2015: The Year in Money

Gas was down; rents were up. Jobs rebounded nicely, although salaries stayed flat, sadly. Apple proved it could win over the wearable world—along with most ­everything else—but got a beat-down from Taylor Swift. And a fictional woman named Ashley Madison scared the bejesus out of millions of married men, while an epidemic of cyberbreaches rattled just about everyone. On the plus side, Janet Yellen held her fire (so far), and Wall Street couldn’t have been happier. Happiest of all may be investors in one particular TV network. After all, Netflix really is the new money machine. That’s the story of 2015 in a nutshell, told here in all its tumultuous, Technicolor glory. It’s a fun trip down memory lane, but if you read these lists carefully, you may also find some valuable lessons for the coming year.

The Biggest Money Winners and Losers of the Year
Business Rivalries of the Year
What Got More and Less Expensive in 2015
Worst Cyber Attacks of 2015
Where the Jobs Were in 2015
Best and Worst Performing Mutual Funds of 2015
Best and Worst Performing Stocks of 2015