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US Presidential election result

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Wikipedia tells me that Yogi Berra, a Major League Baseball player in the post war years, was the first person to say ‘it’s déjà vu all over again’ and that phrase seems quite relevant this morning with another ‘shock’ election result, this time in America.

Whilst I disagree with a lot of what Donald Trump has said over the last few months, to me, sitting here in a motorway café having driven most of the way around the M25 in the pouring rain and therefore having listened to a lot of commentary on Radio 5, I am not surprised at all.

Gazillions wiped off the stock market

What does this mean for investment markets and the overall economic outlook?  Well, global stock markets will fall dramatically today because that’s what they do whenever something unusual or unexpected happens these days, although I’d question if Donald Trump winning is all that unexpected.

Don’t panic

However, just like the European referendum result back in June, there is absolutely nothing to be gained from panicking because your portfolio is a long-term investment.  Your portfolio, like mine, will cope with many more election results in the years ahead and unless you were thinking of cashing in your entire portfolio next week, the inevitable stock markets falls and newspaper headlines about many billions being wiped off global indices really doesn’t matter.

Markets go down, markets go up.  You have a well-diversified global portfolio regardless of the level of risk you are taking although clearly those with a more adventurous strategy hold more equities and will see greater volatility over the next few days.

Enjoy yourself

Mclaren 675LT - green

 Our role is to help you achieve your goals so you can do whatever it is you want to do from owning a McLaren (the baby buggy (spelt Maclaren – ed) or hypercar version is for you to decide); spending time tending the garden; playing with the kids or grandchildren; travelling the world or dusting off the cine film projector, threading a fragile Super 8 film from the 1970s before trying to get it to focus on the wall whilst the younglings laugh about how terrible the quality is and moan about it not having any sound!

On a positive note, I am assuming the US$ will fall in value a little now, at least in the short term, which means it is a better time to book a holiday to the USA than yesterday.

Dave