The Best and Worst Investments of the Last 10 Years

Every year we like to publish this chart we affectionately call the “Asset Quilt.” It ranks different investment types from best to worst, showing the last 10 years worth of results. The farthest right column shows the average annual returns for each category across those 10 years.

In brief, 2023 ended up a lot better than it began. Coming off the difficult investing year of 2022, most investors were feeling pretty pessimistic. That year both the bond and equity sides of portfolios had been hammered.

After a summer run-up, this discouragement was still holding fast as late as October 2023. A phenomenal last two months of the year brought the market back to all-time highs.

A common S&P 500 fund, Jan – Dec 2023

Some observations:

• It’s impossible to predict what will outperform by looking at historical returns.
• The year-end results hide the turmoil of volatility across the year.
• We continue to believe “time in the market” beats “market timing.” Missing out on a few trading days last year would reap dramatically worse results.

Our Wealth Advisors work with each client to design customized portfolios driven by a principled investment approach. If you need help building a personal investment strategy, reach out to us today.

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