The Rob Berger Show

In today's Five Question Friday (FQF) video, we look at these five topics: 1. 10% yield on bonds 2. Where to hold bonds 3. Co-signing a mortgage 4. Paying taxes on a Roth conversion 5. Asset allocation of real estate investments Bonus: Cost of long-term care calculator Resources: https://www.carescout.com/cost-of-care Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

In today's Five Question Friday (FQF) video, we look at these five questions: 1. Have we been lied to about our Social Security break-even age? 2. Is it ok to restart the 4% rule if the market goes up in early retirement? 3. I am nervous about the run up in AI stocks . . . Could it be a good idea to consider diversifying from VTI to an “equal-weighted index fund like Invesco S&P Equal Weight ETF or others like it? 4. I’m 64 and I would like to begin annual Roth conversions from my traditional IRA’s. Can you review the rules surrounding these conversions in one’s retirement years? I would like to know how soon I can withdraw converted funds and their associated earnings penalty free and tax free. 5. You’ve mentioned in the past that you transitioned from a six-fund portfolio to a simpler three-fund setup. I’m curious — was that change mainly about reducing complexity and streamlining your investments, or did it reflect a stage of investment maturity and confidence in a more minimalist approach? Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

In today's Five Question Friday (FQF) video, we cover these questions: 1. How to invest $15 million? 2. For the 4% withdrawal rate devised by Bill Bengen, what measure of inflation did he use? Are there other measures that you think might be more appropriate? 3. If you have a retirement portfolio with a 6% yield does the 4% rule apply? 4. Is a 7-year MYGA a better deal than a 7-year Treasury? 5. If the yield from a High Yield Savings account is paying out 3.8 to 4.0%, why would it ever be a good investment to buy bonds or bond ETFs with their recent volatility? Bonus Question: Can you explain more about your choice to practice Bikram Yoga over other types of Yoga? Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

In today's Five Question Friday (FQF) video, we cover this questions: 1. Can you recommend a detailed tax estimator? 2. How to plan Roth conversions without a fancy retirement planner? 3. Should you pay off a mortgage early or invest the money? 4. Are identity theft protection services worth the cost? 5. How does reinvesting vs spending dividends affect return assumptions for retirement planning? Resources 2025 Tax Calculator: https://www.efile.com/tax-return-calc... *Note*: eFile is still updating some aspects of the calculator for 2025 tax laws. Boldin: https://go.robberger.com/boldin/yt-fqf Vanguard Roth Conversion Calculator: https://advisors.vanguard.com/tax-cen... Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

Get free guidance on Medicare from Chapter, a company I've partnered with, by calling 410-220-5494. If you call Chapter, please let me know about your experience. It's Not That Complicated https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hqs4v7wLCjhh5ohWVVSNTs2HsGz9nufD/view Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

In this episode, we'll walk through resources you can use to get free help with Medicare. The Resources are broken into three categories: 1. Free online educational content 2. Free Medicare guidance from SHIP 3. Free Medicare guidance from insurance brokers Resources Medicare: https://www.medicare.gov/ CMS: https://www.cms.gov/ KFF: https://www.kff.org/topic/medicare/ SHIP: https://www.shiphelp.org/ JAMA Study on SHIP: https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jama... Chapter: 410-220-5494 Federal Lawsuit: https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/139... Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm... Get free guidance on Medicare from Chapter, a company I've partnered with, by calling 410-220-5494. If you call Chapter, please let me know about your experience.

In this episode, we'll walk through the key differences and pros and cons of Original Medicare vs Medicare Advantage plans. Resources It's Not That Complicated (pdf): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hqs4... Medicare & You 2026 (pdf): https://www.medicare.gov/publications... 2025 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-she... Medicare Part A Costs: https://www.medicare.gov/basics/costs... Medigap Plans: https://www.medicare.gov/health-drug-... KFF Medigap Article: https://www.kff.org/medicare/key-fact... Compare Medicare Plans: https://www.medicare.gov/plan-compare... Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm... Get free guidance on Medicare from Chapter, a company I've partnered with, by calling 410-220-5494. If you call Chapter, please let me know about your experience.

In this episode, we'll walk through 7 things you must know about Medicare's annual open enrollment period. Resources It's Not That Complicated (pdf): https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Hqs4... Medicare & You 2026 (pdf): https://www.medicare.gov/publications... 2025 Medicare Parts A & B Premiums and Deductibles: https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-she... Medicare Part A Costs: https://www.medicare.gov/basics/costs... Medigap Plans: https://www.medicare.gov/health-drug-... KFF Medigap Article: https://www.kff.org/medicare/key-fact... Can I Change Medigap Plans? https://www.medicare.gov/health-drug-... Compare Medicare Plans: https://www.medicare.gov/plan-compare... Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm... Get free guidance on Medicare from Chapter, a company I've partnered with, by calling 410-220-5494. If you call Chapter, please let me know about your experience.

A viewer asked me to suggest some tools he could use to evaluate his investment portfolio and asset allocation. So in this video we looked at three of my favorite investment tools: 1. Empower: https://go.robberger.com/empower/yt-3... 2. Kubera: https://go.robberger.com/kubera/yt-3-... 3. Google Sheets: https://robberger.com/investment-trac... Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

In today's Five Question Friday (FQF) video, we cover the following questions: 1. What are the best finance apps for those with a learning disability? 2. Is 3% SWR the new 4%? 3. How do you model tax-free income in Boldin? 4. In what account type should you hold cash you plan to spend in the first few years of retirement? 5. What inflation rate should you assume in retirement? Resources Monarch Money: https://go.robberger.com/monarch-yt/y... (Use Promo Code ROB50 for 50% off the first year) Simplifi: https://go.robberger.com/simplifi/yt-fqf Boldin: https://go.robberger.com/boldin/yt-fqf Fidelity article: https://www.fidelity.com/learning-cen... Shiller PE: https://www.multpl.com/shiller-pe Kitces article: https://www.kitces.com/blog/the-ratch... Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

In today's video, we discuss how Income-Related Monthly Adjustment Amount (IRMAA) payments are calculated and 8 strategies to reduce or even eliminate the payments. Resources from the Video Reddit Forum Post: / strategies_to_reduce_irmaa_costs_medicare 2025 IRMAA Brackets: https://www.humana.com/medicare/medic... IRMAA MAGI Calculation: https://secure.ssa.gov/poms.nsf/lnx/0... SSA-44 Form: https://www.ssa.gov/forms/ssa-44.pdf Boldin: https://go.robberger.com/boldin/yt-irmma ProjectionLab: https://go.robberger.com/projectionla... Join the Newsletter to get a 10% discount code off of ProjectionLab: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

In today's Five Question Friday (FQF), we cover five great questions and one tax calculator: 1. What is the Tax Triangle? (Traditional, Roth, and taxable accounts) 2. Is the Withdrawal Amount in FICalc the same as spending? 3. When should you sell an investment that's at a loss? 4. How far into the future should we plan? 5. When and how quickly should you change asset allocation as you near retirement? Tool: Retirement Tax-Friendly States: https://smartasset.com/retirement/ret... Resources Blackrock Asset Return Map: https://www.blackrock.com/corporate/i... FICalc: https://ficalc.app/ Boldin: https://go.robberger.com/boldin/yt-fqf Perplexity Result: https://www.perplexity.ai/search/what... Perplexity Tax Triangle: https://www.perplexity.ai/search/what... Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

A viewer recently asked about bracket filling: "I haven't heard you or other financial advisors say much about "bracket filling" in retirement. Is it reasonable to think that in retirement I should be filling a tax bracket up with pre-tax accounts, then using after-tax accounts for withdrawals that reach into the higher bracket? Is there a way to model this in Bolden?" It's a great question that we cover in this video. Resources Mentioned in Video Boldin: https://go.robberger.com/boldin/yt-EN... Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

The passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act has brought us a number of changes to the tax laws. Some changes are "permanent," meaning it would take an act of Congress and the President to change them. Some are "temporary," meaning they expire at some point in the future. Almost all of them can affect how we plan for retirement, particularly when it comes to Roth conversion strategies, tax-gain harvesting, and even traditional retirement account distributions. In this video, I walk through the key tax provisions of the OBBBA, and then cover how they may affect retirement planning. NOTE: ProjectionLab has updated its software to account for the OBBBA tax changes https://robberger.com/tools/projectio... Resources Andy Panko's article: https://static.twentyoverten.com/5d25... U.S. Bank Tax Bracket article: https://www.usbank.com/wealth-managem... Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

Here are the five questions we cover this week in Five Question Friday: 1. Should we park cash in a money market fund or a t-bill ETF? 2. Are Robo-Advisor Tax-Loss harvesting features worth it? 3. What is the Retirement Spending Smile? 4. What rate of return assumption should you use in retirement planning software? 5. Which IRA account types can be combined? Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

In today's Five Question Friday we look at the following questions: 1. How should the $6,000 senior deduction affect Roth conversions? 2. Are short-term bonds a reasonable alternative to intermediate-term bonds? 3. Are tax-managed balanced funds ok in a taxable account? 4. How should I invest money I'll use to pay the rent in retirement? 5. Boldin vs ProjectionLab for Roth conversion analysis?Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

One of the challenges of the 4% Rule is what your initial safe withdrawal rate should be. While the name of the rule suggests one should start with 4%, there are countless reasons why that start point may not be right for you. For example, you may retiree early, you may not use the same asset allocation the rule was based on, you may have concerns about future stock market returns, inflation or both. Enter withdrawal strategies that don't require you to use 4% or any other initial safe withdrawal rate. In this video we'll look at three such strategies: 1. Variable Withdrawal Percentage 2. Spend Safely in Retirement Strategy 3. Chance of Success Strategy Resources mentioned in the video FICalc: https://ficalc.app/ Empower: https://go.robberger.com/empower/yt-3... Boldin: https://go.robberger.com/boldin/yt-3-... VWP Article & Spreadsheet: https://www.bogleheads.org/wiki/Varia... Spend Safely in Retirement Article: https://robberger.com/spend-safely-in... Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

In today's Five Question Friday (FQF), we look at the following questions: 1. TIPS Funds vs Individual TIPS--which provides the better inflation protection? 2. Is a 4% withdrawal each year with no inflation adjustment a reasonable withdrawal strategy? 3. Can tax loss harvesting reduce IRMAA payments? 4. How can you estimate the annual income of an investment portfolio? 5. How do I track my net worth? Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

We look at the following questions in today's Five Question Friday: 1. Are growth stocks best for Roth IRAs? 2. How should you pay taxes on retirement account withdrawals? 3. How should you invest in retirement if you are scared of the stock market? 4. What's the ideal set-it-and-forget-it retirement portfolio? 5. Should you withdrawal cash from investment accounts to create an emergency fund? Schwab RMD article: https://www.schwab.com/go-digital/rmd Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...

In today's Five Question Friday video we cover these questions: 1. Why has Bill Bengen gone from 4% to 5%? 2. Is it ok to put Social Security bridge money in a money market fund? 3. How do Fidelity's Zero Funds compare to Vanguard Index Funds? 4. Should cash count towards your asset allocation? 5. Should you convert Vanguard Mutual Funds to ETFs? Join the Newsletter. It's Free: https://robberger.com/newsletter/?utm...