Six Years of Columns

by Paul Ruedi

We began writing weekly newspaper columns in April of 2020. At the end of that month, the S&P 500 index closed at 2,912.43. Hovering around 7,000 these days, the S&P 500 has more than doubled since then. But if those six years seemed like an ideal time to be an investor, think again.

We started writing these columns in the very early stages of the pandemic. It was a terrifying time in general, and even more so for investors. The economy was essentially shut down and it wasn’t clear when things would return to normal, if ever. The S&P 500 was hovering below 3,000. Having bounced off the pandemic lows extremely quickly, it was still right up against bear market territory. People weren’t exactly shouting from the rooftops that this was a buying opportunity. They were too busy rushing to the supermarket to buy all the toilet paper.

Then seemingly out of nowhere, the S&P 500 shot back up to end 2020 with double digit returns. 2021 was even better, with returns of over 26%. This unexpected performance really shocked people, but just when people were starting to expect this performance to continue, the party came to an end in 2022 when the stock market dropped by close to 20%. If that wasn’t bad enough, 2022 was also the worst year for bonds in history.

It would have been very easy to become pessimistic at that time. After a wave of interest rate increases, persistent inflation, and other headwinds, 2023 didn’t seem like a good year to be an investor. But investors who stuck with their investments were treated to another year of strong returns in 2023 when the S&P 500 increased over 24%.

After such a strong year in 2023, it was hard for many investors to expect stocks to go much further in 2024. But to everyone’s surprise, the S&P 500 increased by over 23% in 2024. In 2025 we finally got a quick taste of adversity when a tariff-induced decline briefly sent stocks into bear market territory, but the market quickly recovered and the S&P 500 closed out the year up over 16%.

What will the next six years hold? Nobody can predict. But I can predict there will be plenty of crises both large and small ready to scare investors out of their investment portfolios. The key to success in investing is holding on through the tough times to reap the returns we have received over the past six years. That will never change.

Paul Ruedi is the CEO of Ruedi Wealth Management in Champaign, Illinois.