With the global pandemic taking us from the status quo into lockdown over a few days back in March 2020, the world and the markets ended up looking a lot different than anyone anticipated at the start of the year.As we head into 2021, we wanted to spend this episode sharing our top surprises and takeaways from 2020. From record low interest rate levels to the success of speculators, we’re going to explore what these surprises mean for the empowered investor.On this episode, Marcelo and I talk about why interest rates have fallen and how they affect savers, borrowers, and investors, the growth of the housing market all over Canada, the wealth effect and its negative repercussions, the rise of the FAANGMs, controversial market valuations, IPOs and so much more!Thank you for listening!Key Topics:·      How we spent our 2020 holiday season (1:05)·      Changes to the podcast for 2021 (2:31)·      The record lows in interest rates coming out of 2020 (4:02)·      Why it would have been impossible to predict the drop in interest rates (5:16)·      The knock-on effect of low interest rates on the housing market (6:26)·      Unexpected increases in Canadian real estate prices during the pandemic (7:50)·      How the pandemic affected people’s mindset and attitude towards homeownership (8:31)·      The negative impact of the “wealth effect” (9:54)·      The rise of the FAANGMs (11:17)·      Analyzing the S&P 500 performance with and without FAANGM (12:58)·      How the changes in how we work have been reflected in technology stocks (14:32)·      The surprising success of market speculation (15:41)·      Psychological aspects of platforms like Robinhood (17:26)·      The problematic side of Robinhood (18:41)·      Why on-paper success doesn’t always translate to real returns (19:42)·      The controversy around Tesla valuations (20:17)·      Why it’s so hard for us to separate the narrative from the numbers (21:29)·      What QuantumScape’s success shows us about the current state of the markets (23:38)·      Lessons from the long-term results of the Four Horsemen (tech in year 2000) (24:52)·      IPO performance in 2020 (26:53)·      Contradictory valuations coming out of 2020 (27:22)·      Why it’s worth staying the course as an empowered investor (28:31)·      And much more!Thanks for Listening!Be sure to subscribe on Apple, Google, Spotify, or wherever you get your podcasts. And feel free to drop us a line at lawrence@tma-invest.com or 514-695-0096 ext.112Follow Tulett, Matthews & Associates on social...