A personal note on my investments

[Pototan]

To keep my retirement investments simple, they are conservative and mostly in small caps. That means they are mostly tied to the S&P.

So, as a result, I obtained back-to-back plus 20% annual returns in the last two years of the Biden Administration. Yet, the opposition kept selling those two years as an economic failure.

Now, they are touting a success, when in fact my same investments are at minus 2% in the first 5 plus months of Trump 2.

Now, I know that many people are not invested in a retirement fund and using it as their supplementary source of income. But, in fact, a large portion of the country does have retirement funds and 401k's and judge the success or failure of a Presidential Administration on those grounds.

[Frasier Balzov]

1. Dismantling the government is bad for business.

I really think Trump ran again only to stop his own prosecutions and convictions, which were going to be inevitable otherwise.

He is a dumbass who has surrounded himself with kooks and crackpots.

This is not a blueprint for prosperity unless you can somehow buy shares in presidential corruption.

[LogDog75]

2. I have two mutual funds

I'm invested used aggressive mutual funds. One is an IRA which I am taking required minimum distributions and one is just a regular mutual fund. I've taken two distributions from the IRA mutual fund and still have eight years before I have to withdraw it all so that leave my other one to grow. Normally, when you retire and begin RMD you shift your investments to more conservative funds but I have a good military retirement, Social Security, and my RMD provide me enough money to live on and sock money in the bank.

I don't expect 20 or 30% returns but I think getting an 8% return is reasonable. I don't worry, much, about market because I have a buy-and-hold strategy which has worked out well over the past 30 years.

[Pototan]

4. Not much different

My wife and I have Social Security, and I have a union pension. The annuity is a union invested one and pretty conservative, as I said.

The annuity usually breaks at about 7% to 8%, but in the last two Biden years skyrocketed to over 20%.

Trump took a solid national economy, the envy of the world, and drove it into the tank with tariffs. Tariffs may have been a good idea 35 years ago to keep American manufacturing jobs in the US, but now the time has passed. Taking into consideration the spectacular advancement in technology and other factors, it's too late. We do not have the trained workforce, facilities or people who want those jobs. For Christ's sake, we can't even get workers who want to come to the office.

[cadoman]

3. a down economy is bad for the country but good for the party out of power

Not something to cheer for, but when the election comes around it'll feel like we're running downhill because we're fighting a lot of obviously bad policy.

[Warpy]

5. I've don'e OK no matter what the market has done

because my dad invested for income.

Unless King Git trashes the economy so badly that nothing is paying out and the banks have all gone under because billionaires don't use the ones in this country, I think I'll do OK.

I do know we're all in for a wile dride until we get rid of these people who only know how to break things.

[A HERETIC I AM]

6. Small Cap stocks are not considered conservative investments.

Congratulations on your performance in the past, but I'm not sure where you get the idea that Small Capitalization equities are conservative investments.

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/small-cap.asp#:~:text=to%20their%20classification.-,What%20Is%20a%20Small%2DCap%20Stock?,companies%20that%20are%20growing%20fast.

[edhopper]

7. Small caps are not conservative

Expect a crash in the market before Trump is done. Republicans always crash the economy.
A 30% drop would not be a surprise,
In February, I moved most of my investments into interest bearing instruments

[Pototan]

8. 10-year trend

To my point. As the description below with the link describes, the average increase is between 7% and 8%. The Biden years were well above average, and the Trump years are far below average. As you can see by the 10-year average, 7% to 8% return on investment seems pretty conservative to me. Remember, that 10-year average includes the horrible covid years. The 22-year average is 8.1%, which includes 9/11, the Great Recession and the Covid years.

Based on recent information, the average annualized return for US small-cap stocks over the last 10 years has been around 7.1%, based on the MSCI USA Small Cap index.
Another source indicates the Russell 2000, a key US small-cap benchmark, has shown a 10-year average return of 7.8%.
It's important to remember that these are average returns, and individual stock performance can vary significantly. Also, past performance does not guarantee future results.


Link: https://www.google.com/search?q=Small+cap+stocks+US+ten+year+average+percetna

[edhopper]

9. In 1929

It took 30 years for stocks to get back to the same level..
In 1974 it too 16 years
In 2008 it took 6 years and only because of what Obama did.
The next crash could take years to return back.
I don't have decades for the 10 year average trend.

[Pototan]

10. If the next collapse is as you say

it will take everyone down. Dollars, Gold, Bitcoin, Stocks and Bonds.

I think Trump will be bad for the economy. Very bad. But we will recover especially if we have a Democratic congress to mitigate the problem.

[edhopper]

11. Doesn't work that way

2007 S&P 1500. Gold 800
2009 S&P 1000 Gold 1200

My long term Government Bonds returned the same in 2009 as they did in 2007

2008 the biggest crash since 1929.

[Pototan]

12. Let me explain my OP

My OP was not meant to debate investment strategy. Everyone customizes their own to their own needs.

My OP was meant to show that we all do better, regardless of our strategy, under Democrats than Republicans and especially compared to Biden vs. Trump.

[bif]

14. Do a search for Bart Starr's report

On how the economy ALWAYS does better under Democrats. It's pretty interesting.

[edhopper]

19. There is no doubt about that

And this Repug President is burning it all down.

[spinbaby]

13. I'm mostly in bonds

The bond market has taken a beating, but I keep reminding myself that I’m not selling them, just relying in the income they generate to supplement my retirement.

[Johonny]

15. Of my 4 accounts, 2 are up under Trump

2 are slightly down. Overall my strategy of bailing on Trumponomics has me up about 25 K.

[Happy Hoosier]

16. Both me 401K and brokerage account are still down.

And the forcasted growth is pretty anemic. I'm beginning to get concerned for my planned retirement. I just hope the recovery is strong.

[Johnny2X2X]

17. The Biden years will be the last years the working class even had a chance to get ahead in America

Biden delivered historical gains for working people. Wage growth in excess of inflation for everyone. Wage growth far far in excess of inflation low wage workers.

The corporate media convinced everyton things were terrible when regular people were seeing the biggest gains in 60 years.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

18. I have a wonderful financial guy.

I am not myself knowledgeable enough, nor am I willing to do the research necessary to do my own investing.

My financial guy, himself a Republican, started moving much of my investments from stocks to bonds (we're talking funds here, not individual stocks or bonds) immediately after the election. I find that interesting.

He's done well for me. I have more money than ever before, and at my age (I'm trombones years old) I'm honestly not that concerned about a market down turn. Besides, I'm very aware that over time, and not necessarily a long time, the market goes up. It always goes up. Trying to time the market is a fools game, but if you invest and stay invested you won't lose. Not in the long run.

[edhopper]

20. The long run

can be decades. Some of us don't have that to recover.
Pulling away from stocks when you see a crah coming is not timing the market.
It is wise investment strategy.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

21. The long run is not going to be decades.

It never is, or definitely not since 1929.

Again, I don't do individual stocks; my advisor puts me in and out of funds as he deems appropriate. I've had him for around 20 years at this point and I have more money than ever. We recently increased my take from those investments.

And I know what you mean about not having decades to recover. I'm trombones years old, and I'm constantly telling people about my plans for my 97th birthday. And yes, pulling away if you think a crash is coming IS timing the market.

There were people here who announced as soon as Trump was elected that they were getting completely out of the market. Hope that's going well for them.

And yes, we always have a recession when a President has the R after his name. Always. So it is just a matter of time in that.

[edhopper]

22. 1974

Took 16 years to recover.
A decade and a half is still too long.
Meanwhile, prudently moving investments is not timing the market, it is being safe and cautious in times like these.
I get 4% on my savings no matter what the marker does.

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

23. 1974 is when I started investing.

The money I put in then didn't fall and take 16 years to recover. That's why you keep on investing, especially when the market is down.

And yes, you are absolutely correct to prudently move investments.

[edhopper]

24. The Dow fell between 1973 and 1974

So you were investing into a down market.. if you had started two years earlier, you would have been down significantly.
You are also talking about working person investing as the earn.
Not a retiree trying not take a loss in their portfolio.