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Election Day is around the corner, and for many, it may come with some concern about investments and the impact the outcome could have on nest eggs.
Barry Glassman, president of Glassman Wealth Services in Tysons, Virginia, says while the stress “makes sense,” you shouldn’t make any big moves with your money.
“Even though a certain presidential candidate gets in and has a certain bias or makes campaign promises, it doesn’t mean that the investments will follow,” Glassman said.
Glassman said it is too soon to tell what impact the election’s outcome will have and, in the past, there have been some surprising outcomes.
When former President Donald Trump was in office, Glassman said green energy stocks soared. And under President Joe Biden, the complete opposite occurred, with those stocks plummeting and traditional energy stocks going up.
“(That’s) the opposite of what you might think,” he said.
Glassman said in the past, the country has also seen Wall Street respond in a dramatic fashion to a winner being declared initially, with reversals of those changes following shortly after.
“I wouldn’t pay attention to the first few hours of trading after the presidential election is called,” Glassman said.
He said it may take a couple days to truly tell what the investing public thinks about interest rates and whether one sector deserves to win or lose because of the election’s outcome.
He also said it’s important to keep in mind many other things that can impact your 401(k) or stock portfolios.
“A lot of things can affect your investments, from the geopolitical value of the dollar, interest rates, the economy, unemployment. So many factors go in, beyond just who’s sitting behind the desk at the Oval Office,” Glassman said.
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