February Results & ROTH Conversions

The market made a nice comeback during February.  There has been much volatility, wide swings from day to day--which is why looking at your nest egg every day can be stressful!  So don't do it!  There is no reason to be looking at your portfolio that much--all it really does is make you much more emotional about your money when we want to be rational.  Probably the biggest news last month was the Federal Reserve Board raising the discount rate (the rate at which banks can lend from the Fed) to .25%.  That's right, .25%.  The market was a little rattled by this action as it symbolized the beginning of higher rates to come.  We still have a long way to go it seems to me.
There has been much talk about the ROTH conversions which are now unrestricted by the amount of income you have in any one year.  Generally speaking, the conversions are optimal for those who really don't need their IRA assets and who have the money to pay the tax on the conversion outside of the IRA.  Though many of the articles out there seem to support the idea that young investors in particular should be utilizing this conversion tactic, I am still on the fence about it.  I think there is some reasonable risk that 30 or 40 years from now when you start using the money in the ROTH that it will be taxed in some way.  That's the problem with the tax advantaged vehicles--the tax code could always change...especially if there ends up being huge amounts of money in these ROTH accounts.  If you want me to look at your specific situation to see if it makes sense for you to convert, please send me an email.  There are may variables that come into play.

Here are the February results:
The Monthly Index Report for February 2010

Index	Feb-10		YTD	Description
S&P 500 Index*	2.9%		-1.0%	Large-cap stocks
DJIA*	2.6%		-1.0%	Large-cap stocks
Nasdaq Comp.*	4.2%		-1.4%	Large-cap tech stocks
Russell 1000 Growth	3.4%		-1.1%	Large-cap growth stocks
Russell 1000 Value	3.2%		0.3%	Large-cap value stocks
Russell 2000 Growth	4.4%		-0.3%	Small-cap growth stocks
Russell 2000 Value	4.6%		1.6%	Small-cap value stocks
EAFE	-0.7%		-5.1%	Europe, Australasia & Far East Index
Lehman Aggregate	0.4%		1.9%	U.S. Government Bonds
Lehman High Yield	0.2%		1.4%	High Yield Corporate Bonds
Calyon Financial Barclay Index**	1.1%		-0.8%	Managed Futures
3-mo. Treasury Bill	0.0%		0.0%
All returns are estimates as of February 26, 2010. *Return numbers do not include dividends.** Returns are estimates as of February 25, 2010.