Robert Brokamp

speaker

4,317 appearances 39 recordings 3 series first heard Oct 2025 last heard 12 Sep

Robert Brokamp’s voice in public audio — every appearance, attributed to the second.

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recordings per month · last 12 months

Recordings per month over the last 12 months — 39 in all, peaking in Aug 2026 with 5.

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Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing · Three Lesser-Known But Powerful 401(k) Features · 12 Sep 2026 podcast

a few unique, lesser known features of 401ks. voice-verified

Today on this Saturday, personal finance edition of The Motley Fool Hidden Gems Investing Podcast. voice-verified

I'm Robert Brokamp. voice-verified

And before we get into the main topic of today's show, I want to let you know that the last episode of this month will be a financial planning mailbag. voice-verified

So if you have any questions about retirement planning, tax planning, estate planning, college planning, or just about any aspect of personal finances, email them to podcasts at fool.com and we'll do our best to answer them. voice-verified

That's podcast with an S at fool.com. voice-verified

Now let's move on to 401Ks, because after all, this past Thursday was National 401K Day, which is usually the Friday after Labor Day, but since this past Friday was September 11th, 401K Day was moved to September 10th, out of respect to September 11th and its own 25th anniversary memorial events. voice-verified

Now, in the May 9th episode of this year, I provided 11 suggestions for maximizing the value of your work-based retirement plan. voice-verified

So I encourage you to go back and listen to that episode if you haven't already. voice-verified

But this episode, I thought I'd focus on a few lesser known or underutilized 401k features. voice-verified

The self-directed brokerage account, the mega backdoor Roth, and the rule of 55. voice-verified

And I'll say up front that part of the reason you may not hear much about these is that not every 401k offers them. voice-verified

But as I often point out, if your 401k is lacking features or a robust menu of investments, bring it up to your employer and see if they'd be open to improving your plan. voice-verified

That's what a few of my colleagues and I did at The Motley Fool many years ago. voice-verified

And fortunately, the company's leadership was open towards our suggestions, and perhaps the folks in charge of your company will be too. voice-verified

All right, let's start with the self-directed brokerage account, which, as the name suggests, permits you to buy investments beyond that standard slate of 15 to 25 mutual funds that you'll find in most 401ks. voice-verified

And this brokerage account could just provide a broader range of mutual funds or even let you buy individual stocks or bonds. voice-verified

About 20% to 30% of 401k plans have this feature, but it's only used by about 1% to 3% of eligible participants. voice-verified

And I think one of the reasons for the low utilization rate is that many participants just don't know about it. voice-verified

So check the features of your plan. voice-verified

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