Some buddies have contacted me worried about if so and so gets elected. Of course, this is not a political blog so we’re not going to discuss the big issues like the war or anything like that. We’re going to talk about elections and how it can help or hinder your finances.
In the U.S., life is simpler than in other countries because there are basically two parties.
Each party has a financial agenda. Maybe they want to raise taxes or lower taxes. Maybe they like certain industries and don’t like others. Maybe they like certain demographics (seniors or families or single moms etc) and don’t like others.
The parties are open about their finance-related platforms before they get elected (that’s what they campaign on). They offer voters their wish list of changes. Some changes are easily to implement and will be done almost immediately after election. Some changes take time and will be delayed. Some changes will never happen.
What I do is assign odds to each of the changes that might affect me. How I figure that out is reading up on each change (i.e. Googling the subject) and using the expert opinions. Most experts will be upfront about whether they think the change is going to happen.
I draft up a financial plan for each of the parties. If party A gets elected, I’ll put into place plan A. If the other party gets elected, then the other plan gets activated. If I put some time and care into the plans, I can usually arrange it so I profit either way.
Then I can vote based on the issues, leaving my personal pocketbook out of it.
