Wrapping up 2025
Interesting - one word that sum up this year
2025 was a year to remember for anyone following geopolitics and financial markets.
It was noisy.
Emotional.
At times exhausting.
But also incredibly interesting.
Looking back through our EC Research Newsletter archive, this past year offered no shortage of lessons, surprises, and opportunities for those staying engaged and thinking independently.
Let’s take a walk through the year, quarter by quarter.
Q1
After years of steadily declining in popularity with Canadians, Trudeau finally stepped down.
Each passing year, his approval ratings moved lower and lower, much like a limbo bar.
Somehow, election after election, he kept clearing it.
Maybe it was his age.
Maybe the bar just got too low.
Whatever the reason, he finally walked away.
We documented Trudeau’s economic highlights here:
https://www.ecresearchgroup.com/p/trudeau-economic-highlights
At the same time, investors were dealing with an extremely volatile business environment in the United States.
Watching the US tariff policy in Q1 felt like watching a ship captain trying to steer through a cyclone.
The constant policy gyrations took a real emotional toll on investors and business executives alike.
In the middle of that storm, we wrote about the Mexicans attitude to tariffs and uncertainty. It was one of those moments where emotion, not logic, dominated the headlines:
https://www.ecresearchgroup.com/p/emotional-tariffs
Q2
The second quarter delivered a sharp drawdown in the stock market.
While many retail investors were caught off guard, most professional investors were not.
Leading up to the correction, professionals were already reducing exposure and trimming risk.
We covered this dynamic and explained why experienced capital tends to turn conservative before volatility becomes obvious:
https://www.ecresearchgroup.com/p/why-professional-investors-are-conservative
It was a reminder that markets often move long before the headlines catch up.
Q3
In Q3, I shared one of my favorite frameworks of the year with our readers.
The Time Frame approach to portfolio construction, versus the commonly discussed asset based approach.
https://www.ecresearchgroup.com/p/investing-timeframe
This newsletter issue was one of my personal favorites of the year.
I love frameworks.
Because it helps simplify complex concepts into models that can be used and applied.
Personally, I use the Time Frame model to build my own portfolio.
Yes, I eat my own dog food.
If you missed that issue, I strongly encourage you to go back and read it.
It remains one of the most powerful concepts we published all year.
Q4
The crowd favorite of 2025 arrived in Q4:
https://www.ecresearchgroup.com/p/goodbye-doge-hello-dump
I coined an acronym, DUMP:
The Department of Unlimited Money Printing.
That issue sparked more private messages and likes than any other newsletter this year.
I read every single message, and I genuinely appreciate you for taking the time to write.
What surprised me most was seeing two popular Substack publishers, with tens of thousands of subscribers, gave us the recognition and shout out:
https://substack.com/@becomingberkshire
https://substack.com/@goldenbearcapital
That was unexpected, and very much appreciated.
If you have not read that issue yet, I recommend you do.
Better yet, read it again.
Because as we’re heading into 2026, I believe we are about to experience money printing on a scale we have not seen since COVID.
What a year it has been
2025 was not an easy year to navigate real estate, the economy, or the markets.
But we ended the year on a high note.
Not all of my predictions came true.
Of course not.
I do not have a crystal ball.
But the important ones did.
And they produced great returns.
That is why I love this game.
It keeps me sharp.
It keeps me humble.
It requires constant learning.
No one can ever claim they know enough to permanently win at investing.
The landscape is always changing.
But as I have mentioned many times before:
History never repeats, they rhyme.
And success leaves clues.
That is why we study history.
That is why we study the best investors.
And based on what I’m noticing, that is also why I am cautiously optimistic for 2026.
Here’s to another crazy year steering the ship through the storm.
Stay tuned for the upcoming review of my previous 2025 predictions, followed shortly by my 2026 predictions of the year.
Until then, have a great Happy New Year.
See you all on the flip side.
If you like my work, I invite you to share it with others.
Eric Chang
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
December 30, 2025
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