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.

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&P 500 gained more than 60% — a costly lesson in performance chasing, with an estimated $7.5 billion in shareholder losses.

Then Paul answers 12 listener questions, with a special deep dive into table G1B — 56 years of S&P 500 vs. small cap value returns, one year at a time, plus every combination in 10% increments.

QUESTIONS COVERED
1. Funds that match the international and U.S. small cap value asset classes 17:18
2. Keep investments at Fidelity or move to Vanguard? 18:51
3. Is the Vanguard money market fund a good long-term emergency fund? 20:19
4. Pairing the S&P 500 with small cap value — the G1B fine-tuning table 21:46
5. Why the Four Fund worldwide portfolio uses U.S. small cap value only 31:17
6. Should geopolitical tension make you cash out? 33:57
7. Why has small cap value historically produced higher returns? 36:47
8. Can you get rich from investing? The Rule of 72 and $100 a month 41:51
9. Is the all-value worldwide portfolio better than the other strategies? (Table H2) 44:03
10. Where to find the 10 Fund portfolio allocations 48:39
11. Paul’s take on DFA’s micro cap fund (DFMC) 49:16
12. Lump sum or dollar cost average when switching funds in a Roth? 51:57

LINKS
• Table H2 — Sound Investing Portfolios Comparison (Worldwide All Value)
• Table H1a — Sound Investing Portfolios Asset Allocations
• Fine-Tuning Table G1B — S&P 500 vs. Small Cap Value
• Fine-Tuning Table G1C — S&P 500 vs. SCV, 2025 Returns
• Best-in-Class ETF Recommendations