13 Mar Investing strategies in the Trump era

Q. I’m nervous about Trump. I have a well-diversified portfolio that’s 60 percent stocks and 40 percent bonds. I know I’m not supposed to sell in the short-term but I need to know what to do. I expect the market to get pretty crazy soon.
— Nervous investor

A. If you made portfolio moves with every headline, you’d spend all your time ducking for cover and chasing returns.

Marking timing isn’t a smart move no matter who is in the White House.

“The markets are up since the election and what will happen going forward is unknown,” said Bill Connington, of Connington Wealth Management in Fairfield, noting he saw a recent interview with Warren Buffet in which the investing guru made it a point to say that no one makes consistent returns or achieves their goals by thinking they can time the market.

Connington said he’s been telling clients that while the election has serious implications for health care, regulations and other policy issues, as far as investments go, people shouldn’t be making any major changes to their investment strategy.

“If your time horizon is long, I think you have to have faith in our political and economic system and that we have the proper checks and balances in place,” he said. “If your time horizon is short, you might want to look at small tactical changes.”

If you think you have to make broad strategic changes, then your plan was wrong to start off with, Connington said.

“Review your plan quarterly and try to spend time doing the things you enjoy (rather than worry all the time),” he said.

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This post was first published in March 2017.