2021 Market Wrap Up

As we wrap up the year, it is useful to consider what 2021 looked like in terms of the major market benchmarks and their drivers.

The S&P
According to Yahoo!Finance, the S&P index has risen 22.88% year to date as of December 21, 2021. Fed actions have been supportive of market gains. We’ll see if the story changes next year as the central bank recently announced its intention to taper. Inflationary pressures were real in 2021 but led to no significant margin compression as corporations were able to pass on resource cost increases to the consumer. We’ll see if this is the case in 2022.

Bonds
The Bloomberg US Aggregate is the main bond index that is used to track how bonds are doing, in general. The index returned -1.46% year to date, as of December 21, 2021. Despite this pallid 2021 performance, bonds continue to be an important part of a diversified portfolio, especially during times of uncertainty.

Social Security
Additionally, we wanted to mention the Social Security Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA) was 5.9% going into 2022. This reflects the effects that rising inflation and cost of Medicare benefits are possibly having on Social Security. This increase is the largest we’ve seen in quite a while.

We hope these summary return statistics on the market are useful. If there are any questions on your portfolio or financial plan, please reach out to us. Happy holidays and we bid you and your families peace.
-Judd
 
All data contained in this communication is for comparison purposes only and may not be interpreted as a forward-looking indicator. There are no guarantees that past performance will repeat itself in the future, and if there are any questions as to your personal financial situation you should consult with an advisor.