Back from the Baltic and 12 of your questions

<p>Paul returns from a two-week Baltic cruise refreshed and ready to dig into the numbers. He opens with a 12-month performance review of the recommended portfolios at Avantis, DFA and Vanguard — Avantis averaged 31.1% across the 10 equity asset classes in the Ultimate Buy and Hold, versus 27.7% at DFA and 26% at Vanguard — and explains why the non-traditional index funds keep outperforming traditional cap-weighted indexes.</p><p>Paul also revisits Ben Carlson’s look at the ARK Innovation ETF (ARKK), which grew to $30 billion under management before falling 65% while the S&amp;P 500 gained more than 60% — a costly lesson in performance chasing, with an estimated $7.5 billion in shareholder losses.</p><p>Then Paul answers 12 listener questions, with a special deep dive into table G1B — 56 years of S&amp;P 500 vs. small cap value returns, one year at a time, plus every combination in 10% increments.</p><p><strong>QUESTIONS COVERED</strong><br>1. Funds that match the international and U.S. small cap value asset classes 17:18<br>2. Keep investments at Fidelity or move to Vanguard? 18:51<br>3. Is the Vanguard money market fund a good long-term emergency fund? 20:19<br>4. Pairing the S&amp;P 500 with small cap value — the G1B fine-tuning table 21:46<br>5. Why the Four Fund worldwide portfolio uses U.S. small cap value only 31:17<br>6. Should geopolitical tension make you cash out? 33:57<br>7. Why has small cap value historically produced higher returns? 36:47<br>8. Can you get rich from investing? The Rule of 72 and $100 a month 41:51<br>9. Is the all-value worldwide portfolio better than the other strategies? (Table H2) 44:03<br>10. Where to find the 10 Fund portfolio allocations 48:39<br>11. Paul’s take on DFA’s micro cap fund (DFMC) 49:16<br>12. Lump sum or dollar cost average when switching funds in a Roth? 51:57</p><p><br></p><p><strong>LINKS</strong><br>• <a href="https://irp.cdn-website.com/6b78c197/files/uploaded/Table_H2_-_Sound_Investing_Portfolios_Comparison_Data_%28100_Eq_0_FI%29.pdf">Table H2 — Sound Investing Portfolios Comparison (Worldwide All Value)</a><br>• <a href="https://irp.cdn-website.com/6b78c197/files/uploaded/Table_H1a_-_Sound_Investing_Portfolios_Asset_Allocations_%2850_US_50_Intl%29.pdf">Table H1a — Sound Investing Portfolios Asset Allocations</a><br>• <a href="https://irp.cdn-website.com/6b78c197/files/uploaded/G1b.pdf">Fine-Tuning Table G1B — S&amp;P 500 vs. Small Cap Value</a><br>• <a href="https://irp.cdn-website.com/6b78c197/files/uploaded/%28G%29+S-P500+vs.+SCV+Tables+-+2025+Returns.pdf">Fine-Tuning Table G1C — S&amp;P 500 vs. SCV, 2025 Returns</a><br>• <a href="https://www.paulmerriman.com/best-in-class-etf-recommendations-2026">Best-in-Class ETF Recommendations</a></p>