Should I pull out of stocks before the election, or wait to see if Rmoney is elected?

[Major Nikon]

The last time I pulled out of the US market was when Bush got elected (which was a very wise move).

I got mostly back in when Obama was elected (also a very wise move). About 80% of my portfolio is in stocks right now.

If nothing else, it's a pretty good response to the John Galt wannabes.

[HopeHoops]

1. Do it the day before.

[coalition_unwilling]

2. What's your time horizon for your investments? That is, when will you

need to access the funds?

[Major Nikon]

4. I plan on retiring in about 11 years

I may start to pull from that 3-4 years prior to start setting myself up for retirement. I still plan on continuing to invest after my retirement. My plan is to live mostly off my investment returns and set up a trust fund for my kids.

[coalition_unwilling]

6. Studies have shown that investors who try to 'time' the market end up

generally under-performing it often by significant amounts. (Congrats, btw, on your two previous successes.)

I'm not an investment professional, more an interested layperson, but I think diversification is the key to success. With 11 years to go before retirement, you can afford to stay positioned out on the riskier end of the spectrum as you are with 80% equities. However, you may wish to start gradually moving from equities to fixed income investments (bonds, diversified bond funds and preferred stocks), so as to start creating an income stream from your investments and hedging your risk. As you near retirement, your exposure to equities (stocks) should diminish and your investment in fixed-income vehicles and preferred stocks grow.

As for myself, if Romney wins, I'll be dumping stocks from my retirement accounts because Romney will usher in the next Great Depression. During the first Great Depression, stocks lost 80-90% of their value (while bond holders made out like bandits

[Major Nikon]

7. I'm considering bonds

The remaining 20% of my investments are already in bonds. In the last 10 years the bond market has outperformed stocks and I really don't see that changing if Rmoney is in office. I'm really not all that optimistic even if Obama is reelected simply because so many wingnuts are in congress, which pretty much insures the nation's path to financial ruin. Right now I'm leaning towards government securities if Rmoney is elected. If Obama is elected, I will probably start to move more towards bonds in the next few years.

[BadgerKid]

3. On the surface of things

the major indices have recovered from the 2007 collapse under Bush.

There's discussion out there whether or not to cash in in 2012 because taxes on cap gain and dividends increase next year under ACA/ObamaCare.

[Major Nikon]

5. I'm not worried so much about the tax implications

For one thing, everything will be reinvested somewhere, but I'm not sure where yet. It won't be with US stocks. For another thing, even if I were to cash out completely, I still see this as preferable if Rmoney is elected and things go the way they did when Bush was elected and 8 years of the stock market zeroing out all gains.