This article appears as part of Casey Weade's Weekend Reading for Retirees series. Every Friday, Casey highlights four hand-picked articles on trending retirement topics and delivers them straight to your email inbox. Get on the list here.

What You Should Know: Despite what the media might try to tell you, one-year stock market predictions are inherently flawed and contrary to the principles of long-term investing. Higher potential rewards, like those from stocks, come with greater uncertainty. This volatility makes stocks unsuitable for short-term predictions and ideal only for long-term financial goals.

Further, Wall Street analysts often follow a herd mentality. Their predictions commonly cluster in a narrow range to avoid standing out and risking reputational harm. These forecasts are frequently inaccurate, with actual market performance often falling outside the predicted ranges.

The Conclusion is Clear: You—nor expert analysts—can 100 percent predict short-term stock performance, and that's okay. Sound financial planning should focus on your long-term goals rather than the uncertainty of any single year.