Post-Election Reflections

Whether you find the election results exciting or shocking, we are now faced with the question, “What’s next?”

With respect to your investments, here’s a quick reminder of how we feel about that:  Ample evidence informs us that it is unwise to alter your long-term investment strategy in reaction to breaking news, no matter how exciting or grim that news may seem, or how the markets are immediately responding. Markets constantly process information, and security prices incorporate new or changing risks. Markets have proven far better than others in pricing these risks and determining fair value at any point in time. As we saw with the unexpected outcome of this summer’s Brexit referendum, the biggest surprise may be how resilient markets tend to be, as long as you give them your time and your patience.

In other words, if you feel you want to make changes to your investment portfolio in the aftermath of Tuesday’s election results, please be in touch with us first, so we can do the job you hired us to do. Specifically, you can count on us to advise and assist you based on our professional insights, your personal goals and – above all – your highest financial interests.

In the meantime, consider these words by billionaire businessman and “stay put” investor Warren Buffett, from his 2012 letter to Berkshire Hathaway shareholders:

“America has faced the unknown since 1776. It’s just that sometimes people focus on the myriad of uncertainties that always exist while at other times they ignore them (usually because the recent past has been uneventful). American business will do fine over time. And stocks will do well just as certainly, since their fate is tied to business performance. Periodic setbacks will occur, yes, but investors and managers are in a game that is heavily stacked in their favor…The risks of being out of the game are huge compared to the risks of being in it.”

Buffett published these sentiments on March 1, 2013, shortly after the last presidential election cycle. If you review the volume of his writings, you’ll find that he has expressed similar viewpoints on many occasions and through many markets, fair and foul.

Presidential terms are four years long. Your investment portfolio has been structured to last a lifetime. Remember that as you consider your personal “What’s next?” … and please call us if we can assist.