FINANCIaL
FIELd NOTES
10-Year Market Outlook
Because of the variability of stock market returns in the short run, I steer clients away from short-term tactical changes to their portfolio and prefer to rely on the weighty evidence of history, along with long-term thematic trends in the market.
While no one has consistently and accurately predicted what the stock market is about to do, several well-respected firms provide long-term outlooks that have proven to be more accurate than short-term predictions.
Below are the 2026 10+ year estimates…
Sometimes, Markets Are Irrational
One of the hardest things for investors to accept is that markets don’t always make sense, at least not in the short term.
Here’s a good example. Recently, small-cap companies with negative earnings have outperformed those with positive earnings…
International Stocks Still Cheap Relative to the U.S.
After more than a decade of U.S. stock dominance, international stocks outperformed U.S. stocks last year.
That has naturally investors to wonder “Did we miss it?”
Even after a period of international outperformance, U.S. stocks remain historically expensive relative to international stocks, and the valuation gap between the two is still unusually wide…
Investing at Today’s Elevated Market Prices
With markets once again touching all-time highs, it’s natural for investors to feel uneasy. I’ve had several recent conversations with clients expressing concern that stocks are “too expensive.” That’s understandable with valuations today more than a standard deviation above their long-term averages…
Investing Cash at All-Time Highs
With the stock market once again at all-time highs, clients who have cash to invest have the added mental weight of investing money after a long stretch of market growth.
Should they buy after a dip? Wait for a correction? Hold cash until the "perfect" entry point? Over the long run, timing matters surprisingly little compared to simply staying invested…
The Stock Market Isn’t as Random as It Looks
If you log into your financial accounts every day, the stock market will feel quite random. Up, down, sideways, and completely unpredictable. You have about a 50/50 chance of seeing red on any given day, 47% to be exact.
There are about 250 trading days in a normal calendar year, which means that for 125 days every year, you will log in and see that your investments are down. Even the most resilient investor will feel the weight of that…