Last year was in many ways remarkable and unexpected. Economists spent much of the beginning of 2023 talking not about ‘if’ there would be an economic downturn later in the year but how bad it would be – a ‘mild’ recession was often the optimistic outlook. We ended the year having avoided a recession and with many markets and indexes having recovered (or nearly recovered) from 2022.
The takeaway from last year (as it always seems to be with periods like we’ve just experienced) is that the prognosticators can be (and often are) wrong. We are rewarded by implementing and sticking to a long-term investment strategy tied to a thoughtful financial plan. The reality is that there will be more recessions and market downturns in the future and that by relying on that knowledge and planning around it we are able to be successful regardless of the day to day, month to month or even year to year ebbs and flows of the market.
