On July 4th, 1776, 56 men signed a document that, frankly, was considered a death wish at the time. No guarantee of freedom and no clear timeline, just hope, sacrifice, and a willingness to commit to something that they knew would pay off in the future.
Two hundred and fifty years later, the United States ended up as the largest economy in the world, and to understand the power of compounding, you don’t need a spreadsheet; you just need a history textbook.
If someone had invested just 1,000 dollars in one of America’s founding financial instruments, the New York Stock Exchange in 1792, and simply left it be, the math would be nearly incomprehensible despite 234 years of pandemics, world wars, depressions, political crises, and technological booms. In reality, markets never stopped growing, and time did its thing.
Fast forward to summer 2026: what are the markets telling us now? The Fourth of July milestone arrives during a genuinely interesting time for investors. The S&P is up roughly 8.55% YTD, with the Nasdaq Composite up 10.59% over the same period. Not only have US markets recovered after the Iran War ceasefire, a 60-day memorandum of understanding rather than a finished peace deal, but they have kept climbing, with the Dow at new record highs and the S&P and Nasdaq sitting just below theirs. Besides that, the Fed met on the 16th and 17th under new chair Kevin Warsh and held its rate target at 3.5% to 3.75%, with the next meeting set for July 28 and 29. Inflation is running at 4.2%, and while the labor market ran hotter than expected in May, this morning's June jobs report came in soft at 57,000, cooling the case for a rate hike by the end of 2026. Odds that had climbed toward 60% to 70% are now pulling back. Elsewhere, the SpaceX IPO priced at $135 in the largest IPO in history, spiked above $225, and has since settled near $158, a reminder that wealth-creation events are not concrete, and concentrated equity positions require a real plan.
America’s first 250 years of life moved through a plethora of chapters: agriculture, industrialization, manufacturing, the post-war consumer economy, the dot-com bubble, and now the AI era. Each transition created winners, losers, bull markets, and painful corrections. Although every single one of them seemed like the end-all be-all, the ones who stayed on course were rewarded. With AI infrastructure spending reshaping corporate earnings and talks about data centers in space, who knows what the future holds. Demographics, specifically the retirement of the largest generation in America, believe they need $1.46 million to retire, up $200k from just last year. These aren’t statistics; they’re the backdrop for every planning conversation we're having right now.
So, this summer, whether you’re watching the World Cup on American soil or fireworks light up the night sky, think about everything this country has been through and ask yourself whether your financial plan reflects the same kind of long-term conviction that helped build it in the first place. At Associated, these are the types of conversations we have with every client. Not what the market did this week or what it might do next week, but what your money needs to do over the course of a lifetime. If you’ve been putting off that conversation, regardless of age, there's no better birthday than America’s 250th to start it.
Here's to the next 250.
The views expressed in this article are for informational purposes only and do not constitute investment advice. Past performance is not indicative of future results. Please consult with a financial professional before making investment decisions.