Have you ever heard the stock market be compared to a roller coaster? There’s a good reason for this. While sometimes the markets will go through long, relatively flat periods, there are also times when they will rise and fall, climb and dip with astonishing speed.
For most of us, the words “bank failure” immediately trigger the same memory: the financial crisis of 2008. That was a year no investor could ever forget. The year some of the largest, most storied financial institutions in the world – think Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and others – collapsed, never to return.
Every January, it’s customary to look back at the year that was. What were the highlights? What were the “lowlights”? What events will we always remember? Most importantly, what did we learn?
Everyone has a favorite ornament on their Christmas tree. For some, it’s those red, shiny glass spheres that reflect the lights around them, bathing the room in a warm glow on Christmas Eve. Others prefer ribbons, beads, or candy canes. There are those whose fondest ornament is the tiny macaroni angel or baked salt dough wreath their child made for them in kindergarten.
Have you ever gotten a present you didn’t really want but knew that you kinda sorta needed? (For example, socks.) Just before Christmas, that’s exactly what the Federal Reserve decided to give the country. Except the present wasn’t socks, but another interest rate hike meant to combat inflation.
Thanksgiving is one of my favorite holidays. As I get older, I think more and more about Thanksgivings past and all the food, laughter, and company I enjoyed from childhood to adulthood. I find myself nostalgic for the holiday of my youth, when I was a kid in my parents’ house, partaking in family traditions passed down for generations. Or the holiday of early adulthood, when my own children were young and learning those same traditions for themselves.