One lesson that was driven home again during the recent 24-hour news cycle surrounding the election was, "Don't believe everything you read and hear."
Regardless of your political persuasion, what you hear on the campaign trail often differs markedly from what happens after the election. It's similar in the financial markets. Scary headlines one day could turn into "the markets are on their way to new highs" the next day.
The recent election night is a great example of how things can turn on a dime. When it became clear that Donald Trump was performing much better than the polls had suggested, the financial futures market, which trades pretty much 24 hours a day, started dropping rapidly. The markets were not expecting Mr. Trump to win. But then before the regular trading markets opened up on Wednesday morning, the numbers had completely turned around and the markets opened higher.
The initial knee-jerk reaction to the election in the financial markets was negative, but less than 12 hours later, it had turned positive.
I always stress to our clients not to make snap judgments when it comes to your investing and your financial plan. The 24-hour news cycle encourages people to make snap judgments because it's designed to create scary headlines that drive viewers and increase advertising. We do our best at Keen Wealth Advisors to be a voice of reason during these headline-driven times.
In today's episode, we take a look at how to deal with the 24-hour news cycle and discuss how Donald Trump's presidency may affect your financial future.
