Tax matters in the spring.
Profit coverage is once per quarter.
A person is contractually obliged to Sold in May blog post that month every year.
At the moment it is a combination of looking back and looking forward.
It’s forecasting season for the coming year – the biggest risks, opportunities, price targets, etc. for 2026. This is the best time to make predictions about the next year because no one will hold you accountable for your forecasting skills. So many predictions are made that everything blends together.
But the end of the year is also a time to reflect on what just happened. Writing a piece about the investment lessons for 2025 is a slam dunk at this point.
I know because I’ve done that for the past few years.
Lessons about investing are much more useful than predictions about investing, even though predictions attract more attention.
But here’s a little secret I’ve learned over time about investing lessons: They don’t really change.
You can write these lessons in advance and simply choose the lessons that apply depending on the environment.
Market volatility is an opportunity, not a reason to abandon your investment plan.
Don’t let fear or greed determine your investment policy.
Don’t confuse your investment horizon with someone else’s.
Don’t give in to FOMO.
Don’t allow recency bias, survival bias, hindsight bias, or short-term performance bias to determine your actions.
Never panic.
Never get too high in a bull market or too low in a bear market. You are not smarter when the market goes up, or dumber when the market goes down.
Markets are constantly evolving. Human nature is not. The stories are driven by price and price movements are fickle.
It’s always the same lessons!
We just have to learn them over and over again. That’s why I usually write about the same things over and over again on this blog.
Like Jason Zweig once wrote“That’s because good advice rarely changes, while markets are constantly changing. The temptation to give in is almost irresistible. And while people need good advice, they only want advice that sounds good.”
I have no idea what will happen in 2026. No one else either.
Whatever it is, the lessons will be timeless.
They always are.
Michael and I talked about the investing lessons for 2025, the market outlook for 2026 and much more in this week’s Animal Spirits video:
Subscribe The connection so you never miss an episode again.
Further reading:
20 lessons from 20 years of dealing with money
Here’s what I’ve been reading lately:
Books:
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