In a PIX11 Morning News interview, financial empowerment coach Ash Exantus advises viewers on five concrete steps to safeguard their finances as the 2016 presidential election approaches. He explains that historical data shows the stock market typically declines in the first two years of a presidential term, so he urges a review of retirement accounts and portfolio volatility with a financial advisor. He recommends reducing and snowballing debt, emphasizing the psychological and financial relief of paying off smaller balances first. Exantus stresses the importance of “paying yourself first” by establishing a 6‑to‑8‑month emergency fund to cushion job‑market uncertainty that often follows an election. He also highlights the need for comprehensive insurance coverage—health, life, and short‑term disability—to protect lifestyle regardless of election outcomes. Finally, he advises diversifying investments to align with potential policy shifts, such as infrastructure spending and domestic job creation, ensuring the portfolio can benefit from either candidate’s economic agenda.
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6:55, and you know the presidential election is just 24 hours away. No matter what the outcome, you should have some concern about how it's really going to affect your money. Back with us this morning to really lay out how to protect our assets is Ash Exantus, the financial empowerment coach at BankMobile. So nice to have you here.
Thank you, Susan.
So whether it's Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton, you say it's time to really review your retirement account. Why do you say that right now, especially on the eve of us casting Absolutely.
When you look at the history of presidential elections for the last 182 years, the first 2 years of the presidential elections, the stock market doesn't do well. And in the last 2 years, they start to rebound. So review your investments to make sure that you are not going to take— you're not going to lose money by keeping your investments the way they are, because we have a history of investments going down.
So you have to make sure that your account is not volatile. And the Dow Jones Industrial Average gains 2.5% the first year of a presidential term. What does that mean? Break down that headline.
Right. So that means that you know, the first 2 years there's wars, there's recessions, there's things, there's uncertainty. Yeah. So, so, so the Dow historically has been going down in the past. In the past. So we— and we've seen what happened in 2008 with the crisis.
Exactly.
Exactly. So we want to make sure that we're reviewing, you know, sit with your financial advisor to make sure that what you're investing in is not volatile and that you can, you know, make sure that your retirement doesn't go down.
Absolutely. Especially if you're just a couple of years from retiring. Time to review it. Also, let's talk about why it's time to reduce Oh, absolutely.
So reducing debt, when you think about the things that can happen, you know, debt is one of those things that if you have, it becomes another burden. So reducing your debt, snowballing your debt, paying the smallest amount first so that you can get rid of these accounts is going to help you.
All right. And also, after an election, the job market also becomes uncertain. So you might see a lot of companies cut back. You don't want to be one of those people caught empty-handed. All right. Next, because we don't know how a new president will affect jobs, business, and economic policy, you're saying pay yourself first.
Oh, absolutely. So paying yourself first is simply making sure that before you pay any bills, you're putting money away, having an emergency fund, 6 to 8 months of expenses. So that way, if anything happens, you're secure. You at least know for 6 to 8 months your lifestyle doesn't have to change.
Your lifestyle doesn't have to change, and you can look for your next job comfortably instead of having that panic mode. You also talk about insurance. Why do we need insurance?
You have to protect your assets, right? So whether it's health insurance, life insurance, but even short-term disability, right? Because think about if something happens and you're not able to work, you want to be able to be protected so that you can continue to live your lifestyle. So that's regardless who wins the presidential election.
All right, and you say when you're talking about what to do, when you're talking to your financial advisors, you talk about diversifying your investments today. Why?
Oh, that's important because when you, when you look at the economic policies of both Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton, they both talk about infrastructure, they talk about keeping jobs domestically. So you have to diversify your investments. Take a look at those stocks in your portfolio to see if you have stocks that will take advantage of this infrastructure and these domestic jobs.
Yeah, because they have talked about those policies and refocusing everything back into what's happening in the United States. Ash, thank you so much for laying us down. I mean, we're, you know, less than 24 hours away before we actually cast that vote. And you know what you want to do? You want to cast a vote for yourself and keep that money in your pocket. Ash Exantus from BankMobile. Of course, we'll recap all of this on our PIX11 app. So you know what to do. Click on that app and download the PIX11 tab. All that information will be there for you.
