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I know. It’s January and we are already sick of hearing about the election.
And with the amount of vitriol being spewed from all sides, why would you want to bring the topic up with your clients? What if they are incredibly partisan and can’t have a logical conversation about anything related to the Presidential election? Okay. We understand. But discussing the election with your clients doesn’t mean you have to discuss who they intend to vote for in November. There are many financial implications related to the 2020 election and investors do want to discuss those issues with their trusted advisor.
There are several reasons this controversial issue must be addressed with your clients and Spectrem has research that highlights these topics. (You can access this research in our new free monthly white paper, Wealthy Investors and the Election: A Guide for Financial Advisors in 2020 ).
1. Your clients are not confident in the stability of their personal financial situation over the next year. Less than half feel their personal financial situation will be better a year from now compared to today.
2. Your clients expect you to call them if there is anything election-related that may impact their portfolio in 2020. Approximately one-third of investors expect their financial advisors to reach out to them should something regarding the election potentially impact their financial life or their portfolio. While investors are generally happy with the amount of communication they currently receive from their advisor, in 2020 advisors need to communicate regularly and when there is something important clients need to know because of the election.
3. A large percentage of investors believe they may need to modify their portfolio prior to the election. Almost half of investors believe the election will have an impact on how they make decisions regarding their portfolio in 2020.
4. Investors believe that the Dow, currently flirting with 30,000, will fall below 23,000 should President Trump fail to be re-elected. Forty-two percent of investors believe that if President Trump is re-elected it will be good for the economy while 23% believe there will be no impact. More than a third (36%) believe that the economy will be negatively impacted if President Trump is not re-elected. When investors were asked to identify where the Dow Jones Industrial Average would end at in 2020 should President Trump not be re-elected, 34% of investors predicted the Dow would be below 23,000.
Regardless of what your clients might think about the candidates involved in the election, investors are concerned about the impact of the election on their investments. Advisors need to be proactive rather than reactive regarding how the election may impact their investors.
Related: Why Undecided Voters Are the Most Interesting in 2020