Today we will do one of my favorite annual traditions.

That being the end of the year “Lessons Learned” edition where we talk openly about the good, bad and ugly of this past year. The benefit is to use these lessons in the future to continually improve our investing results.

Let’s hop right into it…

2024 Lessons Learned

2024 was about as good of a year as an investor could wish for. There was never a moment where you doubted it was a bull market. This allowed us to stick to “bread and butter” stock picking to carve a path to outperformance.

With only 1 day left on the year the Reitmeister Total Return portfolio stands at +24.59%.

Yes, at one time we were a good notch higher, but unfortunately but December was a very Risk Off month where small caps and rate sensitive stocks saw their year to date gain slashed. Gladly, we did not give that back as much as the small caps which handed back half of their 2024 gains in December alone.

All in all, it’s hard to complain when you consider the following results:

+10.84% Equal Weighted S&P 500 (RSP) which removes the Mag 7 bias of the S&P 500 (SPY) index.

+9.90% Russell 2000 (small cap index)

Meaning we more than doubled the returns generated by the average stock investor this year.

This mostly comes from 32 of 43 closed trades being winners (74%).

Our biggest winner was GoDaddy (GDDY) resulting in a +79.76% gain from March til late November.

EME was not far behind at +72.31% in just 3 months. And FFIV is the best current position on the books at +49.65%.

However, I would say our best trade was the quick hitting 13% gain on the 3X short of small caps (TZA) in late July as the Presidential race tightened up. This led to the typical seasonal pullback in shares which we timed quite well.

The move wasn’t as deep and long lasting as the past election cycles. I think that is because the more people know about the pattern…the less it will act like the past. (So maybe a lesson learned is to not even trade it in 2028?).

Our worst trade was NICE falling 20% in less than 2 months spurred on by tensions in the middle east that harmed many Israeli stocks. Shares have never really recovered and still trading for about $10 less per share than we sold it for in May. So for as bad as it was it would have been even worse staying on board.

I do not believe there is a truly inspirational lesson to be garnered from this year.  Again, that’s because it was fertile ground for a bull market which allowed us to focus on stock picking with little worry about market timing.

Yes, one can always debate about the mix of large cap vs. small cap. Or growth vs. value. Or which industries were in favor.

However, our approach has always been about diversification. Not too many eggs in one basket to increase the odds that you have enough stocks that are in favor at that time.

So even when I did have a bias for one of those groups…I never did it 100% across the board. I think this lesson learned from the past was helpful in lowering the volatility for our portfolio while still enjoying meaningful upside.

For as much as I would like to take credit for these strong results, it would be foolish for me not to tip my cap to the overwhelming advantage we derive from the POWR Ratings.

Day in and day out it shines a light on the most fundamentally sound stocks. Many of them flying under the radar of the average investor which often means its undervalued with impressive upside potential.

There is simply no way we would have 74% win rate without the POWR Ratings.

Or that only 2 of the losers were down more than 10%.

So really the big take away from 2024 is to trust the POWR Ratings.

Yes, there were days…weeks…months where things did not pan out as expected. However, staying patient with the process we always found our way back on top.

My 2025 Stock Market Outlook still points to very modest returns for the S&P 500 in the year ahead. Breakeven or a small loss wouldn’t surprise me either.

That is all the more the reason to appreciate the above lessons learned. And to keep focusing on the best stocks according to the POWR Ratings to enjoy outperformance in 2025.

What To Do Next?

Discover my current portfolio of 10 stocks packed to the brim with the outperforming benefits found in our exclusive POWR Ratings model. (Nearly 4X better than the S&P 500 going back to 1999).

All of these hand selected picks are all based on my 44 years of investing experience seeing bull markets…bear markets…and everything between.

And right now this portfolio is beating the stuffing out of the market.

If you are curious to learn more, and want to see my top 10 timely stock recommendations, then please click the link below to get started now.

Steve Reitmeister’s Trading Plan & Top 10 Stocks >

Wishing you a world of investment success!

Steve Reitmeister…but everyone calls me Reity (pronounced “Righty”)
Editor, Reitmeister Total Return

SPY shares fell $0.19 (-0.03%) in after-hours trading Monday. Year-to-date, SPY has gained 25.34%, versus a % rise in the benchmark S&P 500 index during the same period.

About the Author: Steve Reitmeister

Steve is better known to the StockNews audience as “Reity”. Not only is he the CEO of the firm, but he also shares his 40 years of investment experience in the Reitmeister Total Return portfolio. Learn more about Reity’s background, along with links to his most recent articles and stock picks. More...

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