Good morning, happy Monday, and happy Memorial Day!
May 5, 1866, at the conclusion of the Civil War, Waterloo, NY closed their businesses & shops so that people of that town could decorate the graves of the fallen in their community … this morphed through the years to become known as Memorial Day.
The Civil War is still the bloodiest war in U.S. history, claiming 620,000 lives. Through all U.S. involved wars the death toll exceeds 1.3 million Americans. These are fathers & mothers, sons & daughters, brothers & sisters, neighbors & friends. For love of country, freedom, duty and honor they paid the ultimate sacrifice … and this Memorial Day we pay special honor to them and their sacrifice. To all who have served and are serving in the military and their families I salute you, I thank you and I call you heroes!
I oftentimes fear that in our 24-hour news cycle in America we can so quickly and easily forget history and the lessons it can teach us. When it comes to financial management and investments, we can become so focused on what is happening right now that we can lose perspective.
Amongst the most asked questions I get (and have gotten for my entire nearly 23-year career) is how the policies of Washington and particularly the president will affect investment performance. As opinionated as we all can be on our own personal political views, I encourage all my clients to separate their politics from their investing. Here is a quick look at the average rate of the return of the S&P 500 under presidential terms for the last 88 years:
| Donald Trump | 13.73% |
| Barak Obama | 13.84% |
| George W. Bush | -6.19% |
| Bill Clinton | 15.18% |
| George H. W. Bush | 10.89% |
| Ronald Regan | 10.21% |
| Jimmy Carter | 6.34% |
| Gerald Ford | 10.37% |
| Richard Nixon | -4.05% |
| Lyndon B. Johnson | 7.62% |
| John F. Kennedy | 5.40% |
| Dwight D. Eisenhower | 10.94% |
| Harry S. Truman | 8.31% |
| Franklin D. Roosevelt | 7.52% |
Source: MarketWatch article posted 1/20/2021 – Stock-market performance under Trump trails only Obama and Clinton – MarketWatch
Do you see the trend there? I sure do not. I see that regardless of party, policies, or politics the stock market continues its journey. When we invest, we become owners of amazing, profitable companies in the U.S. and the world … as much as Washington would love to control it, the market is completely independent because the human spirit of innovation lives on, the desire to create wealth stays in place, the internal need to grow continually exists.
I saw a great quote about this recently. British historian Thomas Babington Macaulay in 1830 said “On what principle is it, that when we see nothing but improvement behind us, we are to expect nothing but deterioration before us?” The world has dramatically changed since he said that over 190 years ago and the world will continue to innovate and grow. I want to be an owner of the companies that are going to be behind that growth, thus I own equities. I am an intentional investor!
Thank you for allowing us to be a part of your intentional investment plan.