Never before have we had a pandemic like COVID-19. Never before has the US seemed so divided. The polarized US election and the fragile state of the global economy seems different this time. But it also seemed different during the financial crisis in 2008 and after 9/11 and… the list goes on.

Although the catalyst for economic disruption is different in each example, the economic and stock market trends are very similar. A relatively short period of volatility followed by long term growth. The tricky part is that we can’t predict when the short term volatility ends, and the long term growth begins. We also know that if we miss the first part of the growth phase, we miss out on a significant part of the recovery which is detrimental to long term returns as seen in the chart below, click here for a larger view.

The linked article, Every Four Years,“This Time It’s Different”  is written by author and financial coach, Nick Murray. He has been a financial services professional for more than 50 years and is among the industry’s most respected writers and speakers.

He describes how mixing politics with investment decisions is detrimental to your investment strategy. This is consistent with our philosophy that the industry leading companies we invest in will continue to prosper regardless of the political landscape. Combined with a personalized financial plan, this philosophy has provided our clients with clarity, stability and confidence through many different events that shook the market in the short term. We see no reason why it won’t continue to deliver.

We'll leave you with a couple quotes from Nick Murray himself.