Well....I'm about ready for this election to be over. How about you? The candidates have been posturing for almost two years and it's getting to be about enough if you ask me. The worst part is everyone seems to be voting against the candidate they hate the most, instead of for the one they like the most. Kind of sad.
I've had more and more clients end the conversation with, "What do you think the markets will do with this whole election thing going on?" and "What is going on in the world today? We're in trouble." Here are my answers:
1) The media drives fear into people. Regardless of what topic they are talking about, what political or religious belief you have...the media is here to do one thing...create ratings. The 24 hour news cycle is about creating news as much as it is reporting news. I recently had a client who was up north at a cabin with no phone or internet access. They said it was the best week because they couldn't watch the news and see all the bad things happening. So, consequently, they were in a better mood. Remember that and don't be afraid to turn the noise off if you're getting too emotional about it.
2) We are still living in the best time of the history of the world to grow old in. There have been more advances in health care technology in the last 100 years than the last billion years combined. Penicillin was invented in 1928. That means before 1928 we were at a higher risk to die from a simple infection. Now, less than 100 years later, we are developing cures for diseases we couldn't even diagnose 40 years ago.
3) We have survived bad leaders before. America is a pretty resilient country who's citizens have always be problem solvers. We look for leaders to solve those problems for us. The fact is, it takes all of us to solve the problems...not just a few hundred people in Washington. We all need to look in the mirror and focus on the things we can control in our lives. If we all do that, the rest will fall in to place because there are still a lot more good people out there than not.
4) The thing the markets don't like the most is uncertainty. Right now the market isn't certain about who's going to win the election. Once it knows it will adjust accordingly in the short term and, if history tells us anything, it will start to trend upward...regardless of who wins the election.
Don't let these things pull you down. We can control our attitude and our effort. Have a good attitude, work hard at the things that are important to you and do the right thing for other people. Call me old fashioned but I think that might just work.
The information presented by Keith Meyers is solely his responsibility and comments made may not necessarily reflect the opinion of Signator or any of its affiliated companies.