A Simple Way to Leave Your Financial Advisor to Invest On Your Own Without Fear (FQF)

[@HobokenEscapee]

My mindset was forever changed when I heard the expression “the firm made money, the advisor made money. Two out of three ain’t bad.”

[@PassivePortfolios]

That is a great quote, and factual.

[@couldbe8348]

Love your level headed, non click bait helpful info

[@fragglerock122]

i started the process, its easy to do and you will be much happier having control over your own money then someone else. The main thing I would say is understand what your buying and what your goal is. If I didn't find Rob channel I would still be paying crazy fees.

[@InvestingCatalysts]

Im retired, EVERY financial adviser IVe worked with dumped garbage on me based on how they got commissions. If you do stay with one of them, make them sign something that says "I will disclose fully to client XXX how I am compensated as a %% of wages: fees from clients, incentives and commissions from products. They all push annuities and insurance. Its all garbage. I see a comment below how this video is "dense and irresponsible". Id be willing to bet it was made by an advisor. They are like realtors, but they charge more, and dont even show houses.

[@HB-yq8gy]

Caveat Emptor

[@harrychu650]

The primary skill set of a Financial Advisor is salesman and marketer. Not so different than a car salesman.

[@HB-yq8gy]

@@harrychu650 The salesman's suit never changes no matter what they're selling. You must find the best deal.

[@janethunt4037]

Thanks, Rob. I love FQF. Your bond and tips discussion was very, very helpful.

[@James_Cab]

Funny coincidence. Today I told my financial advisor that I was going fully self directed. It was easy. I now have a self directed IRA and a self directed brokerage account.

[@fragglerock122]

Thanks for showing that target date info, that's good to know, never thought of that

[@tomdiblasi7840]

The problem with target date funds is that when you need to sell to generate income, you have to sell all of the asset classes that comprise that fund. If on the other hand you had separate large/mid/small cap with separate international and bond funds, you could avoid selling (for example) small cap if that asset class was in bear territory while the balance of assets were in neutral or positive territory.

[@hanwagu9967]

One could argue that if you are looking to specifically diversify in your context, then you wouldn't be a target date fund investor to begin with. When you buy an S&P500 index or a total market index fund, you also can't separate out specifics either, so it's not really an argument for or against.

[@yifanwang]

On boldin, you can split 401K into 2: stocks and bonds. Then you set different rates of returns.

[@tracythompson1692]

I like the Lifestyle funds more than the Target Date.

[@EatLeadPal]

I had 2 advisors that were mediocre and one went to prison for defrauding me and his other clients. I moved my accounts to Vanguard 4 years ago and used their advisors which was only .3% fees. They were OK but eventually I had to fire them because they wouldn't invest my money the way I wanted it invested. Almost a year ago, I took over my own accounts and my returns have been MUCH higher than any advisor was getting me.

[@mattball2700]

Good luck Monday, Rob. I'm from Ohio, but my grandfather was ND's biggest fan. (For some reason, my Wikipedia entry says my dad went to ND, but that's not true.)

[@BiggMo]

8:38 Isn’t a rolling ladder an escalator?

[@hanwagu9967]

no, because ladders have rungs and escalators have steps🤣

[@tracythompson1692]

Rob, can you explain the calculation that you made with BND to calculate its long term rate of return. 6 year maturity doubling it to 12 yrs subtracting 1 yr. 4.6% a yr….if held 11 yrs….is that correct and why?

[@ThePongProfessor]

Yes, please explain.

[@okgreat2573]

Yes Please.

[@ianwhitehead7247]

For me, this guy has a way of giving rise to trust and calm in a chaotic world. Buy and hold can get both pretty scary. His fundamental message: there is no free lunch out there….. good enough for me.

[@dianediliberto1876]

Another terrific video. Thank you, Rob.

[@billwilliams9527]

I have a CFP, he's with a firm that sets % of investment based on age primarily. So seniors are pretty much locked into a portfolio, that's shall we say very "conservative". The Firm dictates the percentage allocation, taking away the authorization of the Planner to 'manage' based on input of the client. If it wasn't for the tax implication, I'd just cash out and manage the results myself, however taxes would financially destroy me, so I'm trapped. Thanks for your video.

[@hanwagu9967]

How are you trapped? Unless the firm has you in some non-marketable security or some proprietary investment, there should be no reason for you to be stuck with the firm. Securities and money in an IRA can be transferred in-kind (ACAT) or your current firm would liquidated within the IRA and directly rollover the proceeds to your new brokerage IRA. Assets in a taxable brokerage can be transferred in-kind just as easily unless your current firm has you in some proprietary thing that you can't transfer. In-kind transfer allows you to transfer securities from one brokerage to another without selling, thus no tax implications. Direct IRA rollovers also have no tax implications.

[@kw7292]

I use 5% expected return on my investments in Boldin. I think it is middle of the road, Rob just said that’s conservative.

[@ronpearson23]

I used Mark for a while. Very knowledgeable, good guy. However, I had my portfolio at fidelity and had gone through a very detailed use of their planning tool. Basically he said that I was nowhere near conservative enough, and my plan was going to crash after x number of years. I asked him how he knew more than half of the PhD's on the planet that created the tool I used to put the plan together. I decided to do it on my own.

[@kensayre6919]

If I ditch my advisor how do I determine the amount of my RMD?

[@lindsaynewell6319]

You type “RMD table 2025” into Google search

[@hanwagu9967]

The major brokeraage like Fidelity, Vanguard, Schwab, etc you can just look up RMD and it will direct you to their RMD calculator. They usually tag RMD on any retirement accounts subject to RMD to make it easy.

[@wilkop1390]

Rob - Very much enjoying the FQF segments. The bond discussion is interesting. For the past several years I have maintained an ETF bond ladder using Invesco Bullet Shares ETFs. Each ETF is comprised of several hundred bonds that mature in the same year. In December of each bond year the fund liquidates. If shares are not sold, the liquidated funds are deposited into your account. For the investment grade version of the funds the expense ratio is 0.10. The 2025 ticker is BSCO, the 2026 ticker is BSCP, etc. Currently I have a ladder in place with funds maturing through 2030. Current SEC yield on BSCO, the 2025 version is 4.58%. Current SEC yield on BSCU, the 2030 version is 5.11%. Each year at the beginning of December, before the current year fund liquidates, I sell the shares and either use the funds or rollover them into the next 5 year ETF. This process of maintaining a bond ladder with these year specific ETFs works well for me. Thanks.

[@cathyg1099]

This is the only way I’d buy bond etfs.

[@PelicanNorth]

Interesting! I’m learning here, so what is the reason you sell the shares in early December rather than just letting them liquidate? What is the advantage to selling early? Thanks, I appreciate any answer you can provide.

[@wilkop1390]

@@PelicanNorth In Dec 2023 I let them liquidate and it worked OK. The reporting looked a little odd on the brokerage statement and, as I recall, was a little confusing on the broker generated 1099. Also, they set the date in mid December for the liquidation. In 2024 I sold the 2024 shares during the first week in December. This gave me better control of the timing and the transaction was reported on the statements and tax documents like any other sale. Selling just felt cleaner and more controlled.

[@mrb552]

LOVED your question five answer! In Boldin, I was trying to setup individual funds return estimates as a separate entry for each fund within the same account before your recommendation. I was basically trying to make Boldin act like Pralana. Thanks the simplification tip. 🙂

[@wilma6235]

BND duration x 2 less 1 year. So for the next 11 years it will earn 4.61% return each year or the total return for 11 years? I have never heard this calculation before.

[@gshaw7252]

The potential downside of target date funds is that when you want to withdraw from them, you cannot choose to sell, for example, the bond portion of them if stocks are down. Unless I’m missing something.

[@jackspencer8290]

This is a valid point. But it's really only relevant when you're coming into retirement itself. If you are concerned about it at that point, you can move to your own bespoke asset allocation. IMO, for the building years, one could do a lot worse than TDFs. For one, they protect you (by which I mean me) from doing anything blatantly stupid.

[@hanwagu9967]

If you want the flexibility of picking and choosing what to sell, then you would not be investing in a target date fund. You can't sell individual underperforming stocks in an S&P500 index fund, either.

[@ruelmendoza7455]

where can I find this low cost financial adviser in your site? I tried to find and was not successful. can you please provide link here?

[@lindsaynewell6319]

Google “planvision”

[@bribradt3450]

So many people hate on target date funds because they have underperformed their favorite large growth etf lol. These same people tend to underperform TDFs over long term because theyre just chasing performance and panic sell at the worst times.

[@HB-yq8gy]

We set it & forget VWENX,VIEIX,VTI,VIIIX and VFORX.

[@rick_vv7754]

I was really surprised to hear that Rob thinks he may consider a target date fund in the future. Shocking to me. I know he has talked about steps to simplify his portfolio but never thought he would consider a target date fund.

[@feliciah3381]

I'm 54 and new to investing my portfolio consists of ESGV 41%, VSGX 4%, SCHD 15%, EAGG 5% US Aggregate Bond - VTIP 20% Sht-Term Inflation-Protected - VGSH 15% Short-Term Treasury is this ok or would you get rid of one and if so which one? I don't want to hold on to all of them if they're the same. Would like to keep my portfolio as simple as possible since I don't know much about investing and I'm learning as I go.

[@MVCatherine]

Thank you for another very informative video. You are helping me build the confidence to be able to create a retirement paycheck myself.

[@we8463]

Forget advisors! They make money regardless of you making any money!

[@shanew7361]

Yep, total scam.

[@WealthyChronicle]

Investing on your own: liberating or terrifying? I feel like it’s the ultimate test of financial independence, but not everyone’s ready for it.

[@khanbus]

Ron, I’m puzzled as to why you think creating a Treasury leader would take time. You can build one in just 5 minutes and decide whether to roll over the mature treasury either at creation or at a later date. Anyone with a basic understanding can do it.

[@blazemkiv3641]

I have no idea how to buy individual bonds or evaluate them.

[@BiggMo]

I don’t have a basic understanding (yet), that’s why I’m hear listening

[@MichaelToub]

Great Video!

[@EJJ-EvArms]

One doesn't need to pay an advisor to figure out how to generate a paycheck each month. Schwab, fidelity, or vanguard are all too happy to have your business, will step you through the form to fill out to get a monthly (or weekly or quarterly) "paycheck" direct deposit to your checking account. It's really easy. Only thing that one needs to do is make sure there's at least that amount in cash when the paycheck is due. Its probably the easiest way to "rebalance". If you're stock-heavy after growth, sell the stock fund high. If you're bond heavy after a downturn, sell the bonds. A given paycheck should be a drop in the bucket relative to one's total holdings.

[@edorofish]

I dumped BND again (lost money) and only have ultra short term bond ETFs now.

[@tadrenaline]

Sounds like you might need an advisor 😂

[@eldersprig]

no no no. You need to understand what the bonds are for in your portfolio. You're performance chasing.

[@Mike-123]

If you get near retirement, and the (Vanguard) target retirement fund gets too conservative, you can just switch over to one of their life strategy funds.

[@EJJ-EvArms]

Just pick a target date fund that's x years out. Every couple of years, switch it to x years out again. Whatever x is for you, 5, 10, 20 years.

[@wilma6235]

What exactly do financial advisors do for you other than charge you 1% annually?

[@couldbe8348]

They talk you out off selling during a crash

[@bourbontraveler]

Just tell them to sell everything and that I’m transferring my money out Just did it last week Gave the advisor 2 years and they couldn’t beat the S&P

[@curiouscat104]

Instead of tips or trestery bonds....is it ok just to invest in a total bond market?

[@matthiaslipinski2826]

I’m a buy and hold investor and don’t invest in total bond market funds. The reason is that such a find will hold between 30 and 40 % of long term bonds. While long term bonds can have a volatility that can be similar to stock they don’t have the same long term earning potential. A buy and hold investor who holds bonds to control risk wouldn’t want long term bonds and therefore no total bond market funds. Just my 2 cents.

[@Milhouse77BS]

Don’t tempt me :)

[@rogerray2545]

I know that's right 😊haha ha

[@danOH112]

Better idea. Don’t get a financial advisor is the first place.

[@couldbe8348]

Good luck Monday night. THE Ohio State University

[@antilogism]

If your "core position" at the brokerage is part of an FDIC "Insured Deposit Sweep" then it's a bit more like a bank. With over $200k it gets spread over several external banks to ensure it maintains insurance. Interest is pretty low so I don't keep a lot in it.

[@curiouscat104]

I fired my financial advisor in Fidelity and just had him put my money in an target retirement fund.

[@HB-yq8gy]

Smart!

[@shanew7361]

Bad idea

[@mikegretkowski7312]

Looking for list of low cost advisors Rob mentioned. Anyone see that list?

[@davidperry2725]

search for "rob berger low cost financial advisors”. it’s the 4th one on my list.

[@stephenblessed92]

I have two accounts with Fidelity. One is an IRA, managed. The managed account is Fidelity proprietary funds. The other is a regular brokerage account that I manage and is all Index funds. They are kicking my ass. Thinking about letting them manage the brokerage account.

[@ksgtokgo]

Does the brokerage insurance protect you if your account is hacked?

[@halfon005]

Good question, new investor with 500k, ty

[@Allegan49010]

I use BND but have been considering replacing it VFIDX or ETF equivalent......

[@Yette]

Go Irish 🍀

[@007clownfish]

❤

[@marcryan5399]

Fidelity FZROX it's has no fees. It sounds to good to be true?

[@canyonoverlook9937]

Rob has a separate video on that.

[@BuckeyeFan9591]

I love this fund. Been in it nearly since inception

[@TCtubing]

Virtually identical to VOO (S&P 500) except VOO does slightly better than FZROX.

[@johnkenney7217]

It has one distribution per year, in December, even though it receives dividends from the basket of stocks it owns throughout the year.

[@keithp5568]

@marcyan5399 it’s a fine fund. The only downside I see is that it can only be held in a Fidelity account. If you move to another brokerage firm you’ll need to sell it. All their proprietary zero cost funds work that way as I understand it.