A Positive Note at the End of a Tough Year

This year may not go down in infamy quite like 2000 or 2008. Still, 2022 has been tough for investors, and we’re glad to turn the page.

We all understand that decades-long investment horizons will include bad years. Still, that knowledge doesn’t necessarily take the sting out of watching a portfolio fall week-after-week, month-after-month.

Every year brings challenges. This year’s – inflation, recession fears, war, Covid, the Fed – were in a feedback loop with the markets. Bad news caused the market to slide, and the slide generated pessimism that pushed declines lower.  

Compounding the pain, the most reliable investments of the last dozen years – tech stocks and bonds – have had especially difficult years.

In spite of the negativity, we want to end this year on a positive note.

Markets are remarkably consistent engines for long-term growth. Underneath the negativity and crises that dominate headlines, unheralded progress is rampant, in good times and bad.

Here is an article by Derek Thompson of the Atlantic on ten scientific breakthroughs in 2022. The list includes cancer treatments, mRNA vaccines, lab grown meat, clean energy, and artificial intelligence (AI).

It’s an inspiring read and a reminder of why markets go up over time. Discoveries like these will generate significant benefits in the coming decades. Companies will harness their power and disseminate their value throughout the global economy. Diversified and patient investors will capture much of that value.

You can even try AI right now! ChatGPT and DALL-E are imperfect and mindboggling glimpses at the future. They can also be endless sources of fun with friends and family over the holidays (“create a story in the style of Dr. Seuss about bagels”).

Congratulations on persevering a difficult year. We expect, but of course can’t guarantee, that 2023 will be better. In any event, the future is bright.

Happy Holidays and Here’s to a Great 2023!