Health & Fitness
Election-Year Investing
With Presidential Election Year Debates looming, and five weeks til the election, should you wait on the sidelines for results or jump into investing with both feet?
Recently, Steven Palubiak of Edward Jones Investments, sponsored, "Invest for the Long Term". Light refreshments (sliders, crab cakes, toasted ravioli) and carbonated drinks flew out of the St. Louis Racquet Club kitchen to feed a hungry crowd on their way home from work or retirement activities.
The featured speaker was Alan Brown, vice president of American Funds. Mr Brown's talk, PowerPoint presentation, and handouts dealt with the emotional side of investing.
Nerves seem jittery in light of upcoming presidential debates and election. His first handout, "Presidential Elections: a Look Back...a Look Forward", documents the fund performance of a hypothetical investment of $10,000 after each of the past 17 presidential elections. It tracks that investment for the ten years after the election and averages its annual return.
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The "take away" is that election of "Red" or "Blue" presidents did not matter because the Standard and Poor 500 Composite Index still showed impressive gains as the average annual return for 78 years was 11.9%.
His next handout, "After Big Declines, Potential Opportunities", documents the "rolling" ten year average returns, 12/31/1937-12/31/2011. It includes the three major "downturns" in the stock market (bottoming out in 1937, 1975, and 2008). The average annual return was almost 11%.
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Mr Brown suggests "rising above the crowd", standing your investment ground, and continuing investment in blue chip companies. He cites the re-invention of McDonald's, Coca-Cola, and Procter and Gamble in China and India. Their continuing profitabilities rest on adapting old favorites to new markets.
His "bullet points" for "Investing for the Long Term" include recognition that successful investing has an emotional side, that advice matters, and "staying the course" are all important.
Mr Palubiak and Mr Brown repeat this investment seminar on October, 23, 2012. Pre-registration is necessary at steven.palubiak@edwardjones.com or by calling 314-721-0773.
Good luck with your investment opportunities and listen to the three presidential debates so that you may make an informed choice!