Here’s a hint: I did not call it the “401k Investment Committee.” Rename it and repurpose it as the “401k Oversight Committee.”

Green up arrows everywhere as the market inevitably follows a less than optimal 2022 with an optimal 2023. The market cheered the positive chances that the Fed might engineer a “soft landing” meaning no recession while fighting inflation with interest rate hikes.

“The single best economic and financial development in the last 20 years.” says Vanguard.

Here’s the good news: Stocks have delivered rewarding returns in the long run, even after adjusting for inflation.

In total we have 97 years of S&P500 return data (1926-2022) and the annualized return 1926-2022 is 10.1.  So the last 20 year result of 9.8 is very close to the entire 97 years, and that includes both 2008’s ugly -37.0% return and last year’s uncomfortable -18.1% return.