🧠 Our 2022 Investing Results Revealed
Friends,
2022 has been a brutal year for investors. The S&P 500 is down 20%; the NASDAQ is down 33%. The ARKK ETF fell 67%. Heck, even the Vanguard Total Bond Market ETF dropped 12%.
In times like this, it’s easy to beat yourself up.
You’re probably saying things like “the market is rigged”, or “I’ll never be a good investor,” to yourself.
Don’t. Those are toxic thoughts.
Instead, we recommend a strong dose of self-compassion.
This doesn’t mean you lie to yourself by believing that nothing is wrong. It means admitting that investing is hard; acknowledging that this is exactly what learning about investing should feel like; and knowing that you are getting better at this.
Nir Eyal’s 2019 hit Indestractible points out self-compassion has two key benefits over self-blame:
- Happiness: A 2015 review of 79 studies and 16,000 respondents confirmed a “positive and caring attitude…in the face of failures,” led to increases in happiness and decreases in depression and anxiety.
- Performance: Addicts who believed they had the ability to get better even after relapses were far more likely quit their addictions.
That second point is important, because we often think self-blame will motivate us to do better.
It doesn’t.
But, if you still aren’t convinced you should cut yourself some slack, consider this: the three of us think about investing for a living. We’ve been buying stocks (combined) for over 50 years.
And yet, here’s how our returns fared in 2022:
- Feroldi: Down 43%
- Stoffel: Down 53%
- Withers: Down 57%
As we said, it was a brutal year.
Now, we’re been investing for decades, so we’re all still up substantially over the last decade. But, we know that new investors can’t say the same.
This year reminds us of an important adage:
In investing, there are no experts — only veterans.
Here’s hoping that 2023 is a better year for everyone.
On a lighter note, our flagship financial statements explained simply course is open for enrollment. We made some major changes to the course based on student feedback, so we believe this will be our best cohort ever.
Sign up here using the code BBFRIEND300 for $300 off the list price. The code expires at 11:59 PM (EST) on Sunday, January 1st.
We hope you and your family have a wonderful holiday.
– Brian Feroldi, Brian Stoffel & Brian Withers
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One Simple Graphic:
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One Piece of Timeless Content:
Charlie Munger believes in the importance of developing many types of mental models to understand the world around you. This blog entry from Farnam Street highlights Munger’s perspectives and how they can be used to identify what Munger calls “lollapalooza effects”.
One Twitter Thread:
Aaron Bush has been working in the investing industry for more than a decade, even though he’s not even 10 years from his high school graduation. The insights he shares in the thread below are wise beyond his years.
May 24th 2020
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One Resource:
If you think that nothing good happened over the last 12 months, then Popular Science’s 100 Greatest Innovations of 2022 is a must read. It’s a nice overview of the most exciting technologies currently in development.
One Quote:
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More From Us:
👨🎓 Our flagship financial statements course is open for enrollment! Click here for details.
