Investment lessons from a year gone by

As we close out 2025, this old saying might be applied to the year itself. It feels like just a blink ago that the US inaugurated President Donald Trump for a second time, South African President Cyril Ramaphosa addressed the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, and the mighty Proteas defeated Pakistan by 10 wickets in Cape Town to clinch the  series unbeaten.

A tumultuous tariff environment, a decision on South Africa’s “greylisting”, and a rampaging year for the mighty Springboks then went by in a flash. For  investors, the highlight is likely the recordbreaking performance of the Johannesburg Stock Exchange (JSE).

As the year nears its end, it’s worth taking stock. Our team has reviewed the year that was to draw out three major developments and the lessons they teach.

Time in the market > timing the market

There has been a broad sentiment for some time that the JSE held potential. In other words, the share prices were relatively low given factors such as  company earnings, risk, and comparable asset prices.

In a movement that started before January 2025, this position has been validated. The JSE has been a global champion, surpassing the likes of the S&P 500. The 1nvest ALSI 40 Fund, for example, which tracks the largest 40 shares on the JSE, has returned 41.71% for the year to mid-November – for those who held on, that is. The S&P 500 posted a commendable 14.49% during that spell.

We say it often – and we’ll say it again – time in the market beats timing the market.

The mighty market is what matters

When President Trump announced his new import tariff regime on 2 April 2025, the world recoiled.

Markets plummeted. Many experts, with some justification, anticipated an enduring crisis.

In reality, it took just a matter of weeks for most stock exchanges to regain those immediate losses. Very few pundits had predicted this.

This speaks to a timeless truth: it’s markets that matter. It is certainly worthwhile to evaluate the investment landscape and position ourselves for the future. But in the end, it’s the collective wisdom of the markets that decides the future.

From grey to good

South Africans justifiably take pride in a sophisticated financial sector. However, the country was included  On the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force’s  (FATF) “grey list” in February 2023. This was due to findings of deficiencies in its anti-money laundering and counter-terrorism financing regime.

Rather than accept this as a defeat, stakeholders such as the National Treasury and the South African  Reserve Bank (SARB) sprang into action. A task force was assembled to address each of the 22 specific flaws the FATF had detected. A systematic approach saw these ticked off one by one. Finally, in October 2025, South Africa emerged from the cloud of greylisting.

This is a reminder that we have robust institutions that, when they work together, are capable of supporting a world-class finance industry.

Just like the year that was, the holiday period is sure to be a “blink and you’ll miss it” affair. We would like to wish all our clients a terrific break, while your index funds keep working for you.