Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
Paul and Chris introduce the new Avantis and DFA Best-in-Class fund family recommendations and talk about the shift away from evaluating and recommending à la carte choices from multiple fund providers.
They emphasize that the quality and breadth of the offerings from Avantis and DFAhave reached a point where it's better and more sustainable to recommend these fund families than to continually change recommendations among funds that are increasingly close inexpected performance.
Best in Class ETF recommendations paulmerriman.com/best-in-class-recommendations
Portfolio Configurator lookerstudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/a941a5d4-0929-45ea-b22e-3bb82dc334ff/page/99wxc?s=hqmha3-AK5k
00:00 Intro
00:55 Chris' Travels
02:01 Important Decisions
05:53 Best-in-Class Strategies
07:32 Why Avantis & DFA
09:19 Choice Hierarchy
11:01 Vanguard & Bogleheads
14:18 Non-Traditional Index Funds
20:46 Funds Since 2000
23:36 SCV vs. S&P 500
28:20 SCB vs. LCV
32:34 Should You Switch?
35:44 Recent Returns: Avantis, DFA, and Vanguard
39:56 Sust. & Soc. Res. ETFs
45:03 401k & 403b Participants
48:31 Portfolio Configurator
52:22 Future Expectations
59:50 Outro
Paul and Chris introduce the new Avantis and DFA Best-in-Class fund family recommendations and talk about the shift away from evaluating and recommending à la carte choices from multiple fund providers.
They emphasize that the quality and breadth of the offerings from Avantis and DFAhave reached a point where it's better and more sustainable to recommend these fund families than to continually change recommendations among funds that are increasingly close inexpected performance.
Best in Class ETF recommendations paulmerriman.com/best-in-class-recommendations
Portfolio Configurator lookerstudio.google.com/u/0/reporting/a941a5d4-0929-45ea-b22e-3bb82dc334ff/page/99wxc?s=hqmha3-AK5k
00:00 Intro
00:55 Chris' Travels
02:01 Important Decisions
05:53 Best-in-Class Strategies
07:32 Why Avantis & DFA
09:19 Choice Hierarchy
11:01 Vanguard & Bogleheads
14:18 Non-Traditional Index Funds
20:46 Funds Since 2000
23:36 SCV vs. S&P 500
28:20 SCB vs. LCV
32:34 Should You Switch?
35:44 Recent Returns: Avantis, DFA, and Vanguard
39:56 Sust. & Soc. Res. ETFs
45:03 401k & 403b Participants
48:31 Portfolio Configurator
52:22 Future Expectations
59:50 Outro
