Fix it Friday Ep. 2 - Never Mix Politics and Investing
Welcome to Fix It Fridays on the Crazy Wealthy Podcast with Jonathan Blau, CEO of Fusion Family Wealth. In these quick, bi-weekly episodes, Jonathan unpacks common financial missteps and the behavioral biases that often trip up even the savviest investors. Today’s episode dives into the critical lesson of separating politics from investing. With insights from historical data and key moments in U.S. political history, Jonathan highlights why emotional reactions to elections shouldn't influence your financial decisions. Stay tuned for valuable takeaways, including a perspective from Warren Buffet on maintaining a steady investment strategy.
IN THIS EPISODE:
- [:57] Don’t mix politics and investing
- [3:01] History of both Bush administrations
- [4:46] History of bitter partisan elections
- [5:06] 1948 Election
- [6:49] Closing Statements YouTube video of Warren Buffet
KEY TAKEAWAYS:
- Mixing politics and investing is a mistake. Historically, long-term market returns have been consistent regardless of political party, averaging 10.7% under Democratic regimes and 10.5% under Republican ones.
- In 20 tracked decades, only one—2000 to 2009 under George W. Bush—saw flat market returns, driven by significant events like the dot-com bubble burst, 9/11, and the global financial crisis, rather than political affiliation. Interestingly, the best-performing decade, 1988 to 1997 under George H.W. Bush, delivered 18% annual returns, with stocks increasing fivefold.
- History shows that market performance over the next decade will likely be substantial, regardless of election outcomes. While this election has been highly partisan, bitter political divides are nothing new—dating back to 1803 when Vice President Aaron Burr fatally dueled Treasury Secretary Alexander Hamilton.
RESOURCE LINKS
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ABOUT THE HOST:
Jonathan is the President and CEO of Fusion Family Wealth, a firm he founded in 2013 that emphasizes behavioral finance to help clients make rational financial decisions in uncertain times. Known for his clear and engaging approach, Jonathan is a sought-after speaker in wealth management and investing. His background includes senior roles in tax and estate planning at Arthur Andersen, and he holds a BS in Finance, an MS in Taxation, and an MBA in Accounting. Based on Long Island with his family, Jonathan is active in the local business community and supports causes like the Middle Market Alliance and Sunrise Day Camp. He enjoys boating in his spare time.
Transcript
A copy of Fusion's current written disclosure brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request or at www. fusionfamilywealth. com.
Voice Over: Welcome to the crazy wealthy podcast with your host, Jonathan Blau, whether you're just starting out or are an experienced investor, join Jonathan as he seeks to illuminate and demystify the complexities of making consistently rational financial decisions under conditions of uncertainty. He'll chat with professionals from the advice world, entrepreneurs, executives, and investors.
e back to Fix It Friday, the [:elections, politics, and how those ought to be factored in to our investment portfolios. So let's start by saying in all of my experience in the industry and everything I've read historically about past elections and political environments, it's a very bad idea to mix politics and investing. And so, One of the things that that I'll do is bring, bring everybody through a a history of past elections, just to, just to take a look at since 1936, what's happened in the aftermath of, of elections.
And by the way, since:What I mean by that is of the 23 elections, there are 20 of the elections where there are 10 year track records that we can look at for the return of the standard of force 500 index for the return of stocks broadly in the U. S. And Under the Democratic regimes, we saw returns that averaged 10.
that [:And that was at 10 years with, with . Yeah. The younger George Bush was the president, and that was from 2000 to 2009, and that had really nothing to do with the president's political affiliation more than the fact that that decade from 2000 to 2009. Saw the dot com bubble burst, followed by the 9 11 terrorist attacks, and then four or so years later, followed by the worst financial crisis in modern times the, the, the global credit crisis.
riod was, was the period from:So, the worst 10 years and the best 10 years. were attributable to [00:04:00] the father, the son of Bush political dynasty. So that's just an interesting tidbit. So what's also interesting is that what I take away from it, based on all of history, the 10 year periods following an election year, 95 percent have been positive and have averaged.
Over 10 and a half percent, 10 and a half to plus percent a year. So based on that, it wouldn't be unreasonable to expect that the next 10 years ought to be good, regardless of whether or not one agrees with who's been elected president. And so the interesting thing is this has probably been one of the most bitterly partisan elections in history.
s to elections. Dates back to:And a fellow named H. L. Mengen, who's known as the Sage of Baltimore, he was a journalist who, who wrote for the Baltimore Sun, and he said, this is it. The end of everything, when Truman was elected, there were fears that he, that Truman was a communist, and, and many things were going on then, including, we had boots on the ground entering into Korea we had the Soviet Union acquiring the A bomb, and, and we had fears of of, of investigations regarding it.
ould have done is they would [:The markets went up by half 50% between 1948 and January 52 when Eisenhower was elected. And in fact, when you included dividends went up almost a hundred percent. during that period. So, so mixing politics and investing has, has generally never been a a good idea. One of the things I'm going to leave you with is a video at the end of this podcast that you'll be able to see in that notes section, where one of the wisest investors and most successful whoever lives, who fortunately is still with us, Warren Buffett talks about his experience.
Wealthy in General, and the [:on crazywealthypodcast. com. You can go to fusionfamilywealth. com, our website, and you can also listen on your favorite venues, everything from Apple to Spotify to iHeartRadio and, and all of the popular venues. Thank everybody so much for tuning in and we look forward to having you join us. On the next episode,
Voice Over: thank you for tuning into another episode of the crazy wealthy podcast for more insights, resources, and to sign up for our newsletter, visit crazy wealthy podcast. com until then stay crazy. Wealthy.
umed that future performance [:Neither Fusion's investment advisor registration status, nor any amount of prior experience or success, should be construed that a certain level of results or satisfaction will be achieved if Fusion is engaged or continues to be engaged to provide investment advisory services. Fusion is neither a law firm nor accounting firm, and no portion of its services should be construed as legal or accounting advice.
No portion of the video content should be construed by a client or prospective client as a guarantee that he or she will experience a certain level of results, If Fusion is engaged or continues to be engaged to provide investment advisory services, a copy of Fusion's current written disclosure brochure discussing our advisory services and fees is available upon request or www.
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