5 Investing Challenges for 2024 + My Portfolio Review

[@Fiery-Cat-Art]

Love the tagline- “Best thing money can buy is financial freedom.”

[@spyridon7669]

Helpful grammar hint: If you can count them out (1, 2, 3 basis points) you use 'fewer'. If it's non-countable (sugar, inflation) it's 'less'. So you got it right Rob! Your Mom is proud of you, 100%.

[@brianmasiello1002]

Rob, from one FA to another, you are by far the most logical and informed voice on the internet on the topic of investing/financial planning. Keep up the great work!

[@NZEverydayInvestor]

From another FA to another I concur

[@jaymetheaccountant]

Good transparency Rob - practice what you preach. Looking forward to a successful 2024!

[@jamesflick9850]

Thanks Rob, great video. My pre tax portfolio is 60/40 composed of VTI, VXUS , BND and BNDX. I sold all of my individual stocks in favor of this. Promotes lower taxes, massive diversification and low fees. Roth consists of VXUS and VXF. After tax account holds VUG and VTI. My 401 is composed of State Street funds. I will turn 63 in January. Intend on retiring in May of 2025. Great thing is that our SS and pensions will more than cover our expenses.

[@TeaTimeRetirement]

Thanks for sharing what you currently have invested. I think it would be interesting for you to do a video on what funds you would pick if you could start over again.

[@JosephDickson]

As a Boglehead I only need an index card to track my portfolio. 😉

[@Kep19901]

I did some of these a couple days ago to simplify my roth and HSA. Thanks Rob for your help, you're a truth teller.

[@RetireandGo]

This was a great breakdown

[@denniskirschbaum9109]

Thank you, Rob. It was very interesting to see how your investments are allocated and a good reminder that in spite of having an ideal model that we might create if we were designing from the ground up, life gets messy and we end up with investments that we might not buy today, but we can't sell for tax or other reasons. And that is ok! It is the big picture that matters not the tiny details. Your content is always thought provoking and easy to understand while being nuanced. Best wishes for a happy and prosperous new year!

[@dwights1464]

Rob, your mild-mannered video presentations are so great to watch rather than the know-it-all attitudes from so many KZbinrs out there. You also have way more nerve than me as to equity exposure (but I'm 69 and not taking Social Security yet). Did you maintain that equity exposure throughout the 2008-2009 period? If you did, you're much tougher than me!

[@rick_vv7754]

Great that you share your portfolio and allocations and your rational. I have some of the same ETFs. It would be good to see more in terms of asset locations (IRA, ROTH or brokerage) and tax reasons for locations. Since I am in retirement (2.5 years), I prefer not to own individual stocks due to risk management. My only individual stock is from my prior employer options/grants which I am divesting slowly as I manage my taxes and ROTH conversions.

[@RetireandGo]

I also have about 10 percent in cash I’m glad he talked about this I liked this video so much

[@marysjourney2]

Same here, would like to see this.

[@lesliem2041]

Inspired to set my financial planning goals for 2024 now, thank you!

[@melblacke5726]

i follow a few people on youtube and what i like about Rob is that he does an excellent job communicating his points and illustrating his concepts. I also like that he makes his own spreadsheets.

[@bencarter7839]

Your mom is correct. Fewer is used when referring to something in units. Less is used otherwise. Fewer stocks, eggs, marbles, quarts. Less money, oil, water, etc.

[@daveschock4959]

Question for Rob and the group. I'm about a year from retirement. I rebalanced from an 80/20 to 70/30 last September. Instead of buying bonds during the rebalance, I bought a money market fund to ride out the bond market. I assume at some point I should get back into a bond fund. The question I have is how to decide when to switch from my money market fund to the bond fund.

[@davidtvedte1337]

I have managed to keep my overall expense ratio to 2 basis points thanks to index funds. I do have small positions in funds with much higher expense ratios and they are on my list to eliminate. HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!!!

[@hanwagu9967]

I've rethought the whole separate international allocation, simply because your broad based funds have sufficient international exposure. For example, the top 10 holdings in VTI are all international companies, so I think having a separate international allocation means you are overweight there. Even if you consider "domestic" companies, I think what we've seen during COVID with supply chain crunch, China's monopoly on REM processing, etc, even "domestic" companies inherently have international exposure.

[@kg4lzc]

what is REM processing?

[@teresawood6830]

⁠@@kg4lzc Doing the processing in the machine memory (CPU) to be the fastest possible, with less swapping to and from memory on a drive. I think. It should be RAM memory though. REM is rapid eye movement during sleep. 😊

[@Yette]

Rob, really appreciate your theme of simplicity. I don't mean this as criticism but your portfolio is more complex than mine.

[@adopter010]

Challenge #2 is kinda hard if you're like me and going majority small cap value until a certain age. Stuff ain't cheap.

[@evanleventhal]

Hi Rob. If both your VTI and VTSAX are held at Vanguard, then you can do an ETF conversion of mutual funds to ETF for free. By free, I mean without having to sell and incur capital gains. That should help with your consolidation effort. Happy New year!

[@kimappreciateslife]

I believe he uses fidelity.

[@evanleventhal]

​@kimappreciateslife If that is the case then if it's worth the effort, he can transfer the shares to vanguard using ACATS, perform the conversion and transfer them back again using ACATS. Neither brokerage charges fees. The only thing that doesn't transfer is fractional shares. Sounds like a lot of work I know, but it should help clean it up in the long run.

[@teresawood6830]

It can be handy to have the mutual fund because you can trade one for another without a sell / buy gap. Makes more sense in a qualified fund rather than taxable brokerage account.

[@richardm.441]

Excellent video. . Challenge #2 accepted: Your expense ratio (0.03%). I failed challenge #3, since I sold some lower yielding funds ( div yield) for higher yielding funds.

[@1234waveskier]

I tried to use empower, but just couldn’t give a total stranger all my most personal information much less all my investments.

[@lesliem2041]

I feel same way and found a manual input method if you don’t want to link it. Scroll to the bottom of the link page, select more options and then manual. You can put in as much or little info as you want

[@mikesimmel5913]

Rob thanks for sharing your time and expertise. So if I understand you correctly we should be a buy and hold know matter what the market does even if it goes into a correction.

[@teresawood6830]

He and others say it is “time in the market, not timing the market.” Rebalancing through the correction sounds advantageous. But to your plan, and stick to plan.

[@user-pl4eu5jc5w]

I sold to do long term capital gain tax harvesting where I can pay 0% federal tax. (Married filing jointly: Taxable income up to $89,250). Then buy back to different but related fund

[@Lukionest]

Thanks, Rob. Besides your explanation of asset allocation, it would have been nice to better understand your asset location, although you did mention location for a few of the investments. Are all of your bond investments inside an IRA? Maybe knowing the how you control the relative percentage of your taxable, vs. tax deferred (IRA, 401K), vs. tax free (ROTH) would be interesting. I believe you haven't done any major ROTH conversions, which kind of surprises me, considering the sweet spot we are in until the end of the TCJA in 2026.

[@kimappreciateslife]

Good question, I was wondering the same thing Re: asset locations Traditional Ira, Roth, HSA, Taxable…

[@blancaestela4197]

I use Fidelity Index Funds, stocks, bonds and tips. Tried to keep simple but I want to buy two new ones.

[@franjwag]

Thanks Rob. This is very useful. I’m wondering about the safest of linking accounts to Empower.

[@diogenesaraujo6869]

Thanks for your time and for sharing your knowledge and experience. I enormously appreciated it.

[@EBsDenStudio]

Thanks Rob! I think I covered these 5 challenges during 2023, hoping to keep it going for 2024 too 🤓👍🏻 I hope Empower or another tool like that could track non-US investments, but anyway my excel file does the job with some manual effort

[@GeorgeHyland]

Thanks for using “fewer” instead of “less”. Greater and fewer are for things you count, more or less are for things you measure….. at least that is how I think of it. Kudos to your mom.

[@Stashmo]

In that context, “less” may be at least as appropriate.

[@leesmith9299]

can you count the basis points for a fund that charges 4.12564 basis points?

[@noreenn6976]

Thanks for sharing Rob. Happy New Year!

[@TVK830]

As always, very helpful content..thx

[@DavidAdarmases12]

I'm quite sure Berkshire no longer has any Wells Fargo. But in any event, a great video. I discovered your videos recently and I think you do a great job.

[@davidfolts5893]

Thanks, Rob. You have lots of great ideas.

[@kevinhaskins6619]

I've taken your challenges to task. Empower looks like a great tool but I'm in the category of having too many tools to analyze my egg. I sometimes feel like a world-class chef in a state-of-the-art kitchen preparing a bowl of cereal. The expense ratio is no problem....well below that already. The "don't sell anything or buy anything new" is a challenge. I need to stop listening to financial news, that would solve #3, #4 & #5 all at once.

[@kimappreciateslife]

I’m addicted to watching CNBC and follow some others like, Keith Fitz-Gerald & Tom Lee. Josh Brown on CNBC & the Compound & Friends videos. Bryn Talkington on CNBC…

[@Laurie-qn9yl]

Love your cereal analogy 😂

[@Mourik131]

I just changed my portfolio. First had only dividend stocks. Sold them with a good profit. And just to make things simpler. I will now use 3 etf’s. 1: VUSA(S&P 500) 2: VHYL (world high div yield) 3: vanguard USD treasury bonds. I have it at the moment at a 40, 40, 20%. How do you like my etf portfolio. In Europe we don’t have all the etf’s they have in the USA.

[@billbrockfield1689]

Rob, thanks for the investment tracker. I've been using it for the last 12 months and it's a big help with rebalancing.

[@tracythompson1692]

Thanks, good advice and good challenges!

[@2025Mindfulness]

I will take up the challenge! Thanks Rob. Happy New Year 🎉

[@chislands]

Great content! Just came across your channel.

[@timmalloy6253]

Happy New Year Rob.

[@jeff75448]

Thanks, Rob. Another helpful session. Happy New Year!🎉

[@angelabarker8611]

Thanks Rob.

[@seriousfaith]

Great video! Happy New Year Rob!

[@scoobedoo5243]

I'm to the point, again, of questioning the continued holding of international funds. They have consistently underperformed the US market and I'm tired of it.

[@EJJ-EvArms]

Agree on this. Avoiding international altogether has served me really well for 25 years, with only a couple of brief missed upward bumps along the way.

[@bribradt3450]

There are periods of time where international outperformed US

[@johnbirman5840]

Good luck with your portfolio mix! Those Bond Funds got clobbered since Jan 7 2022. The International stock funds still down 11% Thank goodness you had Apple and Berkshire. But - Bank of America - ouch! Best performing Mutual Fund in 2 years: VTI/VTSAX (Total Stock) has been a measly 2.5%

[@joekuhnlovesretirement]

2nd to comment. Is there a prize? Always the best content Rob.

[@rob_berger]

For you, yes. Not sure what that will be, however. Hope you are having a great holiday. I really enjoy your KZbin channel.

[@noreenn6976]

​@@rob_bergerhow about a collaboration video/interview?

[@kimappreciateslife]

Rob, can you tell us where you’re holding your individual stocks & your bonds? Taxable, Roth, Traditional IRA… My stocks are in my Trad Ira & Roth. I sold all the stocks in my taxable in 2022 and went all in T-bills for 2023. I’m on Obamacare so wanted to avoid having individual stocks in my taxable account. I might buy VTI and maybe VIOV in the taxable if T bills go lower. Looking at CD’s at 5.50% for 12 months-2 years. I live off my taxable account. Not working unless I start up an online business for fun.

[@oceansunsetak]

Best advice from this video might be: dont sell in 2024. 🎉Last year don't sell 2023 was right on. Thanks for sharing your portfolio. My portfolio is similar I have a few more stocks no bonds 30% is s p a x x 10 percent is in tax advantaged account managed by a professional dividend investor in 2023 I ended up making nothing because one of the energy dividend stocks went bankrupt😢 so I'm never going to hire anyone to manage my money again hopefully Bob Burger will give me a good advice

[@edexter97]

Empower has some sort of currency error with interactive brokers and probably foreign accounts in general. I do like the app though it does tract from it a little.

[@RightYouAreKen01]

Love the portfolio review and especially the 5 investing challenges for the new year. Great idea! Great content as always. I've learned so much from you over the past few months since I started getting smarter about our money and making sure we're on a good path towards retirement. Keep it up!

[@fpamps5805]

Thanks for the guidance

[@Rew123]

Thoughts on VNQ in a Roth IRA. I want "real estate" but I want zero hassle.

[@marcusallen1319]

I like Personal Capital to track allocation and performance.

[@alirezaraissinia4953]

Hi, I have a question regarding the need for international stock investment in the portofolio ass I see most if not all US companies involve in International market. Why add yet another investment to keep track of where the VTI can do the job knowing that the top companies are also involved outside US?

[@AllGrindNoGimmics]

This is the boomerest portfolio I have ever seen.

[@bribradt3450]

Lol. He's rich asf

[@Jary3166]

Thank you Rob for this video and the update on your portfolio! VTI, VXUS, TIP, SCHP are all ETF fund. In another video you mentioned favoring Mutual funds for long term buy and hold, yet you are now holding mostly ETFs it appears. Could you please provide an update as to why if your opinion has changed, or would you please be willing to describe why ETFs makes more sense for you than index mutual funds?

[@smalltalk.productions9977]

thanks for the effort and sharing. i am an appreciative subscriber. good suggestions. thank you for the spreadsheet. i am uncomfortable using something like empower or even new retirement because of the digital security risks. i imagine (hope!) that a vanguard is more secure than empower/new retirement simply because they have the assets to protect my assets. thumbs up.

[@kimappreciateslife]

I was thinking the same thing!

[@Kari-Evan]

You can use empower without linking to your investment account. I felt same way about security so I just manually entered my stocks/funds. No account number entered.

[@jimgrant1776]

Rob, thanks so much for sharing the details about your portfolio. I have a few questions. 1. Why do you invest in bonds? There is virtual unanimity in the investments community that stocks out-perform bonds over the long run. I can only think of two reasons: (1) A person needs some bond income to supplement his other income. Or (2) A person wants to reduce the volatility of the value of his portfolio over the long run? 2. How do you measure the return (%) of your portfolio? Mathematically, this is a somewhat complicated matter and I’m thinking the the large financial institutions and investing software all do it differently. 3. What is your withdrawal strategy? 4. What portion (%) of your total assets is invested? 5. Do you see any reason for a person to have one allocation plan/target for investments with tax deferred accounts and another allocation for non-tax deferred accounts?

[@robstein67]

I think on the "no selling" - you should also exclude TLH. That and rebalancing are the only reasons I've sold for the last few years.

[@DR_GoBeavs]

Hi Rob. Thanks for all of your informative content. Hey, I saw another KZbinr mention using SCHD in lieu of bonds in a portfolio. I'd be interested in hearing your thoughts on that.

[@martyi398]

Yes that's what I've done although with a Vanguard comparable fund VDADX, we hold less than 10% Bonds in our portfolio's!

[@jkimmel13]

Rob’s 2024 Challenges Recap: 1. Track your investments 2. Get your expense ratio down to 10 basis points or lower 3. Don’t sell anything in 2024 except to rebalance or for required expenses 4. Eliminate one investment 5. Don’t buy anything new

[@KITESURFPARAMOTOR]

In Australia Vanguard emerging markets fund, same as VWO is 48 bps. Hard to get total portfolio weighted balanced expenses under 10 bps here.

[@mikeg2538]

Rob. This sounds crazy. Im so mad at my 18% YTD returns in about 10 etfs Ive got. I researched long hours to get funds like VOO, SCHG, MOAT, DGRW, QQQM, XLV. The total market fund VTI did 24% with 1.4% dividend. Who else is frustrated? I wanted returns like the SPY or QQQ minimum

[@RetirementPlanningClub]

Thanks Rob! Great video.

[@cathyg1099]

Should you consolidate two funds if the fund you want to sell is in the negative? If you don’t need the money, isn’t it better to hold the fund until it turns at least a small profit?

[@kimappreciateslife]

If it’s in a taxable you can tax loss harvest.

[@cathyg1099]

@kimappreciateslife It's in an IRA, so that is not an option. I appreciate the response and suggestion.

[@rossjackson2929]

There is also oppotunity cost to consider. Will the fund in in the loss category do as well from a risk/reward as the other?

[@rennaway8728]

Rob, can you make a video on the new Cederburg study Ben Felix talks about that shows a 100% global equities portfolio held at market cap weight outperformed any amount of bonds 100% of the time in all scenarios and time periods in both retirement balance as well as ability to withdraw without running out of money (ruin rate)?

[@ltmsimply]

Great info as always sir!

[@renewhite2199]

Hello Rob, you mentioned 7BP is that for each account Roth, HSA, SEP? Or all together 7BP? Thanks, Rene

[@hubbardjill]

@rob_berger You mentioned that 20% of your stock allocation is in individual stocks. I'm wondering if that still is the case or if you are modifying your individual stock percentage allocation?

[@bizzfo]

Low cost Index fund. Keep it simple. No tracking required.

[@patrickd1014]

Thank you Rob. You mentioned that VSMAX isn’t your favorite small cap fund. Would you mind sharing which one you prefer?

[@kimappreciateslife]

If you want the fine wine of small caps AVUV, however it has a .25 expense ratio. Some choose an S&P 600 small cap fund or etf instead of the Russell 2000 funds or etf . VIOV is vanguard’s S&P 600 small cap value.

[@canyonoverlook9937]

@@kimappreciateslife What about VSiax. I thought this was the one that Rob's guest a year or 2 recommended but I am not sure.

[@shy_gamer]

Empower strangely calculates your asset allocation as a percentage of your total portfolio instead of as a percentage of your stock or bond allocation as is standard practice. For example, if your total portfolio is 100k, and 25k of that is US stocks and 25k of that is international stock, Empower would list your international stock exposure as 25% instead of 50% as it should be reported!

[@jayzechab]

Can you talk about the right time to simplify/rebalance considering taxes for long term gains?

[@stphkp889]

Hi Rob: You have a great channel. If you haven’t done so yet. Take the time to watch the recent Rational Reminder podcast where they interview Scott Cederburg PhD. Happy new year!

[@rob_berger]

I plan too. I'm skeptical of the study, but will keep an open mind.

[@Austin-fc5gs]

​@@rob_bergerwould love to watch a video with your opinion. Ive listened to the podcast, and am skeptical as well. My main concern is with their time period selection for the monte carlo analysis

[@claricehirata3303]

@stphkp889, I appreciate your comment to Rob. Along with listening to the RR podcast with Scott Cederburg PhD and listening to Paul Merriman's comments on that podcast, I also remembered that in 2019, I took a Stanford University Continuing Ed class on personal finance where I learned about ETFs and why they make the most sense for "mainstream" investors, along with the opinion of the professor that you don't need to invest in bonds. I was aghast, but took it in as all of the other info he taught made really good sense. That professor is still teaching the class in 2023. Mind you, it's not a Stanford U curriculum class, but still. I look forward to hearing how Rob responds to the "no bond" portfolio (even in retirement) when he has a chance to review the data. I do have bonds in my portfolio, but am keeping an open mind due to the prominence of the "Magnificent 7," and the large role that tech is playing in all of our lives now and going forward.

[@chrisrampton1327]

Rob, THANKS. Do you have a target for Roth vs Traditional IRA/40K vs Brokerage? Do you actively do ROTH conversions?

[@ghazikerkeni7031]

Hello Rob, Thank you for sharing your portfolio. If you had to do it again from scratch would you buy same things? I am wondering if just VT and AGG + TIP could be enough ?

[@TracyBailey-i3g]

So when do you liquidate a fund position (say VTSAX) and suck up the 15% LTCG to move in a dofferent direction. How long will you sit on VFWAX, VSMAX, and VTSAX or do you die with them and enjoy the step-up in cost basis?

[@J-2024-v8i]

If the gains are not too large maybe you can harvest some losses at some point to offset those gains and avoid the tax. Also, in a low income year or if you are retired, maybe you will have some space in the 0% LTCG tax bracket. Also, if you have access to credits such as child credit, foreign credit, energy efficient improvements, etc. those can also help you offset the taxes from selling.

[@TracyBailey-i3g]

Thanks for the reply JL. Yes those are all good options. I should have done something in 2022 when there were some losses. I haven't followed Rob that long. It just sounded like he would never sell those three mutual funds until he needed the money.

[@PamBlatch]

Great information as always! You mentioned as one of the 2024 challenges, bringing your exp ratio in total to fewer than 10 bps. What tool shows you this, does Empower personal capital do this?

[@remcat3572]

I inherited some money in American Funds and the fees are .75%. Should I move it into index funds a little at a time or all at once? Do you have a video for that? Thanks!

[@keithhodges9018]

I have had nothing but problems with empower!!!!!! getting accounts to connect.

[@canyonoverlook9937]

Would you get Vanguard Small Cap Value or Vanguard small cap index? I am buying a new small-cap but not sure which one.

[@joepollino9416]

I hate paying any taxes, but seldom make investment decisions on capital gains. Capital gains is far better than regular income tax with the worse case of 20% while most will be at 15%. For example, a $100k gain, the IRS sees taxable income as $20,000 and with a marginal tax bracket of 22% your actual tax is $4, 400 or 4.4%. Therefore, not selling an investment due only to the capital gain tax may not be prudent.

[@pcopeland15]

Thanks

[@frankhorta2791]

Hello Rob. I have a question. Could you consider combining Index Fund (VTSAX) and VXUS (ETF) in the same basket as only two single diversified stocks?

[@topcop5811]

Rob, Does Treasury Direct issue a 1099 for T-bills sold? I bought in 2023 when the % was high and will liquidate soon. Thx!

[@RosalieXimenes]

I have savings of $1,000,000 and I'm ready for retirement, only concerned about the soaring inflation. Is this enough to retire comfortably, or do I need some sort of money management?

[@LouxCazaree]

Explore the option of engaging financial advisors, estate planners, or tax experts. Their specialized expertise can assist you in navigating intricate financial decisions.

[@AnsjeHarris]

It's true that many people underestimate the importance of advisers until their own feelings burn them out. A few summers ago, following an ongoing divorce, I needed a significant push to keep my company afloat. I looked for licensed advisors and found someone with outstanding qualifications. She has contributed to my reserve increasing from $275k to $850k regardless of inflation.

[@PaulStaniscia]

Please can you leave the info of your lnvestment advsor here? I’m in dire need for one

[@LouxCazaree]

Her name is. ‘Marisa Breton Dollard . Just research the name. You’d find necessary details to work with a correspondence to set up an appointment.

[@sebe1962]

How do I account for rental real estate properties in a portfolio analysis?

[@junkabcjunk]

I have a question about the NewRetirement for their paid PlannerPlus package. Is it any useful in your opinion, is the yearly cost worth spending, any insight would be appreciated. Thanks.

[@nunuvyurbiz123]

Great info, thanks. You no longer own I bonds?

[@kimappreciateslife]

I was wondering that too. This was a quick video for Rob and a lot was left out.

[@kw7292]

When will you sell the funds with large profits in taxable accounts?

[@beelee1394]

do you plan to change the 75/25 at some point?

[@fredswartley9778]

Great video. I like your portfolio for the most part. But I'm wondering why you invest in individual stocks? Isn't that too risky? Also which bond fund do you use for your nominal bonds?

[@martyi398]

Rob's stock holdings are all Warren Buffet owned stocks except maybe John Deere (Robs a big fan of WB) they are all high quality stocks with a long proven track record, hence lower risk than most other stocks!

[@fredswartley9778]

@@martyi398 ok gotcha

[@Steve_SEC]

For Value, why not VTV instead of SCHD?

[@BfdzR7t]

What do you think of investing in GSBD?

[@StevenSimrin]

Tried to subscribe to newsletter but didn't see link at website

[@teembo]

Are cash and t bills considered as bonds in a stocks/bonds ratio?

[@ArthurDentZaphodBeeb]

Yes, he specifically said so at thw beginning and then clarified 9% cash

[@SD-co9xe]

I can’t get empower to link to some of my accounts.

[@SteveJohnson-ht6kv]

What made you reconsider the remodel?

[@rob_berger]

The contractor!

[@SteveJohnson-ht6kv]

@@rob_bergerinteresting, I would love to hear the details. We are considering a remodel next year.

[@djsocal2]

I have come around to "Don't add anything new" it is probably where i mess up the most. Add to winners!