Presidents Change, Investing Does Not

As I am sure you all know, Election Day is looming.  On Tuesday November 8th we will all run to the polls to cast our vote for the next the next President of the United States.  Back in May of this year we wrote about the relationship between the election and your portfolio in an article titled “Politics and Your Portfolio: Is There a Relationship?” This article can be read here. Now that we are much closer to having a new President we wanted to revisit this topic and give our perspective, strictly from an investment stand-point of course.

We have had good and bad markets under Republican and Democratic Presidents alike, market performance is more a product of economic cycles rather than which party holds the White House.  What we urge for our clients is patience and discipline when it comes to investing, we want to avoid letting our emotions dictate when and how we invest.  We believe investors should maintain diversification and stick to their strategy, especially in uncertain times such as these.

We do expect some volatility in the coming months, both due to knee-jerk reactions from the election and from a potential slight rise in interest rates before the end of the year.  Our client’s portfolios are designed to try to manage volatility through the use of diversification into multiple asset classes, including the use of alternative investments which we wrote an article about in mid-October titled “The Effect of Alternative Investments on a Portfolio.” This article can be read here.

In summary, there is a lot of noise on the radio and on TV designed to scare individuals from voting for one party as opposed to the other.  Do not let your social or political views get in the way of your investments.  Investing always has been, and will be, about buying low and selling high. Use discipline and patience with a truly diversified portfolio to manage risk and volatility in your investments.

The opinions voiced in this material are for general information only and are not intended to provide specific advice or recommendations for any individual. Economic forecasts set forth may not develop as predicted and there can be no guarantee that strategies promoted will be successful. There is no guarantee that a diversified portfolio will enhance overall returns or outperform a non-diversified portfolio. Diversification does not protect against market risk. Investing involves risk including loss of principal. Alternative investments may not be suitable for all investors and should be considered as an investment for the risk capital portion of the investor’s portfolio. The strategies employed in the management of alternative investments may accelerate the velocity of potential losses.