Good morning & happy Monday!
“We do not have government by the majority. We have government by the majority who participate.”
– Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States
Well, here we are. Tomorrow is election day.
I’m fairly certain that there are 5 different groups of people voting in this election (and I’m reasonably sure that there are some of all 5 who are directly receiving this message in my client base):
- Voting FOR Donald Trump
- Voting FOR Kamala Harris
- Not voting
- Voting AGAINST Donald Trump (resulting in probably voting for Kamala Harris, not because you love Harris, but you really dislike Trump)
- Voting AGAINST Kamala Harris (resulting in probably voting for Donald Trump, not because you love Trump, but you really dislike Harris)
I follow politics quite closely, you could probably call me a political junkie, but I’m glad to have this election wrapping up. There is way too much hate spewing around and way too many empty promises being espoused.
Politics has turned into a dirty game. I wish it were not the case but add that to the list of things I have no control over. 😊
I hope you will allow me to provide a positive message this morning, maybe it’s a refreshing change (or maybe you love all the mud throwing 😉).
Wednesday morning when we wake up (hopefully) a winner of the presidential race will be announced. Roughly ½ of Americans will be happy, and roughly ½ of Americans will be disappointed. If you find yourself in one of those categories, remember that there are plenty of people in the other category as well (I’m coaching myself here too 😊).
But regardless of the outcome, the sun will still rise Wednesday morning. The world will not come to an end. The United States of America is not going to come to cease to exist.
The stock market will open @ 9:30am on Wednesday morning just like it does every Wednesday morning (except holidays).
My team and I will all be in the office Wednesday morning, working as normal.
After virtually every election for the last 25 years (as long as I’ve been in this industry) I have clients call me stating they think the world is going to pot under the new president-elect. I got those calls when George W. Bush won in 2000 (remember how intense that was? Hanging chads, Supreme Court involvement), in 2008 with Barak Obama’s election, the election of Donald Trump in 2016, and then most recently in 2020 with Joe Biden’s victory. There were more than a few people who were terrified of what the future held with these presidents. Now that future is history, and guess what … we survived! 😊 In fact, we thrived. I’ll get into some more data points another time on this topic … maybe around inauguration day.
Each time the election results are made the conversation would go something like this with a concerned client:
Client: I’m massively upset that ________ has been elected president! I think the market is going to crash! What should we do?
Me: Don’t freak out. There will likely be some market moves in the short term, but the direction of the stock market is not dictated by the outcome of the election. Stay the course, be patient, and don’t panic.
Client: How can you be so calm? This is a dire situation for our county. I don’t know if we will survive as a nation!
Me: History gives me no other choice but to be optimistic about the future. We are not investing in a president or a political party, we are investing in profitable companies who frankly are smarter than the government! 😉 They will make business decisions based on the economic and political environment to maximize profits for their shareholders (that’s us! 😊).
No matter who is announced the victor from Tuesday’s election, my message will be the same regarding your investing strategy: stay the course.
My friends, please hear me loud and clear on this point: DIVORCE YOUR POLITICS FROM YOUR INVESTING STRATEGY! They are not connected.
Sure, certain industries will likely perform better under Harris (example: green energy) and other industries will likely perform better under Trump (example: oil industry), but this is precisely one of the many benefits that diversification provides.
So, as election day arrives, please take a big breath, vote if you haven’t already done so, and stay the course on your investment strategy.
We are here to support you any way we can no matter who wins or what the future holds. Thank you for the trust you have put in us, we will work hard to continue to earn that trust.
Make it a great week ahead, I’m fairly certain it won’t be a boring one 😉