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Howdy everyone!
It’s going to be a bit visual today, with a couple of graphs showing what the different returns for different asset classes were for 2019…
I did a similar post on this last year which highlighted 2018 vs 2017 here.
First, here are the stock market returns for 2019 vs 2018:
Well done to Russia, IT and Greece.
Polite applause to Poland, Chile and Argentina for participating.
Although it must be said that looking back, 2018 was a fairly abysmal year, and that 2019 was much better across the board.
Just goes to show that markets move in cycles – and unless you have a crystal ball, you just can’t perfectly time buying or selling.
Next, the stock market returns for the 2010s decade:
If you were invested in US stocks, pat yourself on the back.
The US market had one of its best decades. EVER.
Which is why passive investing in ETFs and indexing has risen to prominence. Why pay fees and waste time researching what to invest in, when you can chuck money on an index… and watch your money 2x, 3x, even 4x (and more)?
But it also highlights the risks of investing, basically from Poland down… you’d have been better to keep your money under the mattress (not counting inflation).
And if you had money in the Greeks…well…
Our Aussie market had a respectable 66.13% return over the decade, or around 5.2% compounded yearly (not factoring in dividends).
What about property?
Corelogic gives us a handy snapshot of the performance of the capital cities across the year.
The total return is a combination of annual growth + rental yield.
Sydney and Melbourne had a nice year given the recent downturn of the last couple, and good to see little Hobart still plugging away (though growth has slowed).
Have a sympathetic ear for those living in Perth and Darwin, although interesting to see Perth’s median value is now below Hobart… Perth has 2m inhabitants, Hobart has 250k… that’s ALL I’m saying.
~~~
And it’s another year over for reviewing financial performance. I wonder what’s in store for 2020?
One thing is for sure, the old adage that past performance is no indicator of future performance certainly is on show here.
Markets move in cycles, just because something has zoomed up before doesn’t mean it will again.
Conversely, just because something is in the dumps, doesn’t necessarily mean that it will forever be so.
And personally, I think that’s where the smart money is.
Happy investing for the new decade!
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