Over the past weeks, we have explored stock market returns under both Democratic and Republican presidencies as well as during divided and unified administrations. We’ve also looked at the media’s predictive fallibility and the importance of staying in the market. What does all this mean for the
Divided vs. Unified Government
The presidency isn’t the only position up for election in November. National, state, and local positions are on the ballot as well. To accomplish what the president wants, he needs the support of some of these officials. Without that support, we oftentimes have gridlock, where nothing seems to get
Only 5 Days Until Departure
In response to the coronavirus pandemic, Modus Advisors donated to three food-related organizations in the second quarter of 2020. We are continuing this focus by becoming a Gold Level sponsor at the Feed My Starving Children (FMSC) virtual gala, and we’d like to invite you to join
Predicting the Future
Turn on the news or hop on the internet and you will find no shortage of predictions for the upcoming Presidential election, the economy, and the stock market. In many cases these predictions make all the sense in the world, and investors can be tempted to move their portfolio based on them. At
Do Politics Matter to the Market? The Long-Term View
In our last blog post we explored stock market performance based on who is in the Oval Office, a Republican or Democrat. Surprisingly, the average annual returns over the past 82 years turned out to be very similar. We came across another graph that emphasizes this point and shows the advantage of
Do Politics Matter Anyway?
Fear and uncertainty grip the United States today, particularly in politics. Some are concerned that Democratic candidate Joe Biden may win the presidency; others fear the prospect of another four years under the leadership of Republican President, Donald Trump. Should an investor modify their
The Math Behind the Market
The S&P 500 reached 3,386 at its peak on February 19th, 2020, before its month-long decline to 2,237 on March 23rd. From February to March, the S&P decreased by 34%. After that trough in late March, the S&P rose 30% by April 30th. At first glace, one might think that the gains made in
A Convergence of Events
A Convergence of Events A series of seemingly unrelated events hit me over the weekend and I’d like to share them with you. The first was reading a series of essays in the Wall Street Journal addressed to the college graduates of 2020. This class is missing out on the culmination of a lifetime
The SECURE Act
The final weeks of 2019 saw the passage of the SECURE Act, ushering in sweeping rule changes for retirees. The SECURE legislation- which stands for “Setting Every Community Up for Retirement Enhancement”- has a number of revisions to current tax law. In this article we’ll highlight the key changes
