The Rob Berger Show

According to the latest report from the Board of Trustees of Social Security, it will become insolvent in 2033. Without money in the trust fund to bolster tax receipts. The Social Security Administration will only be able to pay out 79 cents on the dollar in benefits. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

Retirement planning requires that we make a lot of assumptions about the future. From all of these assumptions and other data, most software spits out a "Chance of Success." That number can make the future appear more certain than it is. In fact, many people make some big mistakes with their retirement plans. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

Welcome to Five Question Friday! Here are the questions we'll cover in today's video: 1. Should You Build a TIPS Ladder in Retirement? 2. Are Vanguard's LifeStrategy Funds a Reasonable Choice in Retirement? 3. Is the 40/60 Portfolio the New 60/40 Portfolio? 4. How many investment brokers do I use? 5. How to rebalance across different account types? Join the Newsletter. It's Fre...

In today's Five Question Friday (FQF), we tackle these five fantastic questions: 1. What financial apps are worth paying for in or near retirement? 2. How do you enter money market funds into your investment tracking spreadsheet? 3. Is it safe to link accounts to apps? 4. Can you comment on Bill Bernstein's comment that if you've won the game, stop playing? 5. Is Larry Kotlikoff&apo...

Retirement withdrawal strategies are about a lot more than just the 4% rule or safe withdrawal rates. To better understand how they work and how you can apply them to your retirement, this video walks through 7 rules I follow when it comes to spending down your investments in retirement. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

In today's Five Question Friday (FQF), we have five more great questions sent in by viewers: 1. Should we think of dividends as guaranteed income? 2. Should we invest in our HSA the same way we invest in our Roth IRA? 3. How should you pay tax on a Roth Conversion? 4. Should you get long-term care insurance? 5. Should our investing strategy change as our wealth rises? WSJ Article on LTC insur...

In this video, I'll describe my approach to investing in uncertain times. To do so, I'll enlist the help of the D.C. subway system, Sir Isaac Newton, and the 1970s. The 60/40 Solution: https://www.safalniveshak.com/wp-cont... Sir Isaac Newton Paper: https://www.sfu.ca/~poitras/cjh_newto... The Telegraph Article: https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne... Stocks for the Long Run: https://am...

In today's Five Question Friday (FQF), we cover the following: 1. Some thoughts on how to hire a financial advisor 2. Whether to consider Medicare premiums in your Roth conversion analysis 3. How Social Security should affect our asset allocation in retirement 4. How variable income should affect how we invest 5. Whether I sold U.S. stocks to buy International stocks this year. Resources ment...

In this video, I'll share with you my current investment portfolio, including a big change I made in our traditional retirement accounts. I'll also share an update to my free investment tracking spreadsheet. https://robberger.com/investment-trac... Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

With stock valuations near all-time highs in the U.S., many people are asking whether we should reduce or exposure to stocks. In fact, a recent Vanguard market outlook report concluded that a typical 60/40 retirement portfolio may be too rich, and that a 40/60 portfolio is a better option in this valuation environment. This video is my take on all of this. Resources: Vanguard Report: https://corpo...

Welcome back to another edition of Five Question Friday (FQF). Here are today's questions: 1. What bond funds do I use in my portfolio? 2. Do you really need an emergency fund? 3. How does living off interest work with Bengen's 4% rule?  4. How to track money market funds in my investment tracking spreadsheet? 5.  Are money market funds better than intermediate-term bond funds? Join the...

Warren Buffett recently sol 100% of the two S&P 500 index funds Berkshire Hathaway owned, including Vanguard's VOO. In this video, we'll look at whether we should too. News Article: https://www.investors.com/etfs-and-fu... Berkshire's Stock Holdings: https://www.dataroma.com/m/holdings.p... Berkshire's Net Stock Sales: https://x.com/dividend_data/status/18... Join the Newsl...

Welcome to another edition of Five Question Friday (FQF). Here are the 5 questions: 1. Can one Fidelity fund beat the Vanguard 3-fund portfolio? 2. How do expense ratios work with fund of funds? 3. Concerning the 4% rule, which I believe the analysis runs out for 30 years, if someone starts to take a yearly percentage out of their portfolio at a later age, say in their mid-70s, can the starting po...

Get 10% off the cost of ProjectionLab with promo code RBERGER-10 using this link: https://go.robberger.com/projectionla... . In today's video, we'll look at the following features of ProjectionLab: 1. Export/Import Data 2. Income/Expense 3. Tax Analytics 4. Drawdowns 5. Bond Allocation Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

Today, the SEC announced a $106.41 million settlement with Vanguard following moves Vanguard made in 2020 that resulted in excessive capital gains distributions to retail investors. In this video, I'll walk through the settlement order and what it means to investors. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

In today's episode of Five Question Friday (FQF), we start with a strategy you might consider if you want to leave your expensive financial advisor but you are afraid of going it alone. Here are all the questions in today's show: 1. How to leave your financial advisor 2. TIPS ladder vs BND 3. Are Target Date Funds a Reasonable Option 4. If a person has over $250,000 in a Fidelity account...

We start this week's Five Question Friday (FQF) with a question about whether a 2% investment fee is crazy. Here are the five questions: 1. Am I crazy to be paying a 2% fee to manage my investments at Morgan Stanley? 2. Can you analyze 100% BND versus 50% BND and 50% VIPSX. 3. In Boldin, what are you setting as projected returns? 4. How should I invest if I don't need the money in retire...

With five years to go before retirement, there are several steps you can and should take to prepare. In this video, I'll cover 13 things to consider as your retirement date draws closer. Resources mentioned: Boldin: https://go.robberger.com/new-retireme... Tiller: https://go.robberger.com/tiller/yt-5-... Rocket Money: https://go.robberger.com/rocket-money... Lunch Money: https://go.robberger....

At least once a year it's important to review your investment portfolio and make any necessary adjustments. Here are the 10 things I check every year: 1. Write down your planned asset allocation 2. Compare your actual allocation to your plan 3. Evaluate individual holdings 4. Evaluate your asset location 5. Confirm you have beneficiaries listed for each account 6. Check your performance for t...

Welcome to this week's edition of Five Question Friday. Here are the questions we'll be covering today: 1. Should you include the value of your home in your asset allocation? 2. Should we tilt our portfolio to 10% SCV? 3. After-Tax Asset allocation 4. Tips Ladders vs ETFs: If for example we had 500k for our fixed assets portion of our portfolio, what are your thoughts on building multipl...

Morningstar recently released its annual State of Retirement Income report. According to its calculations, the new safe withdrawal rate is 3.7%. The report offers some excellent data and analysis that can help us as we build our retirement income strategy. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

Over the past four years I've received tens of thousands of questions about investing from viewers. I've assembled 9 of the most frequently asked questions in this video. Here they are: 1. Should you pay off debt or start investing? 2. How do I get started investing? 3. Is 100% stocks a reasonable portfolio? 4. S&P 500 vs Total Stock Market Index 5. Why do I need international stocks...

Welcome back to another edition of Five Question Friday. For this FQF, we cover the following five questions: 1. Should we wait to invest until stock valuations come down? 2. Does it matter if we pay the tax on a Roth conversion from a taxable account? 3. Are dividend stock ETFs a reasonable alternative to bonds? 4. Why is the 3 bucket portfolio so popular? 5. Should are planned spending in retire...

Do retirement planning tools calculate the same chance of success if given the same retirement plan? That's what I wanted to know, so I compared Boldin, Pralana and ProjectionLab. The results shocked me. Boldin: https://go.robberger.com/new-retireme... Pralana: https://go.robberger.com/pralana/yt-c... ProjectionLab: https://go.robberger.com/projectionla... Join the Newsletter. It's Free:...

In this Five Question Friday (FQF), we'll be tackling the following viewer questions: 1. Is a 100% stock portfolio the best option during retirement? 2. How does the 5-year rule on Roth conversions work? 3. Should long-term investors invest in bonds? 4. How do backdoor Roth IRA conversions work? 5. What are my favorite personal finance books to give as gifts during the holidays? Resources Men...