Reflections
3 Simple Reasons Why For Stock Investors, It Doesn’t Matter Whether Biden or Trump Wins The Election in 2020
6 November 2020
Based on the current trend of the mail-in ballots, it seems likely that Biden is going to be the victor of the US election in 2020.
Maybe by the time you are reading this article, Biden is already projected to win in Pennsylvania or Nevada. With Nevada, being the likelier state that Biden is going to win.
Winning Nevada will give him the 6 points he needs to secure the 270 electoral votes to win.
As of the time of this writing, Trump and Biden are necks to neck in Georgia – with Trump leading by only about 0.01% with 99% of the votes counted.
And maybe Trump will even stage a comeback by winning Nevada, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, and Georgia – although it is very unlikely at this point.
Regardless, here are 3 simple reasons I feel that for intelligent stock investors, it doesn’t matter who wins the US election in 2020:
1. The Primary Reason for Most Stock Outperformance is Business Results
As humans, we are naturally interested or keen on coming out with reasons why certain things are happening to the stocks we hold.
But if we think about it, at its very essence, if a business does well over time, the stocks will likely do well over time too – isn’t it?
Microsoft has done pretty well for itself in the past 30 years, no matter who was the president – democrats or republican.
Yes, there is survivorship bias involved. But the fact remains that if the company continues to innovate and produce great results, shareholders are bound to be rewarded over time.
2. The Business Cycles And External Circumstances Play A Bigger Part
“Bull markets and bear markets come and go, and it’s more to do with business cycles than presidents.” – Siegel, author of Stocks For The Long Run
Whoever wins the presidency, I believe that what happens to the economy will never come from just one factor.
The business cycles and external factors play a bigger part.
For example, yes Trump had made corporates in America richer with the tax cuts he did in his Presidency. But the virus is beyond Trump’s control when it first came, it is within his control though – on how he should have handled it.
But regardless, the point is that how the stock market will do – and how our investments will pan out – is likely more of a factor of how we behave, that who is the president.
See also: The Intelligent Investor Summary (Ultimate Guide) | Re-ThinkWealth
And if we think about it, the companies we choose and the price we pay for the stocks plays an even bigger part.
3. Whoever Wins, At Least We Know Who Wins
The stock market hates uncertainties.
They love certainty.
Whoever wins, be it, Trump or Biden, at least we know who is the next US president. And also importantly, who will be controlling the Senate and the House.
As of now, it seems like the Republicans will still control the Senate and Biden will be the President. Let’s see what happens but regardless, when there is more certainty, the market tends to do better.
Look back in March 2020 when the COVID-19 pandemic has just begun, the stock market crashed due to massive uncertainties about the impact of the virus.
Moving forward now to almost the end of the year, the pandemic is not yet under full control but because we now know more about the virus than we did back in March, the stock market has recovered all of its losses and gained further.
Also read: 8 Value Investing Lessons From Beating The S&P 500 Return So Far
In Conclusion
Yes, we can analyze the past and see how the stock market does under past presidents.
In fact, Forbes has a comprehensive article about how the stock market performed under every US president since Truman here.
In general, the stock market does better under democrats based on the past.
But the past does not equal the future.
One thing we know now is that we are on a path to recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic and with a stimulus and vaccines in sight, business’s earnings are likely going to do better (of course, depending on what we have in our portfolio).
And with little alternative to equities in the current low-interest-rate environment, the market has the appetite to take on more risks with equities.
So regardless of whether Trump or Biden wins, the stock market will likely do fine – if we invest in the right companies at the right prices.
See also: The Ultimate List of Investment and Finance Blogs/Websites in Singapore
Was this article useful for you?
If it is, appreciate it if you could take one minute to share the above article on Facebook by clicking here.
Disclaimer:
The information provided is for educational and general information purposes only and is not intended to be personalized investment or financial advice. We make no promises as to the accuracy or usefulness of the information we present.
Important: Please read our full disclaimer.

Chris Lee Susanto
More from Chris
How I Review My Stocks In A Simple Way- 28.11.2016
It is nearing the end of the year and I am doing a review of all my 4 stocks in a simple way, namely Mobile Telesystems (NYSE:MBT), Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ:KERX), Keppel DC REIT (SGX:AJBU) and Keppel Corporation (SGX:BN4). When I do my stock review, it has to...
Here’s What I Learnt From Trump Winning The US Election 2016…
This week, history was made. It was the first time that someone like Trump actually became the US president. And it's the 45th US president, I mean, the number 45 is also so easy to remember so it will definitely go down in history as the craziest thing that happened...
Investing Is The Same As Gambling, Or Is It?
A few days back, I was at a carnival at Singapore Management University (SMU) whereby they have games and foods lined up. After I played the games, I was given lucky draw slips. The lucky draw's prizes were quite attractive, there were three prizes-- iPod Nano 16 GB,...
3 Reasons Why You Should Only Invest In Something You Understand
1) You Tend To Be More Competent In Things You Understand There are things you know and there are things you think you know There are things we understand and there are things that somehow always seemed so Greek to us One thing for sure is that we can only be...
My Stock Update: Keppel DC REIT Q2 DPU up 3.1%– Will I Sell?
What Keppel DC REIT Do Keppel DC REIT (SGX: AJBU) is a Singapore-based real estate investment trust (REIT). It was established with the main investment strategy of investing in a portfolio of income-producing real estate assets. They are primarily used for data centre...
Mr. Lim Say Boon, Chief Investment Officer of DBS Wealth Management’s 8 Predictions for The 2nd Half 2016 Market Outlook
This is what I have gathered from Mr Lim Say Boon, Chief Investment Officer of DBS Wealth Management's 8 predictions for the 2nd half 2016 market outlook: Brexit will not break EU but will break European stocks Global economy will continue to suffer and corporate...
Valuing Mobile Telesystems (NYSE: MBT) Using H Dividend Discount Model
Summary MBT is a telecommunications company with more than 100,000,000 subscribers and is Russia’s largest mobile operator and has high payout ratio close to their Free Cash Flow-- which warrant the use of dividend discount model (DDM) to value it H Dividend Discount...
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals Went Up 11.87% On 2 June 2016– BUT Should It?
Keryx Biopharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: KERX) As Part Of My Portfolio KERX is one of the more interesting stock in my portfolio-- and it is also a growth stock that has the potential to be a multi-bagger. What is a multi-bagger? "A multibagger is an investment that has...
Here Is What I Learnt From Watching Money Monster
I am a fan of George Clooney. The latest movie that he acted in is called Money Monster. This article aims to share what I have learnt from watching the movie-- from the perspective of someone who love investing. Before I share with you the lessons that I learnt, I...
#FAQ What To Take Note When Using Past Returns To Estimate Future Returns Of Stocks
Past Equal To Future? We have to take note that since expected returns we expect to receive from a stock investment is based on assumptions using past returns, we are basing the assumption that the past would equal to the future. This assumption would not be relevant...
Addition to My Family Portfolio- A Biotechnology ETF!
One of the first stock that I bought was called iShares Nasdaq Biotechnology ETF (NASDAQ: IBB). I bought it on 5th February 2015 at $310.51 and sold it on 13th July 2015 at $380, netting a cool 21.39%. I like biotechnology stock and so far I have had good experience...
7 Offline Channels For Leads And Their Real Cost
7 Offline Channels for leads and their real cost So much ado has been made about leads and their real cost. But what are the channels that you, the business owner or salesperson, can use to get more leads? The role of face-to-face event prospecting is in the business...










