The Rob Berger Show

Latest Episodes:

RBS 262: The Best Finance Tools for Retirees (FQF) Oct 02, 2026

Show notes

In today's Five Question Friday (FQF) video, we look at these five questions:
1. What are the best financial tools for retirees?
2. What happens if my HSA balance exceeds my medical receipts?
3. Do dividends count toward my annual withdrawal rate?
4. Should the way we invest change when we retire?
5. Why does Warren Buffett think cash and bonds are bad investments?
Resources
Budget Apps: https://robberger.com/best-budgeting-...
Retirement Planners: https://robberger.com/best-retirement...
Boldin: https://go.robberger.com/boldin/yt-fqf
ProjectionLab: https://go.robberger.com/projectionla...
Empower: https://go.robberger.com/empower/yt-fqf
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RBS 261: Why VTI Will Own SpaceX Long Before the S&P 500 Does Sep 29, 2026

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After recording this video, the S&P Dow Jones decided not to change its rules related to Megacap companies. As a result, SpaceX must wait at least a year to join the S&P 500 index, and maybe longer thanks to profitability requirement: https://www.youtube.com/live/PUhK1c0MSVQ
Resources:
CRSP Total US Market: https://www.crsp.org/crsp-market-inde...
Nasdaq-100: https://indexes.nasdaqomx.com/docs/20...
S&P 500: https://www.spglobal.com/spdji/en/doc...
SpaceX Form S/1: https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/da...
Morningstar Article: https://www.morningstar.com/stocks/ho...
Investment News Article: https://www.investmentnews.com/practi...
**Elon Musk is preparing to take SpaceX public around June 12th**, and many investors are worried about how this massive IPO will impact their index funds. In this video, we break down exactly when SpaceX will enter major indexes, how index rules have recently changed, and whether you need to adjust your investment strategy.
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RBS 260: How to Overcome the Fear of Retirement (FQF) Sep 04, 2026

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RBS 259: We Saved Three Million. Our Advisor Said We Should Be Worried Sep 01, 2026

Show notes

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/
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RBS 258: Has AI Changed the Stock Market for Good? (FQF) Aug 28, 2026

Show notes

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: Can you build a fixed 50/50 portfolio by splitting money between Vanguard's 40/60 and 60/40 LifeStrategy funds?
Resources mentioned in the episode:
Schwab on the Roth 5-year rules: https://www.schwab.com/learn/story/wh...
IRS Publication 502 (Medical and Dental Expenses): https://www.irs.gov/publications/p502
Vanguard LifeStrategy Funds: https://investor.vanguard.com/investm...
Boldin (retirement planner): https://go.robberger.com/boldin/yt-fq...
ProjectionLab: https://go.robberger.com/projectionla...
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RBS 257: Are Bonds Dead in 2026? Aug 25, 2026

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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.
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RBS 256: 5 Ways to Optimize Your Retirement Plan (and Pay Less in Taxes) Aug 18, 2026

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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.
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RBS 255: Warning: Don't Fall For This 'Rob Berger' Scam Aug 11, 2026

Show notes

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:
rob@robberger.com
If you receive an unexpected email from another address claiming to be me, it is not me. I will not track down your email from a YouTube comment. I will not send you an unsolicited investment opportunity. I will not ask you to move a conversation to WhatsApp, Telegram, the phone, or any other messaging app.
The purpose of this video is simple: be careful, check the sender, and do not reply to these messages. If you receive one from a Gmail account, you can report it to Google. I included the reporting link below.
Resources mentioned in the video:
Gmail abuse report form: https://support.google.com/mail/conta...
Gmail phishing help: https://support.google.com/mail/answe...
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RBS 254: Is The Market Too Expensive To Invest? Aug 07, 2026

Show notes

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 10% discount code for ProjectionLab
Shiller CAPE ratio: https://www.multpl.com/shiller-pe
SGOV (iShares 0-3 Month Treasury ETF): https://www.ishares.com/us/products/3...
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RBS 253: Bonds vs. Bond Funds: Does Holding to Maturity Actually Protect You? Aug 04, 2026

Show notes

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 when interest rates change.
Then I look at how the funds actually did. Vanguard's Total Bond Market (BND) and an iShares 7-10 year Treasury ETF both got hit hard in 2022.
Next we look at a single 10-year Treasury from the start of 2022, the kind you can hold to maturity, and track what really happened to it once you factor in inflation.
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