarantee that he wouldn't disagree with me on this without using the phrase "small cap value".
Merriman has different tiers of complexity based upon an investor’s ability to stay the course with something simple or something a bit more sliced together.

His 10 fund UBH portfolio is probably more optimal in terms of reducing black swan events and increasing returns, but a target date fund + SCV (2-fund portfolio) is a great starting point.
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by justglassin »

AnEngineer wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 10:00 pm
lgs88 wrote: Fri Jun 25, 2021 12:55 pm There's plenty of things to complain about w.r.t. the public education system, but the absence of personal finance curriculum is not one of them. A personal finance course is mandatory at the public school at which I teach and many others.
This has got to be regional. I haven't heard of personal finance class being taught in school in at least 30 years.
A friend just shared her 9th grader's class schedule with me (at the same HS we both went to in NC in the 90s). All rising 9th graders this year will be required to take a Personal Finance and Econ class. This is a great move!

Hopefully these classes will drill the compound interest table and the concept of putting some money to work while you dollars have the most impact (i.e., early in life). An emphasis on this could have a profound impact on many students' lives as well as strengthen the economic security of the next generation. For those a bit more precocious or science/bio oriented, maybe offer some behavioral psych and evo psych to get them thinking about the way our brains work against us when saving for the long term. Hope other states and districts will adopt this approach.
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by BogleFan510 »

Downloaded.

To the authors: On the cover that appears for the link in Facebook, "The Merriman Financial Education Found" is text. I believe is Found is not the correct word or a typo it seems like an autocorrect error for Foundation?

Note: this is in the image that appears if one imbeds the link in Facebook, not on the pdf.
Last edited by BogleFan510 on Fri Jul 16, 2021 12:42 pm, edited 2 times in total.
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by LadyGeek »

I removed a contentious interchange regarding financial literacy education (political overtones). The discussion was derailed. See: Non-actionable (Trolling) Topics
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by Bama12 »

teen persuasion wrote: Sun Jun 27, 2021 9:52 pm Thank you for the link. I've already shared it with a coworker nearing retirement who wants to learn more.

I just finished reading it thru. I'm confused about the combo of a target date index fund and a small cap value fund. There was constant discussion of an S&P 500 index, but aren't Vanguard target date funds based on Total Stock market, not S&P 500? Wouldn't that already include small cap?
Total Stock Market has very little small cap.
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Re: Paul Merriman free ebook "We're Talking Millions"

Post by Bama12 »

Nathan Drake wrote: Sat Jul 10, 2021 11:52 pm
averagedude wrote: Sat Jul 10, 2021 9:55 pm Big fan of Paul Merriman, but I believe that I could do more good than him if i could just convince young people to invest in a low cost target date fund from Vanguard, Fidelity, or Schwab. Perhaps not the optimal choice,but will more than likely have better outcomes for the majority of investors over the long haul. Not knocking his opinions on investing, but he does have several strategies with some being a bit complex, and it leaves investors scratching their heads of which is the best option. Putting your money in a target date fund and forgetting about it is a simple one stop solution and should accomplish most people's reasonable goals. I can almost guarantee that he wouldn't disagree with me on this without using the phrase "small cap value".
Merriman has different tiers of complexity based upon an investor’s ability to stay the course with something simple or something a bit more sliced together.

His 10 fund UBH portfolio is probably more optimal in terms of reducing black swan events and increasing returns, but a target date fund + SCV (2-fund portfolio) is a great starting point.
He came up with the target date and SCV because so many people fussed about having 10 funds. He still teaches the UBH is the best.
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