Editor's note: Between the news, the election, and the holidays, it's easy to get distracted from preparing your investments for the new year. But according to Marc Chaikin – founder of our corporate affiliate Chaikin Analytics – now is the time to plan for success in 2025. In today's essay, recently published in the free Chaikin PowerFeed e-letter, Marc explains why you shouldn't wait to focus on your investing strategy...
I realize this is the time of year when most folks are distracted and busy, preparing for the holidays...
How many times have you heard, "Let's circle back to this in January," over the past couple weeks?
It's kind of a "December mantra."
But it's moments like this – when the majority of investors aren't paying attention – that you have the chance to make the financial decisions that will dictate your entire year to come...
That means having the focus and courage to act. But it's hard for many investors to shake just how unstable things feel right now...
Election rally aside, recession alarm bells are still ringing in the financial media. Some people even believe that President-elect Donald Trump's proposed trade tariffs will be what finally brings it on.
And no matter how much inflation seems to come down, prices are still at record highs.
Meanwhile, multiple wars are happening overseas that we could be dragged into.
I can't blame folks for thinking that any one of those things could bring this bull market to its knees in 2025.
Put simply, the world is awash in conflicting information right now. It's enough to make your head spin.
But it gets worse...
For example, earlier this year, the Guardian conducted a poll that measured the average American's beliefs about the state of the U.S. economy and stock market.
At the time, 49% of respondents said they believed that the stock market had gone down in 2024.
Even before the Guardian published the poll results, the S&P 500 Index was already churning higher. And when the article was published in late May, the S&P 500 Index was already up more than 11% for the year.
By now, it's up about 27% in 2024.
If folks had held that doom-and-gloom mindset all year, they would've missed out on months of massive gains. And like I said earlier, there's still plenty of fear in the air.
I simply can't imagine a more financially dangerous disconnect.
Now, just by being a DailyWealth reader, I know that you're better informed than these folks. After all, they're about as wrong as it gets.
But it goes to show you how extreme this year's "national distraction" was. By that, I mean the election and the media circus around it.
Again, the S&P 500 is up about 27% year to date. That's one of the best years we've had since the 1990s. But that doesn't stop the media from trying to confuse people.
If you aren't careful, you'll be blinded to some of the greatest moneymaking opportunities the U.S. stock market will ever give you. And you could spend the next decade trying to make up for lost time.
Folks, the election is over... But we've still got talk of crashes, inflation, bubbles, and just about every other scary-sounding financial buzzword you can think of.
But the reality is, big changes are coming to the market in 2025. And you don't want to find yourself "waiting till January" to take advantage.
Good investing,
Marc Chaikin
Editor's note: Marc has used his Power Gauge system to help his followers navigate nearly every critical market move in recent years – with astounding results.
Yesterday morning, he revealed the exact details behind a special indicator that just flashed... and why it could chart the next six months of U.S. stock market performance. This is shaping Marc's investment road map for the first half of 2025... Click here to learn all the details.
