Given the recent chaos in Washington, including what took place this past week, many clients have reached out to express their concern for their financial well-being. We don’t blame them. To us, financial health is one leg of the four-legged stool that includes health, family and for most of us, a spiritual component. We are keenly aware that without financial security, life becomes challenging. We work extremely hard to enhance that security for all our clients.
After the results of the runoff in Georgia were announced we received an email from one client who stated he didn’t think he had “the stomach to ride out a Biden Administration and a Democratic House and Senate”. Having read our thoughts in the weekly newsletter he did not have the confidence he perceived we had. And to think, this email came before to the events of Wednesday.
In the strongest of terms, let us state that our confidence does not rest with the Biden Administration — as it did not rest with the Trump Administration. Our confidence rests firmly with the American people — our core values, work ethic and ingenuity. Somebody has to get up early. Somebody has to make the coffee. We are the ones willing to do the hard work necessary. Despite its many faults, our country is the global leader in business and innovation due in large part to the hard work of its citizens.
Our confidence in the upward trajectory of the financial markets rests with our belief that the political process will not work all the time, but will work over time. It rests with the confidence (admittedly, somewhat shaken) that over time this process will work to reduce the inequities and inconsistencies and put forth appropriate monetary and fiscal policies to advance the American way of life, including both Wall Street and Main Street, rich and the poor and people of all colors. To many of the disenfranchised, the pace of advancing these goals can, at times, be excruciatingly slow.
Fact: The stock market performs well in comparison to other asset classes regardless of which party is in office. We have no reason to believe things will be any different this time. Specifically, we believe the center of each party will hold the sway of power during the Biden Administration — at least until the midterms.
We strongly encourage you adopt this same confidence, and construct your portfolio in terms of your long-term financial objectives and not your short-term political/economic concerns. We truly believe a lack of confidence in the general upward slope of the financial markets will ultimately have a major, irreversibly negative impact your financial future.
