Happy New Year - Market Update 1/2/25-1/3/25
Short Post This Week.
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Welcome back to the Rambling Mind Newsletter. Slow return for your boi. I completely disconnected from all things news. I spent my holiday watching bad Christmas movies and being about as lazy as possible.
AND IT WAS GLORIOUS! I hope your holiday was just as great.
Nevertheless, we are back and This is your (shortened) Market Update.
Summary of Topics:
Stats of the Week
📈242% & 618% - Reasons to Stay Invested
🥶230 Million Affected by Polar Vortex
Looking Ahead
⚒️Labor Market Data
Sports I Love
⚽Man U - A Broken Will
🏈Ravens Win AFC North
Extras
Gen Beta Arrives
Markets
2024 Returns
If you stayed invested last year, you love the results this year. There was so much noise last year (crazy to be saying last year) that the economy was DEFINITELY heading for a recession (I believed the noise). But the Stock Market was like LeBron in the 2016 NBA Finals, returning from being down 3-1. It did not care about the noise or how impossible it seemed. Stocks just kept climbing higher and higher. Proving once again the benefit of staying locked in on your investment plan.
Although, I believed the recessionary fears from all the economists. Which is why I repeatedly told everyone to have an emergency fund. However; I did not freak out and yank my investments. I let that thing ride. Now this works both ways, even if the stock market had fallen 20, 30, or 40% last year; I would have stayed invested. I am investing for over 30 years, not a day or two or a year.
But all that is now in the past, we begin ANEW!! Here is to a great 2025!
P.S.: I am secretly hoping we see a big pullback in the market this year. Like I said I have a 30-year investing window. I need discounts.
Tale of the Tape
Stats of the Week
242% & 618%
The S&P 500 has returned 242% in the last 10 years and 618% in the last 20 years.
Meaning: $1000 invested in 2015 would be worth $3,425 today
$1000 invested in 2005 would be worth $7,175 today
Takeaway: Stay invested. Do not measure your progress from day-to-day changes or even year-to-year changes. Measure your progress over decades because that is what matters when it comes to investing.
According to the NOAA (National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration), 230 million are being affected by the Polar Vortex that began over the weekend.
Tips: Stay warm and stay safe if you live in places like the South, where we do not do well with snow or ice at all. Take your time on the roads if you have to be on the roads at all.
Drip your faucets especially if you do not have underground plumbing or have a crawlspace.
Looking Ahead
First full work week of the year. We will all be trying to remember what exactly we are being paid to do or maybe it will just be me.
Jan. 9th has been marked as a day of mourning for the passing of President Jimmy Carter most federal offices will be closed as will the Stock Market.
👀 What to Watch
The year kicks off with labor market data:
On Tuesday, the JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey) will be released.
On Wednesday, ADP will release its monthly Private Payrolls numbers
On Friday, the BLS will release the nonfarm payrolls for December.
Sports I Love
Man U - A Broken Will
This team really tried to ruin my Christmas. Just look at the results of the last 4 games they have played.
Not only did they lose, they were badly beaten in every single game!
This team does not have a backbone anymore. They are broken. It is almost like they are waiting for something to go wrong at the beginning of the match. You have a couple of players that are trying their best but it does not matter because everyone else around them is just going with the motion. I have never seen a team so demoralized and without hope. Even with a new coach, the problems remain. This team needs a complete overhaul if they are ever to play well again.
🏈Ravens Win AFC North
Now time for playoff push. The Defense is playing the best ball of the season and the offense is doing what they do. I hope this is the season that both parts finally come together
Extras
2025 is the beginning of a new generation of children. This generation of children has been dubbed, Gen Beta.
Why Gen Beta: Well, we used all of the English Alphabet. Technically, we only used the last three letters. But you know science nerds, if it is not in their direct field of study it is useless. They forgot all other letters before X. So here we are with Gen Beta.
When asked, Mark McCrindle the demographer coined "Generation Alpha". He said it signifies the technological integration of the coming generations will be raised in.
Still crazy to think that I, by the grace of God, might have a child with my wife. Shocking! Even more of a scary realization is that Gen Z folks are gonna be the parents of some of these kids?!
May the Lord have mercy on us all
*I am a tiny shareholder in this company.