The S&P 500 is about as pricey as it ever gets. It’s also in freefall as I write. This is good news for anyone looking for a future bargain. The plunge, however, is really bad news for most retirees who don’t read this column. They tend to own nothing except “America’s ticker” via the SPDR S&P 500 Trust ETF (SPY) . At 24-times earnings (P/E ratio), SPY is expensive. After all, who has 24 years to wait to get paid back? But the actual payback period is even worse for SPY. Most of its firms don’t pay out all of their profits as dividends.… Read more