The Rob Berger Show – Details, episodes & analysis

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?

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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?

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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...

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Many things change when we retire. There’s the obvious change–we stop working. And there’s a less obvious change–how we approach cash.

Before retirement, we might have an emergency fund of three to six months’ worth of living expenses. After retirement, we need cash for so much more. The ideal cash reserve depends on individual circumstances, including income stability, potential emergencies, and comfort level during market volatility.

In this episode, I’ll walk through the seven main reasons retirees hold cash. For each, we’ll look at how much cash one should have for each reason and the type of account best suited to hold the cash.

You enter your income, expenses, investments, and liabilities into your favorite retirement planner. You click a button, the software does some kind of calculation, and out pops a single number.

It may be 87%. Maybe it’s 72%. Or it could be 15%. Whatever the number, you’re told it represents your retirement plan’s “Chance of Success.”

What exactly does that mean? How is it calculated? And what “Chance of Success” should you aim for? We’ll tackle these and other questions in this video.

You'll find my article on this topic as well as links to the tools I use in this video in this article: https://robberger.com/decoding-the-ch...

The treasury department released the new I Bond rates today. They came in at 4.28%, which included a fixed rate of 1.30%, unchanged from the previous six months. https://treasurydirect.gov/savings-bo...

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Several years ago, I stumbled upon a quote from Dave Ramsey about credit card rewards. I’ll never forget those 11 words. :

“No one ever says they got rich off of credit card points.”

As I read his words, I knew immediately that he was wrong. One could build wealth through credit card rewards. In this sense, credit card rewards aren’t special. Saving and investing small amounts of money from any source over time will turn into piles of cash. We just need to allow compounding to work its magic.

It was then that the idea of Rewards Stacking was born. Over the past four years, we’ve saved and invested all our credit card rewards. Our balance now stands at $37,834.55.

While that doesn’t make us rich (yet), it’s an impressive sum, particularly when you consider that it required no sacrifice on our part. It wasn’t about cutting back or working harder—just saving and investing the free money credit card issuers send us every month.

In this video, I’ll share exactly how we did it and, more importantly, how you can do it, too.

Rewards Stacking: https://www.allcards.com/rewards-stac...
Robinhood Gold Card (Referral Link): https://robinhood.com/creditcard/?ref...

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In this episode, we'll look at three of the largest investing platforms, Fidelity, Vanguard, and Schwab. I'll share 7 things based on using these platforms for 20+ years.

Robinhood is promoting up to a 3% match on IRA contributions, and for a limited time, a 3% match on IRA transfers. A viewer asked me if I thought this was a good deal. In this video I'll share my thoughts on the program, some of the things to look out for, and why I ultimately decided not to transfer my IRAs to Robinhood.


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Retirement isn't always a sunny walk in the park. While I have no regrets that I retired in my 50s, it hasn't been without its challenges. Here are 7 lessons learned after four years of retirement.

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