24 Jun 2024

How Much Do You Trust the Government?

It’s hard not to love the Roth IRA because once money gets into the account, all withdrawals should stay tax-free forever. That’s in contrast to a traditional IRA, which incentivizes savings by offering a tax deduction at the time of the contribution and allows the assets to grow without taxation. The downside is that withdrawals are taxed as ordinary income. We call those tax-deferred accounts because you put off the… Read More

By Tags: , , , ,
17 Jun 2024

Is the S&P 500 a Growth Index?

In addition to working with private clients, Acropolis has an incredible team of professionals who manage retirement plans, principally 401k plans (click here for more information). I meet with some of the retirement plan trustees to discuss the plan’s investments. When we manage a plan, we want enough choices so participants can build a diversified portfolio but not so many choices that they are overwhelmed by the options and don’t… Read More

By Tags: , , , , , , ,
10 Jun 2024

Stocks Look Cheap!

Since the beginning of 2023, the S&P 500 index has grown a staggering 40% through the end of May. While some of this performance has been driven by earnings growth, a lot of it has been good old-fashioned speculation as prices have outrun earnings. This is evident when looking at prices through the lens of company fundamentals. Consider the price-to-earnings (P/E) ratio. This ratio shows the value investors pay for… Read More

By Tags: , , , , , , ,
3 Jun 2024

Is the Yield Curve Broken?

As regular readers of this letter know, we are not big believers in forecasts. We believe that forecasting future economic and market conditions is about as reliable as a long-term weather forecast in St Louis. However, many relationships have a history of moving together. When one changes, it can often be wise to take notice. The strongest of these indicators has been the Yield Curve. The Yield Curve refers to… Read More

By Tags: , , , , , , ,