There’s no better way to close out a year than with a good review. You can envy the stocks that doubled, while cursing the commenters that kept you out. You can mock the stocks that halved, while forgetting they’re still in your kids ISAs. And, of course, you can dream how much better off you’d be, if only you’d not gone to cash in your mid-year panic.
So let’s dig into the stocks and stats and cut ourselves some slack. Investing is joy, regret and humour all at the same time. A tragedy and a comedy, with the endless promise of doing just a little bit better next year.
The numbers tell a story
2024 turned out to be remarkably... normal. From the 1st January to the 20th December, 90+ StockRank stocks returned 11% before dividends, which is right on their long term average. Add an average yield of 3.9%, and they generated a 15% total return. That’s good going in what were tough UK markets (the average price of all UK listed shares above a £10m market cap fell by 2% this year).
Good stocks climbed a wall of worry, while...
