Predicting what the Stock market will do in the future isn’t easy, and it’s impossible to know exactly how high or low the US stock market will go in 2022—but that doesn’t mean you can’t make educated guesses. The S&P 500 index had its best year ever in 2017, posting an impressive total return of almost 20%. So, how high could it go? Or more importantly, how low could it go? While no one knows the exact answer, there are some things you can do to better predict where the market will be in 2022.
The rise of cryptocurrencies
The crypto-revolution is going full force. With ICOs and peer-to-peer exchanges like EtherDelta, investors are now able to sidestep traditional exchanges and place their bets in new ways. With a lot of this trading happening on unregulated platforms, there is some concern about potential money laundering and illicit activity in these markets.
These worries are abated by protocols such as 0x, an open protocol for exchanging ERC20 tokens built on Ethereum that has KYC requirements as well as a decentralized reputation system that can be used across every exchange on which it is applied.
The end of manufacturing
Manufacturing, once a pillar in US economic Growth, is now on its way out. Robots and automation are taking over in factories all across America with manufacturing output steadily dropping. The truth is that robots can do most of the work with little or no pay.
Jobs have moved overseas because labor costs are too high for American companies to compete. Computers, robots and artificial intelligence can produce goods more efficiently than humans. Although these improvements will save millions from poverty by reducing expensive labor costs, they also disrupt traditional job markets by making certain types of jobs obsolete.
The automation economy
Employment numbers will keep on decreasing as more jobs become automated. When it comes to this topic, statistics show that one in three Americans are already working in an industry that has experienced significant impacts from automation.
There is a chance that this number will jump when forecasts for autonomous cars and e-commerce both exceed 90%. What does this mean? As human workers find themselves displaced from their jobs, they will be forced into either unemployment or other types of employment like apprenticeships or entrepreneurship. This shift is being called The Automation Economy.
Shortages will be common
Scarcity is about as close as you can get to predicting the future. When supply runs out, prices will soar. There will be shortages in many industries from energy and water and food. For those who have enough foresight to prepare for them now, supplies will never run out because they’ll learn how to produce their own energy and grow their own food.
Land will be valuable again
I went out on a limb and predicted that in 2020 we will see big rises in land prices. In order to justify this prediction, I took my argument all the way back in time until I got to 2024. Let’s take a look at what could cause such large changes: an increased need for agriculture, more climate-change-related crop diseases, increased governmental support for farmland conservation and more private agricultural property.
The aforementioned factors should make farming both more productive and profitable. This should lead land prices (particularly those with good soil quality) to increase significantly. We are still about 10 years away from that point but it’s important that we start thinking now how these changes may affect us before they happen so we can better plan for our future.
Living off grid will be mainstream
Don’t be surprised when solar power, rainwater harvesting, food gardens and composting toilets become as common in suburbia as today’s satellite dishes and backyard decks. Rather than sticking with traditional building practices that are dependent on fossil fuels and costly construction costs, our culture will turn to greener methods for creating sustainable buildings that won’t damage the environment.
However, urban sprawl will continue to be a significant factor in our future because higher-density housing developments are not yet feasible or affordable across a wide swath of land. With dwindling natural resources on all fronts, it’ll just make sense not to build houses where there isn’t enough water or topsoil.
