The year is obviously not over yet, but this might be a good time to consider how different 2024 is turning out, from an investment standpoint, than most pundits expected.  If you can remember all the way back to the beginning of the year, you might recall economists worrying about the risk of a hard landing for the U.S. economy—loosely translated as a recession.  The election year was likely to be turbulent, the various global political situations loomed, and 2023 was such a great year for the stock market that it was hard to imagine (for some) it being followed by a better one.

Yet here we are, with the S&P 500 up more than 20% for the second year in a row.  The economy (under certain metrics) is booming here and abroad, with a 2.8% economic expansion in the U.S. economy heading into the final quarter. There are not a lot of downturn forecasts floating around.

The fact though is that nobody can accurately predict the markets, which means it is generally better to tune out all the irrelevant chatter that tends to pick up around the start of a new year.

An interesting data point is that Nearly 60% of consumers responding to the Conference Board survey expect stocks be higher over the coming years—and that is the highest percentage on record going back to the first survey in 1987.  

Again, we do not know what’s coming, but it is always best to navigate by continuing to invest in a highly diversified portfolio, regardless of what happens.

This article was written by an independent writer for Brewster Financial Planning LLC and is not intended as individualized legal or investment advice.