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How the Election Will Impact Your Portfolio and the Economy

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Many people are very passionate about politics and are extrapolating what will happen economically if their candidate or the other side gets elected. These extrapolations often run to ruin if the other side gets in and can cause great fear and emotion in the mind of the investor and lead to poor decision making.

I like to adhere to the old adage that, "You do not talk about politics or religion." However, I'd just like to say that whatever 'side' you may be on, I'm sure an informed observer can look back through history and see presidents or policies they do not like. Yet, our country and economic system still persist today. I would observe that it is in fact quite resilient and supposing 'this time is different' rarely works well for those making predictions.

Jason Zweig of the Wall Street Journal ran a good article in the October 19, 2012 Wall Street Journal, entitled "The Winner for Investors Is...," and empirically (not pejoratively) looks back through history when considering presidential elections and financial markets. He writes, "Most of the answers you are likely to find are propaganda or wishful thinking; many are flat-out wrong."

The article is definitely worth a read and hopefully brings some balance to the very passionate of any political persuasion. Click here to read the article.

Happy Voting,

Kevin Kroskey

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