Happy New Year to everyone!! I hope that you have had a great holiday.
This is the first blog of the year. I think that I would like to start off by talking about Jimmy Carter.
I met President Carter in 1980. He was the first person of note that I got the chance to interview. I was just 22 and got assigned to attend a news conference that he was giving. Of course, all the big-name newspapers were there, I was easily the youngest in the room. During the conference some of the reporters started to get confrontational with their questions and so the Press Secretary stepped in and said that everyone needed to clear the room except for three reporters which would be used as “Pool” reporters and share the information with the others. She then pointed to one woman in the front row then me and then a guy in the back. (I must tell you now that I was scared to death). I don’t remember the questions I asked, or what the other two reporters asked. What I remember most was sitting across from a very good man. He looked me in the eye when he answered my questions and I’m certain that his answers were as truthful as a President could be. I walked away feeling humbled that the leader of the United States had shown me respect even though I was young and a low-ranking Photojournalist in the Coast Guard. To this day when I think of that man, I get a sense humility. Jimmy Carter was a man that practiced what he preached right up until his last days. He was a true servant of the people. Meeting him for that short interaction definitely affected my life.
Boy o Boy, time is flying by and 2025 has crept up on us. Well, 2024 was a great year for mutual fund investing. Most everyone saw some good returns on their investments. Most of my predictions were pretty close. I thought the DOW would finish around 40,000 and it finished around 42,600. I felt that Tech would have a good year, and it did. But I also thought the Patriots would play 500 ball this year and I missed by a mile. For 2025, I think the market will continue to grow. My prediction of the DOW is 45,000 for the year. I also think that Tech is going to be strong as well as Financials. The Red sox will finish third in the division and the Pats will still stink for 2025.
My personal goals for 2025 are to …. Nah, never mind. We never keep our New Years resolutions anyway. Be sure to catch our podcasts and thanks for reading my babble.