Good morning:
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​Reminder: The next live show will be Monday, January 5th at 7 pm ET. You can subscribe to the YouTube channel where the show is broadcast here.

3 Things

1. How to Beat the 4% Retirement Spending Rule (YouTube Interview of Stefan Sharkansky, author of the research paper “The Only Other Spending Rule Article You Will Ever Need.”)

2. How to Set and Invest Your Emergency Fund (Morningstar)

3. Warren Buffett: A Question of Character (Roger Lowenstein)

My Videos & Articles

• ​Can I Restart the 4% Rule During Retirement? (FQF)

ICYMI

• How To Learn So Fast It’s Almost Unfair (YouTube)
• Warning Labels (Seth Godin)
• Who Claims Social Security While They Are Still Working – and Why Do They Do It? (Center for Retirement Research)
• 2025: An inflation-watcher’s year in review (TIPSWatch)
• Understanding Gold – Hedge, Diversifier, or Overpriced Insurance? (Quantpedia)
• Titanic Inequality (A Wealth of Common Sense)
• 52 Things I Learned in 2025 (Kent Hendricks)
• First Coast-to-Coast Tesla Fully Autonomous Drive (X)
• The Case For Prayer, Even If You're an Atheist (Derek Thompson)
• Reads of 2025 (Investment Talk)
• 'I experienced a catastrophic financial loss': How options trader 'Captain Condor' led his followers to a $50 million wipeout (Morningstar)
• The Race between Waymo, Cybercab, and Uber (Uncharted Territories)
• Eight Fascinating Scientific Discoveries From 2025 That Could Lead to New Inventions (Smithsonian Mag)
• The Continuous Creative Act of Holding on and Letting Go: 10 Beautiful Minds on the Art of Growing Older (The Marginalian)

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

• I finished reading The Gales of November. It was the best book I read in 2025.

Tools I'm Using From Partners

• Monarch Money: Get 50% off the First Year Discount Code: ROB50​
• ProjectionLab: 10% Discount Code RBERGER-10, I also use Boldin.
• ​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

• ​Raisin Bonus: Get up to $2,000 in bonuses, new customers only.
• 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.