Investing depends upon a stable government

What do people look for in a financial adviser? The answer to that question has never been more important than it is at this moment in U.S. history.

In plain terms, a financial adviser is someone who looks at current events and trends through the filter of what’s happened in the past to make an informed and reasonable guess as to what that will mean for their client and his or her assets in the future, and to guide them to protect those assets and make them grow.

So by its nature, being a financial adviser means being part analyst looking to the past and part soothsayer looking to the future. The mission of InvestmentNews is to help advisers serve their clients by offering news, analysis and context of industry events to help them fulfill that role.

A NO-BRAINER

When the editorial board met last week to choose a topic for this week’s column, it seemed a no-brainer. Write a few words about the promise of the new year, tout the many predictions and resolutions by industry leaders that the InvestmentNews staff had worked diligently to compile in the past several weeks, offer words of encouragement and strength for 2021 and be grateful that 2020 was finally over. Happy New Year.

That was on Jan. 5. 

The next day, everything we thought as a nation about the stability of our republic was thrown into question in just a few short hours. That is no exaggeration. Speculation and fears about what could happen next were on everyone’s mind as images of a mob ransacking the Capitol building and disrupting the peaceable working of our stable government flashed on screens across the country.

The InvestmentNews team responded quickly, contacting advisers and thought leaders to get their impressions about what was happening in Washington, as it was unfolding. Appearing under the byline of Bruce Kelly,  the lead writer, the article, “‘Rule of law prevailed’: Advisers confident after riots at US Capitol,” is in fact an effort of the full team that we are all very proud of.

GRAVITY OF THE MOMENT

While many of the comments reflected the gravity of the moment, the most prescient sentiment was expressed by Brian O’Neill, founder of Winged Wealth Management and Financial Planning: “The rule of law prevailed.” More importantly, he went on to say that the rule of law “underpins how and why we can invest.”

Thus, it would be impossible for financial advisers, wealth managers, institutional and retail investors, and retirement savers to plan for and prosper in the future without a stable government and sober, level-headed stewardship of the economy, and to shun those who place short-term gains and their political capital ahead of what’s good for the country and the continued economic prowess of these United States.

So to answer the question posed at the beginning of this column, people look to advisers to help them make sense of the future and to mitigate the uncertainty that goes hand in hand with investing for that future — which is as impossible to predict as whatever was in the minds of those who stormed the Capitol.