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, ...

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

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 Security: https://opensocialsecurity.com/ FI Calc: https://ficalc.app/ Boldin: https://go.robberger.c...

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.ftc.gov/scams ReportFraud.ftc.gov — If you encounter a scam, report it here to help law enforcement ...

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. Really make the dashboard really pretty. Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsl...

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 market is at record highs? Resources From Video Budgeting Apps: https://robberger.com/best-budgeting-... Monarch Money: htt...