The Rob Berger Show

Do Roth conversions in early retirement increase your sequence of returns risk? Does it take decades before the cost of a Roth conversion can pay off? Are Roth conversions really nothing more than a big gamble? I'll cover these questions in today's video. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

In today's Five Question Friday (FQF) video, we look at these five questions: 1. What are the best financial tools for retirees? 2. What happens if my HSA balance exceeds my medical receipts? 3. Do dividends count toward my annual withdrawal rate? 4. Should the way we invest change when we retire? 5. Why does Warren Buffett think cash and bonds are bad investments? Resources Budget Apps: http...

After recording this video, the S&P Dow Jones decided not to change its rules related to Megacap companies. As a result, SpaceX must wait at least a year to join the S&P 500 index, and maybe longer thanks to profitability requirement: https://www.youtube.com/live/PUhK1c0MSVQ Resources: CRSP Total US Market: https://www.crsp.org/crsp-market-inde... Nasdaq-100: https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/...

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In today's episode,  we learn about one viewer's experience with an advisor and cover 9 topics to find out if the advice was good or bad. Resources From Video https://www.annuity.org/annuities/ann... https://opensocialsecurity.com/ Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

This week on Five Question Friday (FQF): Question 1: Has AI fundamentally changed the stock market, and does market history still matter? Question 2: If you retire a few years before claiming Social Security, how does the 4% rule apply during that gap? Question 3: If you roll a long-held Roth 401(k) into a brand-new Roth IRA, do you still have to wait five years to withdraw earnings? Question 4: C...

Cash has outperformed bonds for more than a decade. This outperformance has caused many to wonder if they should give up on bonds and put all of their fixed income into cash. In this episode, we'll look back over the past 100 years to see when cash has outperformed bonds, and when bonds have outperformed cash. Then will apply this to a 60/40 portfolio to see what we should be doing today in 2...

Can a few straightforward tax moves actually improve your retirement plan? In this episode, I take one retirement plan and optimize it, then put the optimized plan next to the base plan so you can see exactly what changed and by how much. ProjectionLab: https://go.robberger.com/projectionla... Newsletter subscribes can get a promo code for 10% off. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robb...

Scammers are sending emails pretending to be me. In this episode, I explain several fake Rob Berger email addresses listeners have reported, along with examples of the messages being sent. Some of them start with a friendly note about a YouTube comment. Some pitch questionable investment opportunities. Some try to move the conversation to WhatsApp or Telegram. One even claims a 10% weekly return....

Sam and his wife are two years from early retirement, sitting almost entirely in cash because they think the market is too overvalued to buy. Here's why waiting for the obvious crash is harder than it looks, and a no-forecasting plan to get from all-cash to a portfolio you can actually hold. Resources in Video Boldin: https://go.robberger.com/boldin/yt-ma... ProjectionLab: https://go.robberge...

Are individual bonds safer than bond funds? After my last video on cash versus bonds, a lot of you pushed back with the same argument: with an individual bond or a bond ladder you can hold to maturity and get your money back, and a bond fund can't do that. In this video I put that idea to the test with real numbers. I start with the one thing we have to understand first, the difference betwee...

This week on Five Question Friday (FQF): Question 1: Is Fidelity or Vanguard the better place to keep your cash? Question 2: Is a 1.25% AUM fee reasonable? Question 3: What's the best way to preserve capital once you're in your 70s? Question 4: Should your cash bucket be a fixed dollar amount or a percentage of your portfolio? Question 5: Is it safe to share your personal finances with A...

Resources in Episode Morningstar: https://go.robberger.com/morningstar/... Fidelity Article: https://www.fidelity.com/viewpoints/r... Kitces Article: https://www.kitces.com/blog/retiremen... Spend Safely in Retirement Article: https://robberger.com/spend-safely-in... Fidelity HSA App: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/fidelit... Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?ut...

This week in Five Question Friday (FQF): mega IPOs, sequence of returns risk, RMDs from a bonds-only IRA, Roth conversions after 59 1/2, and VT versus VTI plus VXUS. Question 1: Will the giant IPOs coming in 2026 drain money from the market and depress stock prices? Question 2: Is 20% to 30% in bonds enough protection against sequence of returns risk? Question 3: If you move your IRA entirely into...

In today's video we discuss if we should try to find investments that consistently beat the S&P 500. Resources From Video    • You Can’t Win With Money While Your Life I...  https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/res... https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xna... https://www.morningstar.com/funds/xna... https://www.morningstar.com/etfs/arcx... Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberge...

In today's Five Question Friday (FQF) video, we cover these questions:  1. Is the market inevitably going to crash, and how to mitigate 2. When to take SS and investing the early payments 3. Should we even bother tracking portfolio performance? 4. How to calculate how much money you need to retire comfortably 5. Why retirees still need an emergency fund Resources From Video Open Social Securi...

In today's Five Question Friday (FQF) episode, we cover these questions: 1. Four golden rules for avoiding financial scams 2. Finding and canceling forgotten subscriptions 3. Sharing passwords and 2FA with your spouse 4. Finding trustworthy help managing finances in old age 5. Are debt consolidation services legitimate? Resources From Video FTC Avoiding and Reporting Scams: https://consumer.f...

In today's episode, we discuss the following: 1. ChatGPT for Finances 2. A free version 3. Whether this is the end of budgeting apps Resources From Video ChatGPT Prompt: Create a beautiful dashboard that shows me my spending by category, a pie chart that I can click on to show which transactions make up that category, and identify any suspicious transactions and also any recurring expenses. R...

In today's Five Question Friday (FQF) video, we cover these questions: 1. How many years of "safe funds" should you hold beyond guaranteed income? 2. Reducing portfolio risk in retirement when returns aren't needed 3. Budgeting app that syncs the Sam's Club Mastercard 4. Does the 4% rule account for pre-tax vs. after-tax assets? 5. Should you only sell stocks when the mark...

In today's video, we answer the following question: Can the bucket strategy help you generate income and grow your wealth in retirement, even as you're spending money to live on? Retirement Manifesto Articles First Article: https://www.theretirementmanifesto.co... Second Article: https://www.theretirementmanifesto.co... Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newslette...

In today's Five Question Friday (FQF) video, we cover these questions:  1. Floor & Enjoy Retirement Strategy 2. Target Date Funds 3. Paying Taxes on Roth Conversions 4. Vanguard’s New BondBuilder ETFs 5. Boldin vs. Empower Resources From Video Empower: https://go.robberger.com/empower/yt-fqf Boldin: https://go.robberger.com/boldin/yt-fqf https://longevity.stanford.edu/wp-con... https://ro...

In this Five Question Friday (FQF) video, we cover these questions: 1. How to teach your significant other to manage the investments? (The Spouse Financial Survival Kit)    1. Start with a One-Pager       a. Accounts       b. Key Professionals       c. Withdrawal Order       d. Financial Overview Doc: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1W...    2. Financial Love Letter https://docs.google.com/docu...

In this episode, I'll answer the following question from a viewer: "I would like to ask if you can do a video on the current specific funds you are invested in? You did a video a while back about your 6 funds, but now you mentioned in a recent video that you simplified and are down to 3 or 4 funds. I was thinking of mirroring your 6 fund plan but now I see you have simplified, which is w...

In today's Five Question Friday (FQF) video, we cover these questions: 1. Where is the best place to park cash today? 2. Should you invest or pay off student loans? 3. Are Schwab’s Target Date Retirement Funds a solid option? 4. When should you start spending your IRA money? 5. Should a TIPS ladder be part of a retirement portfolio? Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/n...

In this episode,  we cover my Ultimate Retirement Checklist: 1. Healthcare 2. Start learning about Medicare 3. Understand IRMMA brackets 4. Track Expenses 5. Calculate Your Burn Rate 6. Calculate Your Guaranteed Income Ratio 7. Plan for large expenses 8. Plan when to take Social Security 9. Cash 10. Create a Tax-Efficient Withdrawal Strategy 11. Understand how investment withdrawals are taxed 12....