Articles: Investing Basics


Paul Merriman: 10 ways we educate investors
User Rating: / 7
October 02, 2007
Ever since we began in 1983, our company has been committed to teaching people how to be more successful in managing their investments.  Many of the investors who visit our websites and attend our live workshops may not realize the full scope of the educational offerings available to them. The following list (first compiled by Eric Paine, multimedia producer for Merriman, in a publication exclusively for our clients) outlines the many ways we help investors, regardless of how much or how little money they may have.

Four easy steps to better returns
User Rating: / 53
January 21, 2002
Whether you’re young and just starting out, you’re approaching mid-life and accumulating savings or you’re nearing retirement age, you can put a huge number of extra dollars in your pocket and in the pockets of your heirs if you just do a few things right. In this article, Paul Merriman tells how.

Paul Merriman: 10 popular articles at FundAdvice.com
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August 20, 2007

Here's a guide to the 10 articles on our site that readers like best.

Young investors: How to be better than your parents
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August 15, 2006

Investors in their 20s have a golden opportunity to start out right, if they learn and follow 10 easy lessons. In this article, Paul Merriman teaches those lessons and gives a self-grading test on each one. Can you score 100?

Successful 401(k) investing in 12 easy steps
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October 29, 2007

For many American investors – perhaps the majority – the 401(k) plan (and its near-clones for non-profit organizations) has become the mainstay of retirement savings. It’s not hard to see why. These plans combine tax advantages with automatic savings and in many cases the incentive of matching funds from employers. Editor's note: This article, first published in 2002, was updated in October 2007.
 
How to avoid the worst mistakes investors make
User Rating: / 67
September 26, 2000
A popular topic at our investment workshops is a list of the biggest mistakes investors make. In this article Paul Merriman tells how to recognize them and how to avoid them.

How to be a successful contrarian investor
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November 15, 2006

Sometimes the way to get ahead is to do what other people don't do. Though that is easier said than done, it's a key to successful investing, as Paul Merriman describes in this article.

 

All about annuities
User Rating: / 154
July 06, 2001
Of all the products offered to investors, few are more controversial than variable annuities. The conventional wisdom is that variable annuities are sold, not bought. In other words, if there were no annuity salespeople, investors wouldn’t buy them.

"Loading up" on poor performance
User Rating: / 151
September 30, 2005
For many years Paul Merriman has been telling investors to “just say no” to buying load funds. Predictably, this message is quite unpopular among people who earn commissions selling such funds. In this article, Paul responds to an unhappy financial planner.
Drawdowns: Losing money is no fun
User Rating: / 109
July 27, 2006

Investors by the millions were startled -- many were shocked -- by the market's sudden plunge in the spring of 2006. In this article, Paul Merriman uses data back to 1970 to show that losing money, at least temporarily, is a sure thing.

 

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