What 2025 Taught Us About Staying the Course

Craig Seligman |
Categories
Investments
Finance
Risk Management
Retirement

Some years pass quietly. 2025 wasn't one of them.

Between market swings, geopolitical shocks, and a news cycle that never seemed to pause, this year tested patience across the board. And yet, as we close out December, the real story isn't about what the markets did. It's about how we responded.

2025 Market Volatility: A Year in Review

Even those who tried to tune out the noise found it crashing through anyway:

  • The Spring Selloff: Trade tensions boiled over, and markets tanked nearly 20% in a matter of weeks.1
  • Geopolitical Whiplash: Invasion threats.2 A 12-day war in the Middle East.3 Rare earth mineral standoffs with China.4 Even U.S.-Canada relations got tense.5
  • The Gold Rush: Confidence in the dollar slipped,6 and gold surged over 60% as investors piled in.7
  • The Shutdown: Washington ground to a halt, and for many families, financial anxiety hit closer to home.8
  • The AI Mania: Tech stocks went vertical.9 If you weren't in, you felt left out. If you were in, you wondered if it was too much, too fast.
  • The Economic Grind: Inflation stuck around.10 The job market softened.11

Through all of it, one question kept surfacing: Is my plan still working?

Where Markets Ended Up

After all the turbulence, something shifted. By early December, we were brushing up against record highs.12

That's worth sitting with — not because it was easy, but because it's a reminder of how unpredictable the path can be. The year didn't reward prediction. It tested patience.

A Mindset Worth Considering

So what attitude or approach can help when the world feels this chaotic? A few things come to mind:

  • Clarity through the noise. Global drama — no matter how loud — doesn't have to derail a long-term plan. Headlines scream. An intentional plan can provide confidence.
  • Courage when it counts. The urge to panic sell when markets dip or react when news breaks can feel overwhelming. Resisting that urge is often the hardest move to make.
  • Balance over big swings. AI mania. Government shutdowns. Tariff wars. None of it has to hijack a values-based strategy.
  • Personal over popular. What matters most isn't what everyone else is doing. It's staying focused on your own goals, your own values, your own version of success.

Looking Ahead

There will be new surprises in 2026. That much is certain.

We can't control world leaders, the economy, or global conflicts. But we can control how we respond to them. That's where the real work happens.


 

Sources:

1. NPR, 2025 [URL: https://www.npr.org/2025/04/04/nx-s1-5352362/markets-selloff-dow-trump-tariffs]

2. The Guardian, 2025 [URL: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/dec/02/trump-nicolas-maduro-venezuela]

3. Al Jazeera, 2025 [URL: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/6/26/visualising-12-days-of-the-israel-iran-conflict]

4. CNBC, 2025 [URL: https://www.cnbc.com/2025/11/10/china-suspends-some-critical-mineral-export-curbs-to-the-us-as-trade-truce-takes-hold.html]

5. BBC, 2025 [URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/czx82j5wd8vo]

6. JP Morgan, 2025 [URL: https://www.jpmorgan.com/insights/global-research/currencies/de-dollarization]

7. The Investing News Network, 2025 [URL: https://investingnews.com/daily/resource-investing/precious-metals-investing/gold-investing/gold-forecast/]

8. BBC, 2025 [URL: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/crrj1znp0pyo]

9. The Motley Fool, 2025 [URL: https://www.fool.com/research/magnificent-seven-sp-500/]

10. CNN, 2025 [URL: https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/12/business/us-cpi-consumer-inflation-january]

11. MarketWatch.com, 2025 [URL: https://www.marketwatch.com/story/is-anybody-hiring-a-weakening-u-s-job-market-may-push-the-fed-to-cut-rates-again-5cbbbd14]

12. Fortune, 2025 [URL: https://fortune.com/2025/12/05/stocks-incoming-liquidity-sp-500-record-high/]

 


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