Annual Traditions
It’s no surprise to anyone that we are in holiday season! 😊
From Halloween to Thanksgiving…and then on to Christmas and New Years…it is just months on end of celebrations and annual traditions. My kids remember each one…we had to watch Macy’s Thanksgiving day parade…and get a Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. We had to put up outdoor lights and blast Christmas music while decorating the tree. And we had to dress up all of the pets…
That is a tradition that I can live without. Although the guinea pigs are pretty cute, the cats and dogs wanted to hurt us.
The market has annual traditions too…obviously none are guaranteed, but investors that are weary of bad news and sad statements are really hoping that these annual traditions will hold up this year!!
For October—this was the only month since 1950 where stocks were significantly up while bonds lost over 1%. Historically, the returns following such divergent performance have been decent…
Also, traditionally stocks have very muted returns during a mid-term election year, but usually have great 4th quarter performance…we are all hoping this historical market tradition comes true… 😊
It has also been a very steady tradition that historically, great stock market returns follow some of the worst days/months.
But one of the more frustrating things about investing is that historical averages do not guarantee much at all. Averages are not the normal experience. While the stock market has averaged 10% annual return since 1926, the actual annul market returns are wildly erratic.
So, this year, Meridian is wishing that at least some of the market traditions hold close to average as a gift to all patient investors!!