🏆 This year's investing winners and losers

Hi Reader, here's what you need to know for December 29th in 3:11 minutes.

💸 Your bank balance likely looks as dry as an overcooked turkey after all that holiday merriment. So join financial experts Carl Richards and Helena Wardle for Wealth Building Habits on January 11th, and find out how to pad your wallet out in 2023. (Best of all, that still leaves time to browse the sales first.) Grab your free ticket

Today's big stories

It was hard to keep track of this year's constant chaos, so we've broken down what actually happened
Three big takeaways from the past year could help you up your game in the new one – Read Now
Plenty of investments floundered this year, but a couple of plucky ones still flourished

Reality Show

What’s Going On Here?

The last few years have felt like a living social experiment, and this one was enough to convince even the most steadfast skeptics.

What Does This Mean?

Cast your mind back to the start of the year: supply chains were already bruised from the pandemic, then war in Europe battered them beyond belief. The resulting shortages lit a fire under food and energy prices, which helped ignite prices around the globe. And that’s a big reason why some economists reckon global inflation will end the year at a staggering 9.5%.

Luckily for us, central banks swooped in to save the day. Unluckily for us, they had to use aggressive interest rate hikes to fight inflation. Problem is, hikes dent the economy by making it more expensive to borrow and spend. That might be why economists widely expect the global economy to grow just 3.2% this year compared to 2021. Huh, we thought reminiscing would be fun.

Why Should I Care?

Zooming in: Land that job, quick.
The job market managed to hold up throughout all the drama. With around two vacancies for every unemployed head in the US, the onus was on employers to raise wages to win over workers. Even that wasn’t enough: “real wages” – adjusted for inflation – in the US were still almost 2% lower in November than the year before. But now that the economy’s slowing down, and layoffs are cropping up everywhere (we’re watching, Big Tech), 2023 could be a whole different beast.

The bigger picture: Tough love.
The Federal Reserve, Bank of England, and European Central Bank fought inflation with gusto this year – gusto being jumbo rate hikes, of course. And despite choking economies in the process, recent data shows their persistence might’ve knocked the worst of the wind out of inflation’s sails. Central banks have eased up a little now, but time will tell if their well-intended efforts have pushed economies into full-blown recessions.

You might also like: 2022 was a scorcher, inflation-wise. 2023 won’t be.

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Analyst Take

Three Tips To Becoming A Smarter Investor Next Year

Stéphane Renevier, Analyst

This year has been a rollercoaster ride – bumpy enough to dizzy any hardened adrenaline junky.

Still, next year could be even wilder.

That’s why I’ve taken a look back at what we’ve learned over the past year.

And more importantly, I’ve worked out how we can use that newly sharpened know-how to negotiate any ups and downs 2023 could throw at us.

So that’s today’s Insight: three tips that could help you become a smarter investor next year.

Read or listen to the Insight here

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Finally, a brand aggregator that you can invest in

It’s easy to start an online business these days. But growing it to peak levels is no small feat.

You’re taking on product development, marketing, and distribution… to name just a few.

There are tons of small brands with great ideas and healthy sales. They just lack the resources to scale to their potential. And that’s where brand aggregators like Upexi shine.

Upexi buys brands, grows sales, and cuts costs, which means more profit. Put a bunch of these brands together, and you have a diversified portfolio – one that you have the chance to invest in.

That’s kind of a big deal: brand aggregators are usually private companies. And the private ones alone have raised over $12 billion: the market is big, and it’s growing.

Upexi, though, is listed on the Nasdaq (ticker: UPXI). Now could be the perfect time for you to get involved.

Find Out More

Disclaimer: This content is for US investors only, if you are not a US investor please ignore this content. This content is a paid advertisement for Upexi (NASDAQ: UPXI) from Interactive Offers and Finimize. This is not Finimize editorial content. Finimize received a fixed fee for producing, hosting and promoting this content on behalf of Upexi, totalling $23,000. Other than the compensation received for this service, Finimize and its principals are not affiliated with either Interactive Offers or Upexi. Finimize and its principals have no ownership in Upexi. The content on this page should not be taken as advice, an endorsement, or a recommendation from Finimize and its principals to buy or sell any security. Finimize and its principals have not evaluated the accuracy of any claims made on this page. Finimize and its principals recommend that investors do their own independent research and consult with a qualified investment professional before buying or selling any security. Investing is inherently risky and capital is at risk. Past performance is not indicative of future results.