|
Sweat Your Assets Monthly Digest - December 2025 / January 2026 - Happy New Year!
- Market Barometer
- Quotes of the Month
- Posts
Happy 2026...the Year of the SnakeI hope you enjoyed a well-deserved break during the festive season. While Christmas holidays are widely observed in many countries—sometimes more for cultural or commercial reasons than religious ones—the celebration of the New Year is truly global. It is a moment we can all acknowledge, share, and celebrate together. The end of the year is a meaningful
milestone along our 90+ years of life. It is almost impossible to overlook. In a way, it is a kind of global birthday: "modern society" gets one year older 🙂 Interestingly, the New Year’s charm is unrelated to any change of season, solstice, equinox, harvest cycle, or religious event. January 1st has no particular natural significance. Instead, it is a largely administrative date, originating
from Roman administrative reforms designed to standardize timekeeping and facilitate taxation, contracts, accounting deadlines, and coordination across society. Psychologically, the New Year functions as a collective mental reset—a powerful temporal landmark. While I believe we should be able to turn the page, assess our progress, and define new personal milestones without waiting for New Year’s Day, I also recognize that this shared social habit does much of the work.
Collective rituals are powerful precisely because they are shared. That said, it is always worth remembering that not everyone measures time using the same calendar. Many countries and communities follow different calendar systems. Under the Islamic Hijri calendar, the current year is 1447; in the Jewish calendar, 5786; in the Ethiopian calendar, 2018; in the Persian calendar,
1404; and in the Buddhist calendar, 2569.
As for the Chinese calendar, we are transitioning from the Year of the Dragon to the Year of the Snake, with the New Year falling sometime between January 21 and February 20. It seems the Romans still face some gentle resistance from more remote corners of the world 🙂. If we travel and invest in a global village with 8 billion people, it makes sense to recognize and embrace these colourful peculiarities that enrich our perspective and our lives. 2) MARKET BAROMETER - 2025 in the rear mirror The 365 days of 2025 are now behind us. Frankly, Trump’s personality looms large in my memories of the year. Markets endured
episodes of shock, volatility, and uncertainty, navigating tariff disputes, AI enthusiasm, geopolitical tensions, and ongoing wars. Despite this, markets closed the year on a positive note. Returns, however, were driven by a narrow group of companies and sectors (high concentration), raising legitimate questions about the sustainability of the trend. At the same time, 2025 marked a noticeable shift in priorities: environmental targets
were quietly revised or delayed, the electric vehicle sector entered a phase of correction and consolidation, and capital flowed with increasing conviction toward defense (military) and security. Market / Asset | Value | Change during 2025 |
|---|
S&P 500 | 6,900 | +17%. Strong year end rally. | MSCI World | 4,430 | +13%. Solid global performance. | 10-Year Yield | 3.95% | – 60 bps. Reduced cost of money. | Bitcoin | US$88K | – 5%. Poor end of the year performance. | Gold (spot) | US$4,300/oz | +40%. Strong performance. | VIX | 15 | low volatility |
Precious metals had a strong year (Gold +40%, Silver + 150%). The strong performance of the S&P500 was driven by the Magnificent 7: Nvidia (+100%, Microsoft (+40%), Alphabet (+35%), Amazon (+40%), Meta (+55%), Apple (+10%) and Tesla (+6%). Given its global revenue exposure and dominant weight in
international portfolios, the S&P 500 is frequently used by global investors as a proxy for broader equity market expectations. Looking ahead, S&P500 forecasts for 2026, that will change at the first hiccup, remain broadly optimistic, as per table below. I leave your with my monthly quotes, and a blog post from the archives, that I find particularly relevant for my New Year´s resolution. 3) SWEAT YOUR ASSETS - QUOTES OF THE MONTH - Focus on Your Habits. You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems. James
Clear
- Do it now. The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now. Chinese Proverb
- Wealth vs Desire. It is not the man who has too little, but the man who craves more, that is poor. Seneca
|
4) BLOG POST: IF, read by Michael CAINE
|
There is an engraved phrase on the Centre Court players’ entrance wall at the British tennis tournament in Wimbledon. It is a quote from Kipling’s poem “IF”: “If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster / And treat those two impostors just the same”.
While the quote beautifully matches sports’ highest spirit and value, the message goes beyond
the playing courts. Once you read the poem, you fully appreciate its inspirational power. It is a universal invocation for a wise mindset. It won’t only be your compass along your life’s journey, but, like Kipling, you will gladly share it with your loved ones. I trust it is a great inspiration for your New Year´s resolutions.
|
|
Read the full article
|
|
Until next month. Have a Great 2026. Sweat Your Assets, Alessandro Baroni You are receiving this email because you subscribed to my monthly newsletter, where I share timeless financial content or comment on monthly market trends to secure Financial Freedom. If this newsletter was forwarded by a friend, and you would like to subscribe for free, you can do it here. |
|
|
