The Investing for Beginners Podcast - Your Path to Financial Freedom - 2025 Market Recap: Why It Felt Bad (Even With Big Returns)

⭐️ Get our best stock ideas and investing tools—join the Value Spotlight Newsletter: https://einvestingforbeginners.com/value-spotlight-newsletter/ In this episode of Investing for Beginners, Dave and Andrew do a 2025 stock market year in review—what actually drove returns, why the year felt “weird” for a lot of people, and what investors should do when volatility and FOMO show up. We talk about the AI boom (and NVIDIA’s dominance), why “big returns” can still feel like a rough year, and how to set realistic expectations so you don’t make emotional decisions when the market drops 2–8% in a week. Stick around to the end for a fun bonus: our Spotify Wrapped podcast stats. Chapters / Timestamps 00:00 – Intro: 2025 Year in Review 01:07 – 2025 returns: S&P 500, Nasdaq, Dow 02:48 – The 3 big themes of 2025 (AI dominates) 03:22 – NVIDIA numbers + why it drove the market 04:25 – Is NVIDIA a buy right now? 07:15 – You can benefit from AI without owning NVIDIA 08:30 – AI feels like the dot-com era: “you might be early” 11:57 – Sectors that won in 2025 (energy + infrastructure) 14:11 – Stocks that doubled (memory + semis) 17:35 – FOMO: don’t chase the train 19:16 – How to invest in cyclical businesses (DCA + position sizing) 24:10 – Volatility “panic attacks” + zooming out 27:45 – Expectations: 8–10% is normal, 18% is rockstar 29:27 – What to do when a stock is down big (fundamentals first) 34:44 – Chipotle thoughts (research before action) 38:30 – Spotify Wrapped: minutes listened + audience stats 41:12 – How to reach us If you enjoyed this episode, subscribe for more investing education every week. #investing #stockmarket #nvidia #ai #longterminvesting