The Road Ahead

When your portfolio is growing, it’s natural to feel more confident about your financial future. Goals may seem closer, and plans you once approached cautiously may begin to feel more achievable.

Investors have had plenty of reasons to feel encouraged in recent years. The S&P 500 rose approximately 24% in 2023, 23% in 2024, and 16% in 2025. Through October 23, 2026, the S&P 500 had gained another 11.4%.

After several years of strong gains, it’s understandable that a growing portfolio can begin to feel like the norm. But strong returns can quietly change our expectations about how quickly investments should grow, how much we can comfortably spend, and how much risk we are willing to take.

Good markets offer an opportunity to ask: Is your confidence rooted in your financial plan, or in your most recent account balance?

When Gains Start to Feel Like the Baseline

Expectations rarely change all at once. They shift a little at a time.

A year of strong returns is a pleasant surprise. After several good years, those gains can start to feel like something to count on. A flat year may feel disappointing, even if your financial plan remains on track. A market decline may feel like losing ground you had already considered secure. It can also be easy to measure progress against your portfolio’s highest balance. But that peak is only one point along the way. Stepping back to consider where you started, what your investments have helped you accomplish, and whether you remain on track toward your goals can provide a more useful perspective. A pullback from a recent high does not erase the progress you have made.

The same shift can influence spending. A larger purchase or a more generous gift may be entirely reasonable. But there is a difference between deciding whether you can afford something based on your long-term financial picture and feeling you can afford it because your portfolio recently reached a new high.

The question is whether recent gains have changed your circumstances, your expectations, or both.

A Good Plan Leaves Room for Difficult Markets

When markets eventually decline, knowing that downturns are normal does not necessarily make them easy to experience. That is especially true when you rely on your investments for income.

An account balance that felt reassuring a few months earlier can suddenly become a source of concern. Plans that once felt comfortable may prompt second thoughts.

This is where the work done ahead of time matters. As we build and update your financial plan, we consider how different market conditions could affect your ability to meet your goals. A difficult period may warrant a conversation or an adjustment, but a decline alone does not tell us that your plans need to change.

Having that context gives us a more useful starting point than the market’s latest move: What does this mean for you?

Enjoy the Progress Without Depending on a Repeat

The purpose of planning is to help you use your resources with confidence. That includes enjoying what you have worked hard to build: taking the trip, helping family, or making a meaningful purchase when it fits your financial picture.

Strong returns can create real opportunities. They simply should not become a requirement for making your plans work.

If recent gains have you thinking differently about retirement, spending, or giving, that is a worthwhile conversation to have with us. We can help put those possibilities in the context of your broader plan.

You don’t need to predict when the good years will end. You need a plan that doesn’t depend on them continuing.

Means Wealth is an investment adviser registered with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Registration with the SEC does not imply a particular level of skill or training. This material is for informational purposes only and is not personalized advice or a recommendation. S&P 500 performance shown reflects price returns only, excludes dividends, fees and expenses, and is not directly investable. Past performance does not guarantee future results. Investing involves risk, including loss of principal, and individual results will vary.