In today's Five Question Friday (FQF) we'll tackle the following questions: 1. Is now a good time to change your asset allocation? 2. Do target date funds force you to sell stocks in a down market? 3. Does the IRS treat the withdrawal of dividends as taking out earnings or contributions from a Roth IRA? 4. Is an 80% Chance of Success in Retirement …

In this video, I'll run down several high-yield options for your cash. I'll also discuss where we are keeping our cash today. Bank Bonuses: https://www.allcards.com/best-bank-bo... CD Rates: https://www.allcards.com/cd-rates/ Savings Rates: https://www.allcards.com/savings-acco... No-Penalty CD Rates: https://www.allcards.com/no-penalty-c... Vangua…

The Center for Retirement Research at Boston College recently surveyed financial advisors, asking what the major risks were to their clients' retirement. In this video, we'll look at the top 5 risks financial advisors identified, and compare them to the five biggest risks according to retirees. Here's the study: https://crr.bc.edu/wp-content/upload…

Here are today's Five Question Friday (FQF): 1. Are financial apps safe? 2. Can you help me understand the risk of bonds? 3. How are mutual fund dividends taxed? 4. How should we think about annuities for retirement income? 5. Does Ben Felix hate index funds? Ben Felix video: • The Problem With Index Funds Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://ro…

Here are the five questions we'll cover in this week's edition of Five Question Friday: 1. Is now a good time to do a Roth conversion? (John) 2. Mutual Funds vs ETFs (Shane) 3. Should we invest more in international stocks? (Phil) 4. Is Gold a hedge against inflation? (Cathy) 5. Has 2025 wrecked our retirement plans? (Doug) Resources Boldin: https:…

Welcome to another edition of Five Question Friday (FQF). We actually have 6 questions today plus a free investment tracking tool: 1. Do I send Facebook friend requests to viewers? 2. Is this a good time to start investing? 3. Is rebalancing in volatile times just market timing? 4. If following the 4% rule, should the amount you pay in taxes be inc…

A viewer named John emailed me the following question: "I'm planning to build a 5yr TIPS ladder to provide some inflation protected income in the years before Medicare and SS. How do I model that "account" in Boldin??" It's a great question, and it gives us the opportunity to look at an often overlooked feature of retirement planning software--pens…

Here are the questions for this week's Five Question Friday (FQF): 1. Are savings accounts better than bond funds? 2. Can you please explain nominal and real returns? 3. Does it matter if the market is up or down if you do a Roth conversion? 4. Will I be taxed twice on reinvested dividends? 5. Do you really need more than one broker? Bonus Question…

Choosing between traditional and Roth 401k contributions is difficult. It forces us to make a guess about our taxes years or even decades from now. In this video, we'll discuss some of the factors that can affect this decision. And then, I'll share one strategy that may make the decision much easier. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberge…

Welcome to another edition of Five Question Friday (FQF). Here are the five questions we'll cover: 1. Will fake inflation data destroy TIPS? 2. How should a pension affect your asset allocation? 3. Do advisors really add 3% to your returns? 4. TIPS Ladder vs TIPS Fund 5. Investing in a Roth vs Traditional Retirement Account Join the Newsletter. It'…

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:/…

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?…

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…

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/newslet…

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 …

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/ukn…

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 I…

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 …

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 i…

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/s…

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...Rob Berger tarafından oluşturuldu

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...Rob Berger tarafından oluşturuldu

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…