Pages 401(k) Plans About FAQs Milestones ADV Part 2 ADV Part 3/Form CRS Approach Acropolis Financial Forecaster Investment Management Principles Our Philosophy Why Acropolis Contact David Ott Bio Disclaimer Financial Literacy Quiz Financial Literacy Quiz Results Home Insights Newsletters Michele’s bio People Privacy Policy Ryan Craft Bio Services Business Transition Planning Institutional Wealth Management Private Client Wealth Management Retirement Plan Services Strategic Planning for Banks Sitemap Terms of Use Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You! Posts by category Category: Acropolis In the News What Are Stocks, Why Should You Invest in Them, and What Is a Stock Index? Missouri Unclaimed Property: Are you due some money? Retiring Early: One Way to Avoid the 10% Early Withdrawal Penalty Tax Michele Clark in the News: CNBC about Downsizing Housing in Retirement Asset Allocation: Rebalancing a Portfolio in an Appreciated Market Retirement Planning: Spending, Pensions, and Inflation Retirement Plan: Expenses to Consider (Including Often Overlooked Costs) Peter Cottontail Makes A Lousy Financial Advisor! Retirement Income: Estimating How Much You Will Need Financial Records: What to Keep, Where to Keep, and How Long What is a NAPFA-Registered Financial Advisor? Estate Planning Long Term Care Planning: More Than Just Insurance Bonds: How do They Work? Required Minimum Distributions (RMDs): What They Are, How to Calculate Them, and Penalties for Missing Them Annuity Questions Answered Modern Portfolio Theory Revisited Emergency Fund: The Foundation for Financial Success Following the Tornado, Risk is on My Mind The Hedge Fund Alternative, Part 1 Financial Planning Association: An Educational Benefit Participant Insights 2Q 2019 Participant Insights 3Q 2016 2Q 2016 Participant Insights Financial Times Recognizes Acropolis St. Louis Business Journal Recognizes Dannelle Ward Financial Advisor Magazine Highlights Acropolis 401(k)s Financial Times Top 300 RIAs Includes Acropolis Category: ALM Insights Tax Reform’s Impact on the Value of Muni’s The Curve is Falling… The Curve is Falling! Forecasting Expected Returns The End of LIBOR What About The Bonds? Liquidity When You Need It Finally, A Regulation You Can Opt-Out Of What if You Called The Bond Market Perfectly? Category: Daily Insights The AI Opportunity Is Real. So Is Your Exposure The Problem with Safe Havens A Case Study in Speculation, Leverage, and Survival Silver’s Momentum Crash The History of Market Concentration One View of a Megatrends-Aware Portfolio Will Artificial Intelligence Tinker or Transform? International Stocks Gain Some Ground Tools and Trends Change — Curiosity and Continuous Improvement Endure What Does It Mean to Eat Our Own Cooking? Get Up and Dance Irrational Exuberance Revisited CNBC Recognizes Acropolis The Fund Performed Fine. Investors, Not So Much We Need New Words for an Age-Old Debate The Labor Market is Cooling Heat Wave Inflation: A Decade Running Hot Steady as She Goes: Vanguard’s Take on Growth and Inflation The One Big Beautiful Bill Act Estate Planning – Who’s Who Estate Planning, Part 1.5 Beyond Taxes: Estate Planning Matters Enormously Let’s Talk About Stagflation Gold is Glittering Bright (maybe too bright) Graduation & Compounding Public Markets Know that Private Markets are Volatile The Trouble with Timing Unhappy Treasuries Buckle Down and Buckle Up ETF Hotsauce Warning: Fraud is on the Rise Important Notice: Fraudulent Schemes Impersonating Acropolis Investment Management, LLC. (ACR) Sentiment Shifting Nobody Likes Volatility How Do Tariffs Work? The Hedge Fund Alternative, Part 2 The Roaring 20s The Cutting Room Floor (Part 2) The Cutting Room Floor (Part 1) Breaking Down Bonds Ring in the New Year with Market Statistics Final Insight of 2024! Chance of Recession? About Average Are Rates Rising or Falling? Both. Morningstar Makes Things Right? Why Not All Tech? Don’t Text Me, I’ll Text You The Hottest Stocks of All Time The End (of the Election Season) is Nigh Optimization Overload: When Perfecting Becomes Problematic Thank You Chair Powell, May I Have Another! Introduction to Alternatives Index Fund Overhaul: Passive Investing vs. Market Concentration Small Cap’s Revenge (…has a long way to go) China vs. India Tech vs. the World When will we feel the benefit of higher interest rates? Want NVDA? You’ve already got it How Much Do You Trust the Government? Is the S&P 500 a Growth Index? Stocks Look Cheap! Is the Yield Curve Broken? The Anxiety of Private Markets Dow Jones Rocks 40,000 The Best Industries to Invest Concentrated Risks Rising What Happens if Current Tax Laws Expire Why Are Markets Unhappy Right Now? Why Not Tax Fee Income? Feel Like Taking Risk? So Does Everyone Else Stocks are Expensive Again The Return of Sound Money Understanding New Rules: 529 Plan to Roth IRA Conversions Trading to Win at Acropolis Japan: The Taylor Swift of Stock Markets? China’s Interesting Times Presidential Elections & Stocks Trading Against Cramer Just Got Harder S&P 500 Enjoys Record (Close Back in December) Bitcoin: Coming to an ETF Near You Amid Soft-Landing Talk, Leading Indicators Still Signal Recession Happy New Year Fed Chair Powell Dons Red Suit and Fake White Beard Visualizing the Labor Landscape Why We Fear Inflation Fooling Yourself with Private Market Math 30 Market Timing Signals that Worked Have Bonds Become More Volatile Than Stocks? Active Passive Word Play America’s Credit Rating Stock Bond Correlation Changes Aren’t Concerning What’s Happening in China? Thank You Short-Sellers So You Say You Want Alpha: Cathy Woods has Some Glad to be Alive You Better Think (think!) About Estate Planning Lessons from the Land of the Rising Sun Decoding How the Mighty Greenback Shapes Your Investments The McNealy Problem The Bond Market is of Mixed Minds about a Recession The Market Has Bad Breadth Debt Ceiling Crisis in Perspective America & the PIIGS Stock Buybacks: Finding Common Ground Amid Controversy How to Avoid Disaster ChatGPT Did Not Write This Insight The March Towards Exchange-Traded Funds Successful Trading at Acropolis Cash Matters Banking Crisis: Swiss Edition Silicon Valley Bank: Something Broke Silicon Valley Bank: Something Broke Silicon Valley Bank Betting with Jim Cramer. Or Against Him Considering Inflation Protected Bonds (Again) New Rules Could Mean New Strategies Acropolis Clients Market View Acropolis Investor Social Day Acropolis Invest Social Preview #2 Acropolis Investor Social Preview #1 Let Private Investments Stay Secret The Risk of Stagflation Good News for Stocks & Bonds (Less so, for Crypto) We Planned For This Low Volatility Investor Expectations Returns: Before, During and After Recessions Fed Indirectly Signals Recession It’s Good to be the Queen or King, Financially Speaking Happy Anniversary – Acropolis Turns 20! The Word From Jackson Hole Fed Tightening and Stocks Warren Buffet Looking at Inflation, Backwards and Forwards Looking at Inflation, Backwards and Forwards Visualizing the Supply Chain The Chance of Recession Inflation: A Deep Dive The Second-Most Important Element of Retirement Planning A Look at Bear Markets, Part II A Look at Bear Markets Pricing Lessons from Private Investments Ben Franklin on Volatility Now Showing on Netflix: A Cautionary Tale Socially Responsible Investing Economists Estimate the Probability of Recession Stagflation & Misery The High Cost of Hedging Russian Exposure in Your Portfolio The Market Response to Russian Invasion of Ukraine Looking Forward, Value is Easier to Own The S&P 500: An Increasingly Concentrated Bet Big Bets Prove Costly The S&P 500 Doubled in Three Years. Now What? Alternatives are Tough Illustrating Inflation Inflation Runs Hot The Trouble with Tesla I Finally Bought Bitcoin Before You Invest in Alternatives Is China’s Evergrande Our Lehman Brothers? Inflation and the Price of Milk What Kills a Bond Portfolio The Fed and the Long Term How Many Stocks is Too Many? Drawdowns in Retirement, Part Deux Drawdowns in Retirement Betting Big on the Future Our Yale Education; Remembering David Swenson Derivatives in Your Portfolio Having it all with Buffer Funds? Roth 401k Considerations Sensational Small-Caps Investing for Inflation Worried About Inflation? Acropolis Trading Results Modern Robin Hood is No Hero The GameStops Here What the SPAC? Yield Curve Control Economic Growth Expectations Worried About Inflation? Since the Great Depression Nothing Can Stop America Economy Contracts, Stocks Surge. Surprised? Stocks or Bonds in a Recession? Chance of Recession: 100 Percent Dodging Commodities Oil Gets Weird Unemployment Today Junk Bonds in Today’s Market Corporate Bonds in Today’s Market Coronavirus & Earnings Season Markets Stabilizing, but Still Turbulent COVID-19 and Acropolis From Inside Acropolis Markets Testing Your Mettle We Planned for This NEW! 2020 Retirement Plan Contribution Limits Acropolis Has Moved! Is Warren Buffett Worried? The Secret to Yale’s Success Why Hire a Financial Advisor? The Most Powerful Man in the World? The Most Powerful Man in the World Risk & Volatility When Warren Buffett Speaks, I Listen Why Bother with International Stocks? Lessons From the Shutdown Is the Market Rigged? Ba Humbug! What’s Driving the Market Lower? Yield Curve Inversion: What It Means for Investors Interest Rates and Equities: A Selloff Explained What Ever Happened to Bitcoin, Anyway? Remembering Lehman Brothers: What Have We Learned? How Much Will Retirement Cost? The WSJ May be Wrong Just How Rich Are You? Trade Wars and Interest Rates Whither Value? Ask Warren Buffett Bond Yields: Still Crazy After All These Years Changes are Coming to the S&P 500 Don’t Get Greedy! Unemployment at 20-Year Lows; Time to Buy? Retelling the Story of Concentration Risk $1 Billion Tax Bill Big Data, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning A Look at Tariffs and Trade Wars Busting Another Wall Street Myth Hollywood Goes to Wall Street Who is Jay Powell? Efficient Markets Fact and Fiction The Crazy Thing? Stocks Could Go Much Higher The Bucket Approach The Fault in our Stars Changes to the Missouri Most 529 Plan The Equifax Breach: What to do Now Cliff Asness Says, Fire Your Mechanic New and Improved: The Shiller PE Ratio What the Hell is Bitcoin, Anyway? Getting to Know Your Volatility Could the Inherited IRA Be Eliminated? The Most Remarkable Investor that You’ve Never Heard Of Retirement Spending Rules of Thumb It’s Not an Index Fund Watching for Traps, Growth & Value Woodstock for Capitalists A Long View of Non US Stocks A Fund Struggles and I Can’t Look Away Meet the Fed’s FOMC How to Think About the Market’s Valuation The Words of Warren Buffett The High Cost of Healthcare for Retirees What is a Border Adjustment Tax? A Quote to Consider from Sir John Templeton I am a Capitalist How Long is the Long Term? Bond Market Fascinations: An Interview Dow 20,000 Taxes: A Hint of What’s to Come Bond Rally and Rout to Nowhere Equity Risk Dominates Your Portfolio Prerequisites for Alternative Investments Buffett’s Wild Ride Is the Grass Greener in Private Equity? Allocating to Risky Assets The Peril of Company Stock A Silly but True Market Anomaly Earnings Season is Upon Us Negative Swiss Yields Get Even Crazier The Market Hates Uncertainty Currency Prices are Efficient Too (and sometimes wrong) REITs: An Asset Class or Just Another Sector? Small Caps Simultaneously Over- and Under-Perform PIMCO Shows that Discipline Can Pay Off Do Behavioral Biases Matter? Is Acropolis Contrarian? Mindfulness Meditation in Montreal Corporate Bond Risks and Returns in the News Tax Trivia to Ease the Pain Yale Bets Big Overseas Healthy Aging: Building Your Social Network Yield Curve Madness When to Head for the Exits Healthy Aging: Why Put Family First Healthy Aging: The Challenge of Leisure King of Wall Street Remembered Performance Transparency The Inside Story on Trading Costs Applied Investment Rigor Is Value Investing Dead? An Unusual Energy IPO Fed Policy: From ZIRP to NIRP? Interest Rates in Perspective Drawdowns Part Deux Drawdowns Help Visualize Losses Market Forecasts Part 2 Market Forecasts Part 1 Oil and Energy Stocks Treasury Bills Beat Oil 30 Years On When Trends Reverse Possible Law Changes Beyond File and Suspend Injured Unicorns Spotted in Silicon Valley What Retirees (and Pre-Retirees) Worry About A Big Bet on Emerging Markets Navigating Bond Market Holidays New Data Helps Planning for College Efficient Markets: Fact and Fiction Jack Bogle Doesn’t ‘Do” International Investing I’ve Got an Embarrassing Admission The Right Time Horizon for Stocks Visualizing Stock Returns Today’s Ugly Duckling is Tomorrow’s Swan Active or Passive? Yes, Exactly. Best Cities to Retire What If I was Japanese? Don’t Worry, Be Happy and Live Longer The Secret Sauce Behind Value and Momentum Oil as an Inflation Hedge The Chart That Made Me Laugh Out Loud Downside Protection That Doesn’t Protect Deconstructing the Dow Jones Industrial Average High Yielding Asset Classes What Success Looks Like Buffett Bags an Elephant The Secret to Stock Buyback Returns Greek Stocks Fall 16% in One Day; Markets Still Efficient When the Index is Wrong Diversification in Today’s Market When Bubbles Burst: China Edition How Investors See the Greek Problem in Two Charts Doing Well by Doing Good Maximizing Social Security A Strategy for Stock Sectors What Drives Long Run Economic Growth? How to Tell Emerging from Developed Markets The Right Time Horizon for Stocks Interest Rates Rising ETF Deathwatch Finding the Best Ratio to Value Stocks Advice for Graduates: Buy Stocks Quality Investments Over Quantity Investments The Trouble with Hedge Funds Estimating the All-In Costs Attention Gold Bugs: Don’t Worry, Be Happy Flash Crash Surprise, Five Years Later New Thoughts on the Active Passive Debate Momentum: A Moving Body in Motion Finding True Diversification in Alternatives Behavior Beats Strategy A Value Investing Primer Old Advice, as Valuable as Ever To Hedge or Not to Hedge Are Markets Getting More Volatile? A Small Cap Primer Beat the Market in Bonds Fund Manager Beats Market for 40 Years The Fed’s New Drug of Choice What Corporate Bond Yields are Telling Us A Bear Market Strategy Buffett Speaks, Acropolis Listens Negative Yields: It’s a Crazy Mixed Up World Mutual Funds: Decisions, Decisions.. Black Box Investing The Wrong Kind of Diversification Investing Made Simple Smart Money Kids Inside the Belly of the Yield Curve When a Strategy Stumbles Burgernomics How High Should Interest Rates Go? The Specter of Deflation Economic Growth: Past, Present and Future Insider Trading Made Easy Beating the Index The Allure of Market Timing Portfolio Construction: Get Your Yellow Hard Hat On Tony Robbins: From Life Guru to Markets Master Forecasting Oil Prices Jim Cramer Gets Burned in Lightening Round Perpetual Income Using Donor Advised Funds Why Invest in Commodities? A Look Inside Superior Performance How to Get a $200 million IRA (no joke) Are Banks Safer? Japan is in Recession. When is it Not in Recession? Long‑Term Care Insurance: Protect Your Nest Egg — Should You Buy It? Anatomy of a Short Squeeze You Can Be a Stock Market Genius Choosing a Trustee Finding Higher Yield Crude Oil Falls: A Tax Cut for Everyone Dirty Words of Finance Help Your Kids and Grandkids with a 529 Account Patience is a Virtue My Experience with Alternative Investments Canaries in a Coal Mine: Stocks Sell Off Retiree Spending Alibaba vs. Amazon ETF Deathwatch The Naked Truth About Actively Managed Mutual Funds Where Your Taxes Go Planning on a Long Life with Longevity Insurance Avoid This Catastrophic Loss Value in the Modern World Why We Avoid Junk Bonds Falling Dollar Fallout Should We Pay Off Our Mortgage? — Retire Mortgage, Retire Mortgage A New Milestone: S&P 500 Closes Above 2,000 The Unique Benefits of REITs Mutual Fund Fees Matter Avoiding Risk Can Be Risky Not All Indexes Are Created Equal Pension Cuts Hedge Fund Investments Money Market Reform Visualizing Bond Returns Money and Happiness Penny Stock Scams When Interest Rates Rise Prepare for Your Tax Return & Get Better After-Tax Returns Cash is Trash Do Hedge Funds Hedge? Black Swans Bank Loan Risks Dogs of the Dow IRA Rollover Rule Changes The Trouble with College Savings It’s Easy to Beat the Market The Truth About Global Growth Are Small Caps Expensive? The Wisdom (and Madness) of Crowds The Market is Not Rigged Buybacks vs Dividends Which Stock Sector is Best? When to Take Social Security Benefits Acropolis vs the Yale Endowment The Market is Over Valued. Now What? Client Goals Trump Everything Emerging Markets Tail Wags Dog Acropolis vs Harvard Endowment How We Use Past Performance Morningstar’s Manager of the Year Category: Participant Insights Participant Insights 1Q 2019 Participant Insights 4Q 2018 Participant Insights 3Q 2018 Participant Insights 2Q 2018 Participant Insights 1Q 2018 Participant Insights 4Q 2017 Participant Insights 3Q 2017 Participant Insights 1Q 2017 Participant Insights 2Q 2016 Participant Insights 2Q 2017 Participant Insights 4Q 2016 1Q 2016 Participant Insights Category: PDF Library Category: Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights Portfolio Insights 401K Plans Centrics LLC 401(k) Profit Sharing Plan & Trust KFW Endodontics Specialists 401(k) Plan Whaley Steel Remedi SeniorCare Integrity Pharmacy Star MTM Medicine On Time Wolken Dental, D.D.S, P.C. Victor Pipe & Steel, Inc. Ullico Inc. The Weeks Group Titan Carpentry TJ Wies Contracting SSE Systems Service Enterprises, Inc. Dental Anesthesia Center Sleep Dentistry - St. Louis Newbold Toyota Newbold BMW Seventeen Motors, Inc. Anodyne Surgical PSI/Eye-Ko, Inc. Clarest Health Tap RX ProCare LTC Premiere Eye Associates Partek Incorporated AmCon Labs Nomax, Inc. Westbrook Dialysis Nephrology Associates Navvis & Company MBI Modern Business Interiors MRHFM Maune Raichle Hartley French & Mudd Ho'ola Healthcare goBRANDgo G&W Engineering Corporation Surround Care Esse Health Doll Services DES Defense Enterprise Solutions Falling Springs Quarry Casper Stolle Quarry & Contracting Co. Inc. BVENT Boulder Valley Ear Nose and Throat Associates Barklage, Brett & Hamill Acropolis Investment Management People Rebecca Dollens Matt Adrignola Jack Carpenter Laura Baum Stephanie Harkless Karen Nelson Heather Burke Jennifer Orr Nathan Levinson Andrea Levinson Alex Umble Miranda Hagar Andrea Lathrop Jessy Hendricks Scott McKillip, CFP® Nathan Ward Mimi Rudolph Ched Wagner, CFP® Amanda Mertens Brad Combs, CFP®, CPA Michele Clark, CFP® Brian J Smith, CFP® Matt Binder John McClelland, CFP® Leslie Akers Bob Fleming Ryanne Harmann, QKA, QKC Cynthia McKillip, CFP® Kaley Pogrelis, CFP® Robert Schramm Amy Crews, QKA, QKC Minjung Son, CFA, CIPM Ryan Craft, CFA Marie Tustin, CFP® Lauren Kingsten, CFP® Stacie Brost, CPA Cliff Reynolds, CFA, CFP® Sakis Salas, CFP® Joe Kelley Michael Lissner, CFP®, CEPA Dannelle Ward, CFP® David Ott Chris Lissner