The Rob Berger Show

In this 2025 Year-End Investment Portfolio Review we cover the following topics:

1. Asset Allocation
    a. Diversification / changes
    b. Rebalancing
2. Simplification
3. Beneficiaries
4. Performance
5. Tax Loss or Gain Harvesting
6. Fees
    a. Fund fees
    b. Advisor fees
7. Evaluate Your Performance
    a. Did you buy/sell anything
    b. What worried you during the ye...

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

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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 ...

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 Treasur...

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?
 ...

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...

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....

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: ...

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...

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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

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://ww...

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 retire...

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 qu...

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 ...

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?

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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...

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 strat...

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?