In the financial markets, stocks usually get all the attention. This year, however, stocks have had to share the spotlight with cash investments – CDs, Treasury Bills, and the like.

Many have seen the pictures of the enduring traffic jams at shipping ports and noticed the closed signs in the windows of restaurants in the afternoon. Supply constraints and labor shortages coupled with what seems to be insatiable consumer demand appear to have brought back inflation after a long hiatus, at least temporarily. But as inflation rises, so too do the interest rates on newly issued Series I Savings Bonds, creating an opportunity for investors seeking low-risk alternatives for cash.

News of the spread of a highly contagious COVID variant kicked off a retreat in risky assets in November. Global stocks retreated from new highs set in October, falling 2.4% in November while oil prices collapsed over 20%.

In a year of already strong gains for global stocks, October was another record-setting month. In particular, the S&P 500 reached a record high and finished the month up 7%. October marks the biggest gain for the index since last November when stocks jumped in the wake of the U.S. election and news of vaccines. Consumer discretionary and energy stocks were the highest returning economic sectors.

September ended a run of steady gains for stocks. In a turbulent month, global stocks dipped 5% after reaching another record high early in the month. Investors were lulled by seven months of steady gains. While well within the historical norm, September’s pullback feels jarring after a period of calm.

Stocks remain stoic, grinding steady gains through the summer.

Despite rising infections due to the delta variant, geopolitical concerns, inflationary pressures, and supply chain bottlenecks, stocks continued their unrelenting march to record highs.

Michael Phelps is arguably the best modern-day Olympian. No other athlete comes close to his record of winning twenty-eight medals over five Olympic games. Twenty-three of those twenty-eight medals were gold. In his career, Phelps set thirty-nine world records. But today, only four of those records still stand! It is astonishing that such a revered swimmer saw most of his world records beaten within five years of retirement. As the saying goes, records are meant to be broken.

The first half of the year started on solid footing. A rapidly recovering economy and strong gains in stocks boosted investor euphoria. After such a swift recovery in financial markets, the challenge now is staying grounded in your investment strategy when it feels like everyone else has lost theirs.

It may have been a joke about dogecoin, but Elon Musk cut to the bone on cryptocurrencies in his Saturday Night Live debut. No one seemed to know enough about dogecoin to make any sense describing it. Falling 40% following the quip, it seems investors also lacked the stomach for the parody coin.

A year ago, business owners struggled to find enough demand for what they sold. Now, everything is flying off the shelf, and they cannot hire fast enough. Such is the yin and yang of this strange economy recovering from a health crisis.

The Biden administration has rolled out a three-part fiscal agenda, dubbed “Build Back Better.” The agenda emphasizes COVID-19 relief and investments in infrastructure, education, childcare, and paid family leave, among others.

Global stocks gained over 9% in the first four months of 2021. After such a strong recovery at the end of 2020, few expected such gains to continue this year.

A year ago, what had been a localized virus in a distant place spread across the world. Prior viral outbreaks – SARS, Ebola, Zika - never spread as feared. However, this one ended up being different. The world has certainly changed in the last twelve months, and the financial markets have shown they remain resilient to new challenges.

Interest rates have risen to start the year. After the yield on the 10-year Treasury reached a nadir of 0.5% basis points during the depths of the pandemic, it recently touched 1.5% - a level not seen since February of 2020.

After January’s exciting finish amidst the GameStop saga, February felt like a return to some sort of normalcy. Investors turned away from the Reddit-fueled trading frenzy as they shifted towards common themes throughout the COVID-19 pandemic: economic recovery and vaccine distribution.

Following a bizarre year, 2021 is attempting to outdo its predecessor. January might as well have been the 13th month of 2020. Between a Senate runoff in Georgia, an unsettling insurrection in Washington, and a social-distanced Presidential inauguration, there was a lot to focus on. But none of these events captivated market-watchers like the frenzied trading in GameStop.

Money in a bank account isn’t earning much these days. In fact, cash has barely outpaced inflation since 1926. History suggests that today’s low return prospects for cash are not all that different from the returns of the past century.

2020 could not end quickly enough. What else can we say about a year that brought a public health tragedy so deadly and devastating that it seems like an unending bad dream? On top of the pandemic, there was deep social unrest and a divisive, extra-contentious election that seemed to throw a wet blanket on everything.

2020 turned out to be a much better year in the financial markets than most anyone anticipated, with both stocks and bonds producing solid returns. While interest, dividends and capital appreciation are the obvious components of good returns, it’s also important to not give up too much to taxes. As a matter of course, we focus on tax loss harvesting and manageable portfolio turnover. Here are some additional considerations as you plan for the upcoming year.

As a COVID-19 pandemic continued to surge, the stock market put in one of its best months on record. Investors are encouraged by positive news on the efficacy of several vaccines and looking ahead to a return to more normal economic activity.