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 la…

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…

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…

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 in…

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/rocke…

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…

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, wh…

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…

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…

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/project…

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 giv…

In this week's Five Question Friday, we look at several important retirement planning questions: 0:00 - Intro 0:45 - Should our asset allocation change if we have a much younger spouse? 7:45 - Should a pension represent the bond portion of a portfolio? 10:30 - What types of ETFs should go in taxable accounts versus retirement accounts? 14:13 - Shou…

I've been using Pralana Online over the past month. It's a retirement planning tool that, for a long time, was available as a spreadsheet. It's now available as an online app. In this video, I take a high-level look at Pralana and compare it to Boldin, formerly New Retirement. Pralana: https://go.robberger.com/pralana/yt-p... Boldin: https://go.rob…

One of my favorite tools, Portfolio Visualizer, just launched a new design. In this video, I'll show you how to navigate the changes. Unfortunately, one change is to limit the amount of backtesting data you have access to in the free version. I'll show you a free alternative. Portfolio Visualizer: https://www.portfoliovisualizer.com/ Test Folio: ht…

Welcome to the first episode of Five Question Friday (FQF). I'll answer five questions from past live shows that we didn't get to. Today, we're covering the following questions: 1. Is the 6% Rule on Lump Sum vs Pension Reasonable? 2. What will my stock/bond allocation be when I reach 65? 3. How do you decide between a Roth Conversion and 0% Capital…

Vanguard has reached a proposed settlement in the class action lawsuit related to the 2021 distribution of capital gains in its target date retirement funds. Here's how much each claimant may be entitled to receive. Proposed Vanguard Settlement: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1gBIQ... Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newslette…

We can save for retirement through at least four different account types: (1) 401(k) and other workplace retirement accounts, (2) IRAs, (3) HSAs, and (4) taxable accounts. Some can also use a mega backdoor Roth 401(k). In this video, I walk through one optimal approach to prioritizing which accounts to contribute to first. Here's a related article …

A TIPS ladder is just one way to generate income during retirement. We'll look at two scenarios where a TIPS ladder may make sense, and then discuss the pros and cons. TIPS Ladder: https://www.tipsladder.com/ Four Easy Steps to Build a TIPS Ladder: https://www.advisorperspectives.com/a... Schwab Annuity Pricing Tool: https://www.schwab.com/annuitie…

When evaluating fees charged by investment advisors, should we look only at the actual dollars spent, or should we evaluate the long-term effect these fees have on our wealth? That's the question I address in this video. Kitces Article: https://www.kitces.com/blog/financial... My Response: https://robberger.com/how-should-we-e... Hourly and Flat Ra…

Vanguard has announced that it is selling 280,000 small business retirement plans to Ascensus. The transaction covers individual 401(k) plans, sometimes called Solo 401(k)s, Multi-SEP IRAs, and Simple IRAs, but not individual SEP IRAs. Here's my take on what's going on, your options, and what this means for Vanguard. Press Release: https://www.prne…

In brief remarks, Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell all but took an interest rate cut in the near term off the table. In doing so, he taught us a very important lesson about investing. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...Av Rob Berger

Fidelity recently disclosed that its computer systems were breached and that the personal data of more than 77,000 customers were accessed. here's what happened and some ways we can protect ourselves. News of hack: https://www.investmentnews.com/indust... Massachusetts: https://www.mass.gov/doc/data-breach-... Maine: https://www.maine.gov/agviewer/…

Does the 4% Rule apply in the same way to tax-deferred, tax-free, and taxable accounts? And how should one consider the different tax treatments of these accounts when coming up with a safe spending plan in retirement? I'll cover these questions in today's video. Bengen's 1996 Paper: https://www.financialplanningassociat... Bengen's 1997 Paper: htt…

Today, the top 10 companies in the S&P 500 Index account for more than 33% of the index. That's the largest concentration we've seen in 50 years. In this video we'll cover three things: 1. Just how significant is the concentration? 2. Does it tell us anything about future returns? 3. What, if anything, should we do about the concentration. Join the…

Our retirement plan's chance of success depends a lot on assumptions we make about future investment returns. In this video, I walk through my approach to this issue. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...Av Rob Berger

In this video, we'll discuss how to optimize the tax efficiency of your retirement withdrawals. New Retirement: https://go.robberger.com/new-retireme... Many retirees have up to three account types: taxable, tax-deferred (e.g., traditional IRA), and tax-free (Roth IRA or HSA). The conventional wisdom tells us to spend the taxable accounts first, th…

A viewer named Bill emailed me today about the bucket strategy. He has watched my videos on the bucket strategy and understands why I don't recommend it. He wants to know if the traditional approach of a total return portfolio with annual rebalancing negates the sequence of returns risk. It's a great question, and I share my perspective in today's …

Today we look at the 8 crucial differences between interest and dividends. We'll also look at how one should think about interest and dividends when using the 4% Rule of retirement spending. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...Av Rob Berger

Andy Panko, CFP, joins us to help answer your questions about retirement planning and taxes. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm... Join Andy's Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/retirementplanningeducation Check Out Andy's Website: https://retirementplanningeducation.com/ Listen to Andy's Podcast Reti…

With the launch of Bitcoin Spot ETFs, investors now have a safe, low-cost way to own Bitcoin. In this video, we'll look at some examples of these new ETFs, and then I'll make the strongest case I can in favor of adding Bitcoin to an asset allocation portfolio. Then I'll share how I'm approaching Bitcoin and why. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: http…

Roth IRAs are best known for tax-free spending in retirement. What many don't know, however, is that if you make a mistake with a Roth IRA, you could end up owing taxes or a 10% penalty on some of your withdrawals. In this video, we'll walk through how to avoid these Roth IRA tax traps. We'll cover the two 5-year rules of Roth IRAs, the ordering ru…

Several weeks ago some reported what has been called the Chase Glitch. The glitch allowed people to deposit bogus checks at Chase ATM's and then immediately withdraw the funds. That glitch has now moved to Fidelity, where some have tried depositing bogus checks via Fidelity's mobile app, and then immediately taking out the money. In response, Fidel…

Today, we look at five apps you can use to track your investments. Three of them are free, and two are paid. All of them are excellent tools depending on the features you want. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...Av Rob Berger

Yesterday the Fed lowered the Fed Funds rate by 1/2 of a percent. The prime rate followed, going from 8.5% to 8.0%. Rates on everything from credit cards to savings accounts to CDs also went down. And the rates on bonds and mortgages continued to decline. Given all of this, where are the best places to keep your cash? The Fed's Statement: https://w…

While stock market returns get most of the attention when it comes to retirement portfolios, we should be equally concerned with inflation. In this video, I walk through how to incorporate inflation assumptions into a retirement plan using New Retirement planning software. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...…

New Retirement (Boldin): https://robberger.com/new-retirement New Retirement, which just changed its name to Boldin, has launched a new feature that makes it easy to customize the order of accounts you use to fund your retirement. In this video, we'll look at the new feature and some advanced strategies on how to use it. Join the Newsletter. It's F…

When to claim Social Security benefits is one of the most critical questions we'll answer in retirement. In this video, we'll look at the 3 most common strategies and a framework for making a decision. We'll cover strategies if you never been married, married, divorced or widowed. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?ut…

The stock market has declined so far today, with the S&P 500 down more than 3% as I type these words. So I thought I'd share my perspective about what's going on. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...Av Rob Berger

Today we take a deep dive into a Backdoor Roth IRA. This strategy enables high-income earners to get money into a Roth IRA. We'll walk through what you need to know, and crunch some numbers to see if a Backdoor Roth IRA is worth the hassle. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...…

It can be scary for retirees to invest in the stock market. At the same time, investing in just fixed income can expose us to the risk of running out of money. So in this episode I walk through 8 things to consider if you are nervous about investing in stocks. New Retirement: https://go.robberger.com/new-retireme... Join the Newsletter. It's Free: …

In this episode, we'll examine how to retire before taking Social Security. This is an ideal strategy for many to maximize Social Security retirement benefits. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...Av Rob Berger

This is a follow-up to my episode on Dave Ramsey's belief that retirees can start with an 8% withdrawal rate, adjust the amount each year by inflation, and be perfectly fine in retirement. The problem that Dave seems to have overlooked is what is known as sequence of returns risk. In his analysis, he uses average market returns and average inflatio…

Target date retirement funds are a simple solution to save for retirement. But what about once you retire? Are there single-fund solutions you can use for all of your investments once you retire? This episode will look at several options for one-fund investments in retirement. Keep in mind that these funds are best suited for tax-advantaged account…

With the passing of Charlie Munger at the age of 99, I thought it appropriate to share 5 things I've learned from him over the years. Poor Charlie's Almanack: https://amzn.to/4a1JF63 Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...Av Rob Berger

In many couples, one person handles the money and the other thinks as little as possible about it. That's certainly true with my wife. To help her, should I pass away, I created what I call the Blue Binder. To supplement the binder, I've started creating videos where I share my computer screen and walk through our finances. This allows me to show h…

Change is everywhere: AI, the climate, interest rates, global conflict, and inflation, to name a few. So often, investors try to predict where all this craziness will take us so they can position their portfolio. Perhaps a better question to ask is what isn't going to change. Here are 7 timeless truths about successful investing that apply no matte…

The new Secure Act 2.0 introduced the IRA Gift Annuity starting this year. It allows you to make a one-time charitable contribution out of an IRA for as much as $50,000 and get monthly income for life. Join the newsletter: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...Av Rob Berger

So you've been using an investment advisor to manage your investments. They have your money in 10, 15, 20 or even more funds! And you start to wonder just how the performance of this absurd portfolio compares to a simple, 2, 3 or perhaps 4 fund portfolio. Here's how to evaluate your advisor's portfolio with a free tool. Join the newsletter: https:/…