Unless something significant happens in the final weeks of the year, 2025 is turning out to be another year of solid investment gains for investors.
It hasn’t all come easy, though.
Remember the negative short-term impact tariffs had on stocks in March and April? You can see it in that sharp drop at the center-left of the above chart.
If you panicked at that moment, you are likely regretting it.
As charting platform Exhibit A reveals, this year has been another vindication of the “Stay the Course” mantra.
If you sold out of pessimism, the optimists were happy to buy from you—and at least at this point, they’ve been proven right.1
As the Oracle from Omaha says: “The stock market is a device for transferring money from the impatient to the patient.”2
Patience has paid off.
Don’t worry. You will have more tests of patience to come.
“Ordinary” years average 14% declines during the year.
Are you prepared for that?
It could be less or more extreme, but you must expect volatility.
Mid-term years can also have some big swings, as they tend to suffer the largest drawdowns in a Presidential cycle. Carson Group provides the following research3:
The key point from that historical research is not the drawdown, but the bounce-back a year after the lows: 31.7%.
Lessons like that, and the lesson we’ve experienced this year, are evidence that patience is not only good for the soul—it can pay in your portfolio and pocketbook.
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Sources:
1. This is a riff on a quote attributed to Benjamin Graham. Accessed online: https://www.goodreads.com/quotes/4310152-the-market-is-a-pendulum-that-forever-swings-between-unsustainable
2. Quote found here: https://www.investopedia.com/how-this-warren-buffett-quote-can-save-your-account-in-an-age-of-instant-gratification-11837274
3. “Thinking About 2026” (November 21, 2025). Accessed online: https://www.carsongroup.com/insights/blog/thinking-about-2026/