Your Crystal Ball Predictions for 2026

Now that 2026 is here, it’s time for our annual prediction column, where you tell us what you think will happen in the next 12 months. A few weeks ago, we brought you the results of the 2025 crystal ball predictions we made 12 months earlier. As always, some people were blindingly wrong, while others were amazingly right.

Who would have guessed that the S&P 500 would have another strong year (three years running), who would have known that Bitcoin would explode through the $125,000 mark before crashing back to earth later this year, and who would have predicted that gold and silver would be the stars of the show (both reaching record highs in December and both at 60% +5 overall)

Either way, it’s always fun to predict what’s to come and then look back at the end of the year and laugh at everything we didn’t know. By the way, one of the mantras on this site that I’ve probably read a hundred times is: “My crystal ball is cloudy, but . . . Well, forget all that. Today, we’re going to look into our 2026 crystal balls just to see what’s coming out of the fog.”

Entering the new year, investors are still riding high on the stock market, although some are still worried about an AI bubble that could pop at any second. The US economy (despite another recent interest rate cut by the Fed and despite inflation remaining somewhat under control) appears to be a bit fragile—the unemployment rate continues to rise slightly—and you have to wonder how the “affordability” issue will shape the midterm elections next November.

And what he wrote last year at this time still seems to apply: “While the economy appears to be doing well (at least for high earners), some wonder if chaos is imminent.”

Now, let’s have some fun.

I’ve collected predictions from some of our readers, writers, and other financial experts to make crystal ball predictions for 2026 when it comes to finance, investing, and anything related to money. I didn’t care if the prediction was obvious or unusual, funny or cruel. I wanted to know what people are prophesying. After all, as James Clear wrote in his book Atomic Habits, “The human brain is a prediction machine.” And it’s okay if these predictions are wrong. As Ad-Rock of the Beastie Boys once famously said, “Your crystal ball isn’t that clear.”

At the end of the year, we will revisit this column and see if any of these predictions have actually come true. For now, let’s look at the cloudiness of our shiny ball and see if we can find anything clear in the distance. Here is what these forecasters are predicting.

Financial Predictions for 2026

From Reader SC

• AI stocks will continue to go crazy.
• Housing prices will remain high.
• Bitcoin will recover slowly and end the year at around $120,000.
• The S&P will rise again but by about 8%-10%.
• The profitability of PE groups buying physician practices will decline as they finally realize that physicians are not flexible “medical providers.”

JP Morgan Chase Banking Company

The S&P 500 will end the year at 7,500. “The US will always be the engine of global growth,” the company wrote. It also expects the Fed to cut interest rates twice in 2026 (cut rates three times in 2025). The S&P 500 ended 2025 at 6,845.

Real Estate Analyst Melody Wright

The housing market in the US will experience a price correction “worse than 2008,” and house prices could drop by 50%. Zillow said more than half of US homes will lose value by 2025 (the highest percentage since 2012). In October, the median sales price of a home was nearly $440,000, only 1.2% higher year over year.

“What I’ve seen over the last three months, and this — I’m going to get into the dirty, dirty details under the hood — is that $100,000-$250,000 sales price, we’re starting to see an increase in sales in that category,” Wright told Caughtful Money. “And as it continues, it’s going to start dragging the median down. It’s already happening, and that’s where we’re seeing the decline.”

Real Estate Platform Redfin

On the other hand, Redfin says 2026 “will be a year of gradual increases in home sales and normalization as affordability gradually improves.” Redfin also predicted that the 30-year mortgage interest rate would hover around the 6.3 percent mark (at the end of 2025, it was about 6.1%) and that home sales would increase by 3% year over year.

From Commenter FloridaEDDoc

“Billions and billions will continue to be spent on AI capex, crowdfunding will continue, the market will go up and up for a long time … and nothing much will come of it. Except for a few better/faster search engines, some IP copyright cases, some weird music videos, and a million AI chat apps that no one will ever use.”

That’s about it. But it won’t cause MUCH of a market crash/correction, because Mag 7 are already big money makers. They will just go back to what they were doing before the AI ​​bubble.

And the sci-fi community will stop making AI doomsday movies. “

Matt Frankel of The Motley Fool

Here’s what Frankel, the CFP, had to say®wrote:

• Mortgage rates will be up to 5%.
• Russell 2000 will gain at least 20% (meaning small caps will do best).
• Walmart, Eli Lilly, JPMorgan Chase, and Visa will reach a $1 trillion market cap.
• AI companies OpenAI and Anthropic will have record IPOs.
• Bitcoin will reach $150,000 (as of this writing, Bitcoin is $90,000).

From Reviewer Fruitful

• I also predict no recession in the US, as I have been saying for the past few years.
• As I predicted last year, I also predict that the Ukraine-Russia war will continue unabated. The war will intensify, and Russia will gain more territory than in any year since 2022.
• The Fed will lower rates significantly. I predict at least four rate cuts (a total of 1% or more). Despite this, mortgage rates will be low, and the 30-year will remain in the 5.5%-7.5% range throughout the year.
• National housing prices will decline, although the decline will be small, in the 1%-2% range. Certain states in the South and West—such as Florida, Texas, Colorado, and California—could see a 3%-5% decline.
• Last year, I said gold would overtake Bitcoin, which it has done a lot. By 2026, I predict that Bitcoin will surpass gold.
• I expect Israel to go to war with at least one country, probably Iran or Lebanon.

Deutsche Bank

The S&P 500 will rise about 16% in 2026, reaching 8,000.

Investor Louis Navellier

As quoted by The Street, Navellier said, “2026 will go down in history as ‘economic nirvana’ where the US will see GDP growth of 5% without a significant increase in inflation.”

WCI founder Dr. Jim Dahle

• The US stock market will have the lowest returns since 2022, but small-cap stocks will outperform large-cap growth stocks.
• International stocks will outperform US stocks.
• Interest rates will fall slightly, increasing the return on the bond.
• No major recession will occur.
• Real estate will have the best returns from 2021.
• Democrats will retake the House of Representatives.
• The Colorado Avalanche will win the Stanley Cup.
• Bitcoin will end 2026 above $100,000.
• My men’s hockey team will not win any championships.

And as always, feel free to ignore this guy:

Money Song of the Week

The Outsiders has been a treasure in every season of my life. I read this book when I was in middle school or high school, and I’ve watched the movie about, I don’t know, 15 times since I was a kid. I interviewed Ralph Macchio (Johnny Cade) a few years ago at SXSW (it wasn’t, no doubt, a highlight), and a few years before that, I interviewed Matt Dillon’s (Dallas Winston) dad about his college golf coaching career.

Recently, my kids had to read SE Hinton’s classic work for school, and it just so happened that my local Broadway chain included The Outsiders in this year’s season ticket program. I wasn’t sure how the music and lyrics would work in this story that I grew up loving for so many years and not be a carbon copy of West Side Story, but I had heard that Socs vs. The Greasers brawl towards the end of the match was amazing to watch (of course it was).

In the song Great Expectations, Ponyboy—the main character who has lost both of his parents and lives with his two older brothers—sings about his brother Darrel (who could have escaped his low-class life and risen to success if he hadn’t been thrust into the role of Ponyboy’s proxy parent) and his best friend Johnny (who never left his parents in his absence). As Ponyboy, played by Brody Grant, sings,

“Darrell was on his way to the world/Everybody knew he’d go far/Life came along, it had different plans/How quickly a dream fades away.

Johnny doesn’t have the kind of chances in this world/Not where he should have started/Who knows how far he could go in this life/If he played a different part . . .

Divided between what could be and what could be/It’s hard to write a story/When the story writes me.”

It’s a song about privilege and the class system and what Ponyboy expects of himself.

I honestly didn’t like any of the music from The Outsiders, but man, when that soundtrack hits Great Expectations, it can be a real ear-splitter. Maybe that’s what Johnny meant when he said, “Stay golden, Ponyboy. Stay golden.”

More info here:

Every Money Song of the Week Ever Published

Tweet of the Week

High-level athletes, including successful race car drivers, are not immune to bad financial decisions. Here’s what Kyle Busch had to say recently.

We’ve always tried to take the hardest chapters of our lives – infertility, loss, setbacks – and use them for good. Today is one of those times.

We are raising the alarm about a hidden insurance scam involving policies sold by Pacific Life and other insurance companies.… pic.twitter.com/RyYPzzN7KM

— Kyle Busch (@KyleBusch) October 28, 2025

What are your predictions for 2026? Do you agree with any of the predictions above? Or is everyone just wrong?