Congrats on the money this year

My dad summed it up perfectly this weekend when he randomly shouted "boy my accounts are looking GOOD!"

I knew in that moment... I'd be getting a nice Christmas present.

But he's not the only one winning. If you were an investor in pretty much anything and held strong, your accounts are probably looking great too.

With 2023 pretty much behind us, here's where we are so far for the year:

• S&P 500:  +25%

  • Nasdaq 100 (largest tech stocks):  +54%

  • Russell 2000 (small-cap stocks):  +15%

• Bitcoin:  +153%

• Money Markets (basically cash): +5%

I'm certainly happy about the money.  But let's not forget how we were feeling just earlier this year and how far we’ve come.

Short Memories

At the end of 2022, inflation had invited themselves to the party and interest rates began rising. Crypto was getting wiped out, tech millionaires were dropping left-and-right, and student loans were lurking.

Suddenly, Cash - and other very unsexy instruments - became the most attractive investments around.  Even some prominent Venture Capitalists said they had no incentive to keep investing when the "risk-free rate" (i.e. cash, quasi-cash) was more attractive.

And let's not forget that Russia went rogue and chose to start an actual war.

It's kind of unexplainable. 

Expectations were as low as they'd ever been. And it's almost like that helped. Any good news felt like really good news.

I can't even point to any 1 specific turning point. It was almost like everyone was a pessimist all year long, not accepting gifts from mother nature, until last week when the Fed said they'd lower rates (but really, this time).

And now: here we are. Feeling rich on our way to a gingerbread cookies and fudge.

We've seen this movie before

The crazy things about investing in the markets is that this happens all the time.

Just when you think you've got it figured out, the market takes control back and gives you something you didn't expect. 

This can happen in any direction, by the way.  All in a short time!

When any corrections (dips) happen - our brains play tricks on us.  We act like we knew it all along: "it was so obvious we’d have a recession, we were printing free money. I never trusted in crypto.”

We try and take a W on an L.

But rarely do we do let ourselves take a W on a W. 

Well, today, I give you permission.

Congratulations on the money.  You earned it. 

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