The Rob Berger Show

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RBS 061: Case Study: How Investment Advisor Fees Can Cost us $500,000 (or more) Aug 01, 2022

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Personal Capital (Investment Tracking, Retirement Planning): https://robberger.com/go/personal-cap...
Today we look at a portfolio constructed by an investment advisor. This is a person who has a fiduciary obligation to act in the best interest of their clients. The result? I high fee portfolio on top of the 1% advisor fee. As you'll see, this portfolio could easily cost an investor $500,000 or more in lost wealth.
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RBS 060: Claim Social Security at 62 and Invest the Money--Good or Bad Idea? Jul 29, 2022

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Several viewers have recently asked me whether it makes sense to claim social security at 62 if you plan to invest the money. At first, it seems like a solid strategy. While your monthly benefit will be lower, you get years of investment returns you'd otherwise forfeit.
It turns out, however, that the issue is a bit more complex. First, depending on your investment returns, claiming social security at 62 may or may not turn out in your favor.
The arguably more important issue, however, is taxes. Claiming social security at 62 could affect everything from how much your social security benefits are taxed to IRMAA premiums or ACA credits. It could also affect a Roth conversion strategy.
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RBS 059: Conversation with the Father of the Bucket Strategy--Harold Evensky Jul 27, 2022

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Sallie Mae 2.20% No-Penalty CD: https://www.allcards.com/best-savings...
Personal Capital Tesla Promotion: https://robberger.com/go/personal-cap...
Today we have the pleasure of speaking with Harold Evensky, the father of the Bucket Strategy.
Here are some resources from the show:
--Mr. Evensky's newsletter: https://evensky.com/resources/
--His most recent newsletter: https://files.myprimitive.cloud/uploa...
--His book (free on Kindle): https://www.amazon.com/Hello-Harold-V...
And some of his published papers:
--Modern Fool’s Gold: Alpha in Recessions: http://www.empirical.net/wp-content/u...
--The Efficacy of Publicly Available Retirement Planning Tools: https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.c...
--The Benefits of a Cash Reserve Strategy in Retirement Distribution Planning:

RBS 058: Defensive Investing--How to Prepare for a Market Crash (In Advance) Jul 25, 2022

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Defensive Investing--How to Prepare for a Market Crash (In Advance)
With stocks, bonds and real estate at all-time highs, it's just a matter of time before we see a market correction, or worse. It doesn't help that our government is borrowing trillions of dollars, funded by a Fed who is buying bonds.
The question for investors is whether we should make changes to our portfolio today in preparation for the coming crash. If we should make changes, what should they be and when should we make them? And then there's the question of when we reverse any changes we make.
In this video we look at a Morningstar study on the diversification benefits of various asset classes based on their performance in past market crashes.
Morningstar Study: https://www.morningstar.com/content/d...
#RobBerger #marketcrash #investing

RBS 057: Fidelity Contrafund Review | Growth vs Value | Active vs Passive Investing Jul 22, 2022

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The Fidelity Contrafund (FCNTX) is a popular growth stock fund. In this video we take a deep dive on the fund to see if it's worth adding to our investment portfolio. In the process we'll look at growth vs value stock investing, active vs passive funds, and how to evaluate a fund's performance.
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RBS 056: Fidelity ZERO Funds--Free, But Are They Worth the Cost? Jul 20, 2022

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Fidelity launched its ZERO index funds in 2018 to much fanfare. As their names suggest, these funds carry no expense ratios, a first in the industry.
As great as a “free” mutual fund may sound, however, many wonder whether there is a catch. Recently a viewer named Samir asked the following questions:
"Could you please share your thoughts on Fidelity ZERO funds vs their fee based funds?Fidelity ZERO International Index Fund (FZILX)Fidelity ZERO Total Market Index Fund (FZROX)Fidelity ZERO Large Cap Index Fund (FNILX)Fidelity ZERO Extended Market Index Fund (FZIPX)
Is FNILX + FZIPX = FZROX ?
ZERO funds have no fees, but other than cost, do you see any reason why one should invest in fee based instead of zero funds?
If you could please create video and share your thoughts, that would be very helpful."
Let’s dive into the details to get a better understanding of the Fidelity ZERO funds.

RBS 055: Can You Retire Early With 100% VTI Using the 4% Rule Jul 11, 2022

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A viewer asked whether he could retire at the age of 49 with a 100% portfolio of VTI (Vanguard's total U.S. Stock Index ETF) using the 4% Rule. I think there are at least 3 big concerns with this plan:
1. The 4% rule assumed a 30 year retirement;
2. It found that a 100% stock portfolio could fail a 30 year retirement in some markets
3. A 100% U.S. stock allocation makes a big bet on the U.S. over the next 4 or 5 decades.
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RBS 054: Free Robo Advisors Jul 08, 2022

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Robo-Advisors can be a low cost way to get help with your investments. There are several that I like and have used: https://robberger.com/best-robo-advis...
However, not all automated investing services are created equal. And some that are marketed as "free" actually have some hidden costs. In this video I take a look at SoFi Automated Investing and Schwab's Intelligent Portfolios to undercover the hidden costs in both services.
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RBS 053: How to Respond to a Falling Stock Market _ Live Q&A Jul 06, 2022

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RBS 051: How Many Mutual Funds Should You Own? Jul 01, 2022

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A viewer recently sent me a portfolio with nearly 20 ETFs and mutual funds. She didn't create it. An advisor from a major bank recommended it. Ridiculous.
The truth is that the number of mutual funds you own tells you nothing about how well diversified the portfolio is or what types of investments you have. A single mutual fund can give an investor exposure to U.S. stocks, bonds, international stocks, REITs, and even commodities.
The fewer mutual funds you have, the easier it is to understand and manage your portfolio. This becomes really important when you go to rebalance your investments. It's also critical as you head into retirement and start making withdrawals from you investments each year.
In this video, I explain why for the vast majority of investors, all you need is 3 funds.

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