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: Can you use traditional IRA funds to pay for long-term care and deduct the cost? Question 5: ...

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 2026. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

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://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

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. My only real email address is: [email protected] If you receive an unexpected email from anot...

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.robberger.com/projectionla... Note: if you subscribe to my free newsletter (link below), be sure to use the 1...

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 between a bond's maturity and its duration. Duration is what tells us how much a bond or a bond fund moves ...

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 AI? Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

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/?utm...

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 bonds, will RMDs force you to sell bonds when they're down? Question 4: If you're over 59 1/2, ...