Hello, and welcome to a new PODCAST Episode of Sweat Your Assets.
I hope you enjoyed a well-deserved break during the festive season.
While Christmas holidays are widely observed in many countries — sometimes for cultural or commercial reasons more than religious ones — the New Year is truly global.
It’s a moment almost everyone on the planet can acknowledge, share, and celebrate together.
The end of a year is a meaningful milestone along our ninety-plus years of life.
It’s almost impossible to ignore.
In a way, it’s a kind of global birthday.
Modern society just got one year older.
Interestingly, January 1st has no real natural significance.
It’s not tied to a solstice, an equinox, a harvest cycle, or a religious event.
It’s an administrative invention — born from Roman reforms meant to standardize timekeeping, taxation, contracts, and accounting.
And yet, psychologically, the New Year acts as a powerful collective reset.
A shared temporal landmark.
While we should be able to assess progress and reset our direction at any time, shared rituals do much of the work for us.
That’s the power of collective habits.
Still, it’s worth remembering: not everyone measures time the same way.
Under the Islamic Hijri calendar, we are in the year 1447.
In the Jewish calendar, 5786.
In Ethiopia, 2018.
In Persia, 1404.
And in the Buddhist calendar, 2569.
According to the Chinese calendar, we are transitioning from the Year of the Dragon to the Year of the Snake — sometime between late January and mid-February.
It seems the Romans still face some gentle resistance from the far corners of the world.
And that’s a good thing.
If we live, travel, and invest in a global village of eight billion people, it makes sense to embrace these differences.
They enrich our perspective — and our lives.
The 365 days of 2025 are now behind us.
Frankly, Trump’s personality looms large in my memories of the year.
Markets experienced repeated episodes of shock, volatility, and uncertainty — driven by tariff disputes, AI enthusiasm, geopolitical tensions, and ongoing wars.
Despite all this, markets ended the year positively.
But the story matters.
Returns were driven by a narrow group of companies and sectors.
Market concentration increased — and that raises legitimate questions about sustainability.
At the same time, 2025 marked a clear shift in priorities.
Environmental targets were quietly revised or delayed.
The electric-vehicle sector entered a phase of correction and consolidation.
And capital flowed with growing conviction toward defense — military and security.
I’d also like to point you to a blog post from the archives that feels especially relevant for New Year resolutions.
There’s an engraved phrase at the Centre Court entrance at Wimbledon — a line from Kipling’s poem If:
“If you can meet with Triumph and Disaster,
and treat those two impostors just the same.”
The quote fits sport beautifully — but its meaning goes far beyond the court.
Once you read the poem in full, its wisdom becomes unmistakable.
It’s a universal guide to mindset. A compass for life.Something worth sharing with the people you care about.
If you haven’t already, I encourage you to read — or listen to — If, memorably read by Michael Caine.
It’s a powerful companion for the year ahead.
Closing
That’s all for this month. Thank you for listening.
Until next month —have a thoughtful, grounded, and prosperous 2026.
Sweat Your Assets.