Meet our Education Team

At Merriman, we’ve made a commitment to educating people so they can make sound investment decisions. These are the people who help us meet that commitment and are responsible for the creation of all the educational content we publish.

Paul Merriman

Founder/Financial Educator

Paul Merriman, founder of Merriman, is a widely respected expert on mutual fund investing.

He is editor of FundAdvice.com, a newsletter dedicated to investing in no-load mutual funds, and of an educational web site of the same name. In 2000, FundAdvice.com was named in Forbes' "Best of the Web" issue. Paul co-hosts Sound Investing, a weekly radio broadcast named in 2008 as the “Best Money Podcast” according to Money Magazine. The program is archived online at SoundInvesting.com and provides investors with unbiased information on mutual funds and other money issues.

Paul's newest book, "Live it up without Outliving Your Money: Getting the most from your Investments in Retirement", published by John Wiley & Sons, has been revised and updated. He is also the author of "Investing For A Lifetime" and "Market Timing with No-Load Mutual Funds".

Paul has been widely quoted in many national publications including Money Magazine, U.S. News and World Report, Kiplinger's Personal Finance, USA Today, Barron's, Business Week, The Wall Street Journal, Investor's Business Daily and Forbes. He has been a special guest on national television shows including "Wall Street Week" with Louis Rukeyser, PBS' "Nightly Business News" with Paul Kangas, plus many financial talk shows on CBS, CNBC, and CNN. He has also produced four investing videos.

Paul has spoken to many investment groups and has twice been a guest speaker at the annual psychology of investing conference at Harvard University. Recipient of a distinguished alumni award from Western Washington University's School of Economics, Paul is a founding member of the board of directors of Global HELP and is chairman of the board of directors of Bainbridge Island TV (BITV).

Paul is available for speaking engagements and media inquires. For booking, please contact Richard Williams, either by email at richard@merriman.com or at 1.800.423.4893.

Richard Buck

Publications Manager

Richard oversees all written communications produced by our company, including our quarterly newsletter, FundAdvice.com, of which he is managing editor, and Merriman on More Than Money, of which he is editor. He works with Paul Merriman and several other Merriman staff members to produce new educational content for our educational web site, FundAdvice.com. Rich worked closely with Paul on his book, "Live It Up Without Outliving Your Money!," published by John Wiley & Sons in 2008. He and Paul are planning another book.

Rich began writing articles for Merriman in 1993 and joined our team as an employee in 1997 after 20 years as a business reporter at the Seattle Times. For eight years before that he was a writer and editor for The Associated Press. A fourth-generation Seattle resident, he is a former member of the Willamette University Board of Trustees and former president of the university's alumni association.

Laura Shelton

Client Development Coordinator

Laura communicates with workshop participants and other investors to connect them with our financial advisors.

A Pacific Northwest native who was raised on her family's nursery in the Portland area, Laura holds a bachelor of science degree in marketing from the University of Washington. Before she joined Merriman in 2008, she held several marketing and sales jobs.

In her free time, Laura enjoys exploring Puget Sound with her husband on their boat as well as cooking, reading and spending time with family and friends.

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