Robert Brokamp

In other words, the later innings of a bull market, but perhaps another year or so of solid gains.

He points out that the current bull market is being driven by actual earnings.

The expected growth rate for third quarter earnings started out at 7% year over year, but has jumped to 13%.

Yes, valuations for the market weighted U.S.

stock market are lofty, but the P.E.

for the median stock is not unreasonable.

The higher P for the cap-weighted indexes are, of course, due to the fact that the market is dominated by the MAG-7, which are not cheap and make up almost 40% of the S&P 500.

But Timmer believes that investors can find a good hedge against this concentration risk in cheaper international stocks.

For another rosy review, we turn to Ryan Dietrich of the Carson Group, who recently pointed out that the S&P 500 was down more than 15% by April of this year, but then rebounded and will likely end the year with double-digit gains.

If that happens, 2025 will join 1982, 2009, and 2020 as the only other years since 1950 when this has happened.

How did the S&P 500 perform in the calendar years after those previous three instances?

It posted double-digit gains each time with the median return being 17.3%.

For our next item, we turn to a provision that took effect last year and allows unused money in a 529 college savings account to be transferred to a Roth IRA for the beneficiary.

There are a lot of restrictions around this, including that the account has to have been open for at least 15 years.

The amount that can be transferred in a single year cannot exceed that year's contribution limit for an IRA.

The total amount that can be transferred is $35,000, and there are many other rules, so do your research before trying this.

However, if you meet all the requirements, the transfer is free of federal taxes.

But what about state taxes?

Well, a recent article from Ian Berger at irahelp.com provided some clarification.

Residents of the nine states that don't levy an income tax have nothing to worry about.