It’s hard to believe we are already winding down another year. It’s been a very good year in many ways and also another very tough one for many people across the globe. Natalie and I are trying our best to focus on the good things going on in the world and preparing for what comes next in 2025. We wish you all a wonderful finish to the year and a great start to the year ahead!
We try to match our Christmas Holidays with the girls’ winter break. We’ve been putting in a lot of hours this year and honestly, could use some down time! There have been a lot of new rules and regulations in the Financial Services Industry which kind of result in us, well, going almost all the time. Luckily, we have fantastic clients so it’s all worth it in the end!! We are ready for a break by the end of each year and this time around, I’m going to try really, really hard to take some actual time off. For those of you who run your own businesses, you know how hard that can be… To make sure that I do take a real holiday, I plan to be out of the office starting on December 18th. We won’t book any meetings after that until the New Year. We’ll be back by Monday, January 6th, 2025. Christmas is a great chance for us to spend quality time with our three girls. Please get in touch either before or after this period if you need anything. You all know that I will end up checking my emails, but I’m going to try not to check them as often!
2024 was a fantastic year for Investments. The Global Stock Market did very well, and that’s after a pretty strong 2023. The Toronto Stock Exchange has hit one record high after another since January 1st of this year. At the time of this writing, we were sitting at another fresh high on the TSX1. The Markets in the USA have done even better here in 2024. The S&P 500 has hit over 50 new record highs this year2. This rally started in November of 2023 and has just kept going and going. Inflation in Canada has settled in around 2.00% so there is quite a bit of good news going into the Christmas Break. Interest Rates remain higher than before the Pandemic, but much lower than where they were at the beginning of the year3.
Of course, there was also the US Election which we just got through. There will be a lot to dissect there. It’s getting close to Christmas though, and who wants to talk American Politics at this time of the year?! Let’s delve into what the results could mean for the US and Global Economy in the New Year. On behalf of our family as well as Patrycja’s family, have a Very Merry Christmas and all the best going into 2025!!
Bryce A. Borden
1Nasdaq: TSX Hits New Record High Again, Ends 0.41% Up
2Bank of Canada: Keeping inflation at 2%
