Oil is up 60-percent. Personal savings are under 1-percent. Equity markets are stumbling. Fear of recession is rampant. No, I didn’t pull that out of today’s paper. That’s from the pages of Business Week magazine nearly 30 years ago. This interesting information comes from a brochure published by The Hartford Financial Services Group. The goal of the data is to show that, whether there is a democrat or republican in office, the economy has ups and downs, but the stock market always bounces back.

Since 1948 there have been ten recessions in the US. According to the data printed in this brochure, a typical recession lasts ten months. Five months before the recession ends, the market begins to turn around. Statistically, after the recession’s low, the one-year return is at an average of 39-percent.

Let’s look back to 1987. On October 19, 1987, the stock market crashed, dropping 22-percent of its value before the close of business. The interesting thing is, the stock market ended 1987 up 2-percent. Even if you had invested $10,000 the day before the stock market crashed in 1987, you’d still have more than $80,000 today. Imagine what you would have if you invested when the stock market hit the bottom.

So I guess the point is, more than whether we elect a Republican or a Democrat for president, what matters is that you are investing and working towards your long-term financial goals.