In Part 2 of this 4-part series, Paul Merriman compares the accumulation results of the U.S. 4-Fund Portfolio against the S&P 500, using both all-equity and 60/40 strategies.

Paul analyzes five decades of data, showing how diversification affects returns, volatility, and long-term wealth creation.

Paul also highlights the tables you’ll want to download and follow along with as he explains the numbers:

• Table B1: Fine-Tuning Table – S&P 500
• Table B4: Fine-Tuning Table – U.S. 4-Fund Portfolio
• Table H2a: Sound Investing Portfolios – 100% Equities
• Table H2: Sound Investing Portfolios – 60/40 Portfolios
• Table C1 & C4: Fixed Contributions for Accumulation Analysis

Next week: We'll look at the distributions in retirement using the S&P 500 in both the 100% equity and 60% equities/ 40% bonds.

This is the first of a series of 4 podcasts focused on the decision to have all of your investments be all equities vs. a balanced portfolio of equities and fixed income. In this presentation Paul uses the S&P 500 in both the all equity and the 60/40 stock/bond portfolio. He uses the following tables during his presentation.

Table B1 Fine Tuning Table: S&P 500 Equity Portfolio

Table H2a Sound Investing Portfolios (these portfolios are all 100% equities)

Table H2 Sound Investing Portfolios (these portfolios are all 60% equities/40% fixed income) (NEW)

Table C1 Fixed Contributions ($1,000/yr: S&P 500 Equity Portfolio
In the next presentation he does the same analysis using the U.S. 4 Fund and Worldwide 4 Fund Portfolios for the equity portion of the portfolio.

Paul starts this letter beginning with a letter from a listener. The letter ends with the reason why our work has had more impact than John Bogle and Benjamin Felix (Both Truth Tellers).

The rest of the podcast is focused on a recent article- ⁠The Evolution of Financial Advice, by Ben Carlson. The focus is on the math, history and psychology of investing.

Paul concludes that most steps to successful investoring are well documented. But two areas are still open for fine tuning: Portfolio construction and fund selection. To help in that Paul recommends three Boot Camp Presentations: Fine Tuning Your Asset Allocation, Fixed Contributions and Fixed Distributions.