Wow, I did well this year on my 2024 predictions. I got 7 of 8 right- except for how high the stock market would go! Happy and profitable surprise.!

Here were my 2024 predictions:

The stock market will rise by 8% as the Federal reserve begins to cut rates.

Miss: I was too pessimistic! NASDAQ rose 28% and 17%.

GDP will continue to grow by 3%.

Hit. GDP grew 2.8% (close enough)

Inflation will run at 2% a year.

Hit: Inflation rose by 2.7% but prices remain stubbornly high.

Unemployment will remain flat. Small business owners will still struggle to hire and retain the best talent.

Hit: Flat at 3.7%.

Valuations for companies will improve slightly from 2023 with the rise of the stock market, new IPOs, lower interest rates and a lot of venture capital with “dry powder”.

Hit: Early-Stage Companies: Median valuations for seed and Series A rounds have risen, with seed-stage pre-money valuations reaching their highest point of the decade at $14.9 million. Series A pre-money valuations climbed to $45 million, marking one of the highest quarterly figures of the 2020s​, Mid to Late-Stage Companies: Series B valuations have rebounded, surpassing $100 million for three consecutive quarters, reflecting a stabilized recovery after previous declines

Lean Startups: The trend will continue in delaying hiring full time staff and relying on outside vendors and freelancers.

Hit: Small business owners are continue to look for ways not to hire full time resources because people have become much more expensive.

AI, AI, AI: video, pictures and written content. If you are not using this in your business, you need to!

Hit: AI is pretty much the center of the universe right now.

Remote work is here to stay. Every information worker will spend at least 1-2 days a week working from home.

Hit: While some large corporations have required their employees to come back to the office full time, this is not the norm in medium and small businesses.

So here are my predictions for 2025:

The stock market will rise by only 2%.

But there will be a lot of volatility for the economic market as a new US administration takes over that is talking tariffs, trade wars, immigrant expulsions, tax cuts, rate cuts, a possible new Fed chair and less regulation overall.

GDP grow by 2%.

See above for reason.

Inflation increase to 3% a year.

See above for reason.

Unemployment will increase to over 4%.

This is because of higher costs for employees and a weakening of demand if tariffs are implemented. Immigration expulsions will not lower this number since most Americans don’t want to go those jobs.

More side hustles to create small businesses

More people that work as employees for other companies will start a side hustle to increase their income. Diversify their financial risk or just scratch the entrepreneurial inch. The barriers to entry to start a company continue to drop.

More hacks on small businesses

Cybersecurity will continue to be a problem for small businesses with 94% getting hacked every year. The hackers become more creative every day and training for your staff has not kept up.

Revenue of small businesses who sell hard goods and import them will go down.

It will be more expensive to get goods from our biggest trading partners like Mexico, Canada and China because of the tariffs. Small businesses will need to pay their vendors more and raise prices to customers who will buy less in many cases.

What do you think is going to happen in 2025!