Good morning:
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​Reminder: The next live show will be Monday, February 23rd at 7 pm ET. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel where the show is broadcast here.

3 Things

1. What Does a Thief Need to Access Your Financial Accounts? It’s Likely Less Than You Think (Oblivious Investor)

2. Investing a Lump Sum of Cash in This Market (A Wealth Of Common Sense)

3. Retirees: Should You Take RMDs Early in the Year or Wait? (Christine Benz)

My Videos & Articles

• ​How To Use Excel + Claude To Replace Your Budget App | Live Q&A
• ​The One-Page Financial Plan Every Spouse Needs (FQF)​​

ICYMI

• Boomers, Help Out the Younger Gens, Like Bessent Wants (The Falling Knife)
• You Aren’t Giving Enough Money to Your Kids and Grandkids (Kindness FP)
• Why Consensus Fails (Of Dollars And Data)
• Buying the Dip is for Losers (Ally Jane Ayers)
• Daily Caffeine Could Reduce Your Risk of Developing Dementia, Study Shows (Science Alert)
• Simple Changes That Supercharge Learning (David Epstein)
• Box Spreads Explained: A (Lower-Interest) Borrowing Alternative To Margin Loans And SBLOCs (Ben Henry-Moreland)
• Things that feel risky (Seth Godin)
• Read To Your Children (And Grandchildren) (The Conversation)
• The Insidious Effects of Hurrying (HBR)
• The Interview: ‘They All Tried to Break Me’: Gisèle Pelicot Shares Her Story (NYT)
• Is the Internet Hijacking Our Ambition? (Cal Newport)

What I'm Reading, Listening To, Watching, and Thinking About

• I'm reading Armageddon: What the Bible Really Says about the End by Bart Ehrman. It's more research for a book I'm slowly working on. I find apocalyptic beliefs fascinating.
• Another fascinating book I read last year is When Prophecy Fails. It follows a group who believed a UFO would come save them before the world ends. What's interesting is how these groups respond when the predicted date for the end of the world comes and goes. You'd think they would realize they were wrong. Instead, the double-down, at least for a time. I wonder if I ever do that with investments. . . .

Tools I'm Using From Partners

• Monarch Money: Get 50% off the First Year Discount Code: ROB50​
• ​Boldin: I use this tool for our retirement planning. ProjectionLab is also a great financial planning tool and is offering a 10% Discount Code RBERGER-10.
• ​Kubera: My choice to track investments and net worth. They offer a 14-day free trial. An excellent free alternative is Empower.
• 1Password: An excellent password manager currently offering 25% off on annual plans.

Resources From Partners

• Quicken Simplifi: Get Simplifi 50% off the first year ($2.99 a month)
• Get free Medicare guidance from Chapter (410) 220-5494
• For a limited time, try the AI-powered budgeting app Origin for just $1 the first year.
• You can see a list of all of my Youtube videos here.
• You can see a list of the budgeting, investing and retirement planning tools I use here.
• You can view past issues of the newsletter here.
• ​DIYRetirement Subreddit​

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Best,
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Rob Berger
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P.S. Feel free to hit reply and send me a message. I read every email.