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Meet the Trump Voters Downplaying Hits to Their 401(k)s
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Date: March 16th, 2025 2:04 PM Author: queensbridge benzo MARKETS COVERAGE The latest news & analysis ● ACROSS THE MARKETS MARKET DATA YOUR MONEY NEWSLETTER SIGNUP Meet the Trump Voters Downplaying Hits to Their 401(k)s Major stock indexes have logged their worst start to a presidential term since 2009 Follow the WSJ in Apple News Many Americans watched their retirement accounts grow during President Trump’s first term and voted for him believing their balances would swell once he returned to office. Instead, their nest eggs have languished during the early weeks of his second term. The S&P 500 has fallen 7% since Inauguration Day, dragged lower by trade-war worries and signs of a cooling economy. All major stock indexes logged their worst start to a presidential term since Barack Obama’s first term began in 2009, according to Dow Jones Market Data. The recent tumult is a sharp about-face from last year’s gangbusters stock rally, which helped turbocharge Americans’ portfolios and mint a record number of 401(k) millionaires as of last fall. The average 401(k) balance was $131,700 at the end of 2024, the second-highest level on record, and a 44% jump from a decade earlier, according to Fidelity Investments. Stocks generally performed well in Trump’s first term. The S&P 500 index jumped about 67% during Trump’s first term, compared with a 56% gain during Joe Biden’s presidency. Lisa Paris of La Grange, Ky., and her husband were expecting a market “reset” within the next year but were still surprised by the sluggish economic performance during the first months of Trump’s return to office. The couple have lost $70,000 in retirement savings since January. “It’s going to hurt a little bit to heal correctly,” 58-year-old Paris said, comparing Trump’s treatment of the economy to supporting a broken bone with a splint. “If you don’t set the bone, you’re going to get a wobbly healing and it’s not going to be strong; if you set it, it’s going to hurt, but it will be stronger than it was before.” Paris’s husband, a registered Republican who doesn’t support Trump, is concerned about the portfolio’s decline, especially with the couple approaching retirement age. But Paris said she thinks the changes—particularly Trump’s tariffs on Mexican and Canadian products—will lead to long-term gains. “What’s more important to me than having a few extra dollars in my retirement is that this country is set up for success,” Paris said. Investors and economists worry that Trump’s policies could lead the economy into a recession, a possibility that Trump has declined to rule out. Some worry that the U.S. could be headed for stagflation, a scenario in which inflation ratchets higher while economic growth flattens or declines. Trump’s push-and-pull method with tariffs on U.S. trading partners is largely unprecedented. Prior trade disputes over levies on goods have jolted international markets, sent prices higher and fueled job losses. Patrick Williams of Louisville, Ky., plans to work 10 to 15 years before retiring from his job as an internal medicine physician. Still, the 53-year-old is hoping that Trump’s tariff threats don’t extend past the short term. Williams, who voted for Trump in November, has taken steps to diversify his portfolio, which included buying gold, a traditionally defensive asset. “I’m a believer that you don’t make rash decisions based on short-term volatility in a market,” he said. “I’m hoping that’s what this is going to be.” Williams said he would be alarmed if Trump’s threats of tariffs against trade partners like Mexico and Canada escalated to a full-on trade war. He’s holding out hope that the tariff announcements are a negotiating tactic that will ultimately benefit Americans. Still, he criticized Trump for promising on the campaign trail to lower prices and boost the economy from the outset of his second term—statements that Williams now sees as an exaggeration. “He’s doing some hard work, some things that are very difficult for people to understand and difficult for people to accept,” Williams said, “but it’ll be to our long-term benefit.” Already, stubborn inflation and higher living expenses are complicating Americans’ retirement plans. About 62% of pre-retirees are uncertain whether their retirement savings will last through their golden years, according to Fidelity’s latest retirement study conducted in December. Meanwhile, the share of Americans who haven’t retired and are confident in their retirement prospects fell to 67% from 74% the prior year. One main concern surrounding Trump’s tariffs is that they could push inflation up in the form of higher import costs, which businesses in turn pass on to consumers through higher prices at the store. Recent data suggests that inflation is slowing gradually, but economists warn that tariffs could derail that progress. “Some people are going to be very reactionary to things,” said 52-year-old Clinton Louviere, who has voted for Trump in all three elections since 2016 in part because of his ability to handle the economy. Louviere, who works as a technician for a safety company in Liberty, Texas, recalls the first Trump administration as one marked by economic growth and bumps in the stock market. He commended Trump for rooting out government waste but acknowledged that the sweeping changes to the role of government have contributed to economic concern. “It’s going to be rocky for a while,” he said. Louviere said he wouldn’t be concerned even if the market continued to tumble through the summer. Even so, he expects a “big economic rebound” before then, including the end of taxes on overtime, one of Trump’s campaign promises. Helen Dillon of Corpus Christi, Texas, and her husband decided to convert their IRA to an annuity shortly after Trump was elected but before he was inaugurated in January. “We didn’t want to lose all of our money if something happened,” 64-year-old Dillon said. The pair is also considering refinancing their home to pay off debts. Dillon voted for former Vice President Kamala Harris last year, and for Biden in 2020. Trump “never gave any real information about how he would make [the economy] even better except with his promises,” she said. St. Louis resident Judy Redlich and her husband deposited money into their retirement accounts in early March, shortly before the market began a steeper decline. “I don’t know where this is all going to go and how it’s all going to shake out, but I know that it will affect us,” said Redlich, 71, who holds several part-time jobs, including one as a radio host. She says disruptions to the market are a consequence of Trump’s headfirst “America First” agenda that gives priority to domestic interests—a road map that Redlich supports. She said she takes solace in the fact that Trump is surrounded by a cabinet full of handpicked experts whose advice she thinks could help avoid further losses. Write to Xavier Martinez at xavier.martinez@wsj.com and Krystal Hur at krystal.hur@wsj.com Trump's First 100 Days The biggest scoops and insights from our team in Washington. Our daily newsletter continues through the first days of the new administration and beyond. FOLLOW US Follow the journalists you trust and personalize our app. |
Date: March 16th, 2025 2:08 PM Author: Die Hard 2: Die Harder How libs feel when the S&P fell 24% under Biden over the course a year? I cant recall any libs telling me it mattered much (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5694996&forum_id=2Elisa#48752661) |
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Date: March 16th, 2025 2:09 PM Author: Cumbutt (gunneratttt) libs like benzo don't care because he his no investments and certainly no 401k since he's never had a job (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5694996&forum_id=2Elisa#48752663) |
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Date: March 16th, 2025 2:21 PM Author: queensbridge benzo “Trump is bad at his job”
Counterpoint “I FUCKING HATE YOU BENZO. Also im not even that Indian.” (Gunner) |
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Date: March 16th, 2025 2:27 PM Author: big fat nude butts ((zurich is stained)) he's only part indian, 100% (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5694996&forum_id=2Elisa#48752707) |
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Date: March 16th, 2025 2:27 PM Author: Cumbutt (gunneratttt) it's his job to make sure the stock market goes up at all cost?
didn't libs used to be the anti-globalcapitalism people who were against running the country in a manner that focused primarily on maximizing corporate value and wall street returns? |
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Date: March 16th, 2025 2:57 PM Author: queensbridge benzo you obviously know I’m right. That’s why you’re attacking a ridiculous suggestion I never made while ignoring what I actually said. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5694996&forum_id=2Elisa#48752798) |
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Date: March 16th, 2025 3:04 PM Author: Cumbutt (gunneratttt) "trump is bad at his job."
"you think a POTUS's job is to maximize the value of the stock market?"
no, you're the one retreating because you're trapped and just can't admit that you're engaging in TDS.
hint: you can argue that trump's tariff's policy is bad without trying to prove it with stock market performance. the stock market would soar if we got rid of labor laws, that doesn't mean labor laws are a bad thing.
it's wild your TDS is so extreme that you've kneejerk become an anarcho-capitalist because everything begins and ends with "trump bad!" |
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Date: March 16th, 2025 8:59 PM Author: queensbridge benzo "defending the indefensible isn't what makes you deranged. noticing that he sucks at his job does."
you're incabable of making an intellectually honest argument (because you're stupid and there isn't one to be made). labor laws keep 9 year olds from working in coal mines. tariffs on canadian products accomplish nothing. |
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Date: March 16th, 2025 9:00 PM Author: THE KING OF RALLIES have u been watching the news dude? Canada is going to be our 51st state. The tariffs are driving them into our arms. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5694996&forum_id=2Elisa#48753659) |
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Date: March 16th, 2025 2:13 PM Author: ,.,.,.,.,,.,..,:,,:,,.,:::,.,,.,:.,,.:.,:.,:.::,. Just a normal market correction, which is healthy. Not the result of bad policy like tariffs or other dumb shit. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5694996&forum_id=2Elisa#48752672) |
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Date: March 16th, 2025 2:58 PM Author: Die Hard 2: Die Harder Was it not the result of out of control inflation as a result of all the freebies Biden was continually awarding years after Covid was over. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5694996&forum_id=2Elisa#48752801) |
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Date: March 16th, 2025 3:36 PM Author: ,.,.,.,.,,.,..,:,,:,,.,:::,.,,.,:.,,.:.,:.,:.::,. Yeah but we had to do that cuz covid or it would have been much worse (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5694996&forum_id=2Elisa#48752889) |
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Date: March 16th, 2025 3:51 PM Author: AZNgirl demanding 1000% Tariff on AZNmale Embryos Link to Biden opening his retarded birdshit mouth to drop the market 24% in a week?
FAGGOT BENCHOD, ppl are okay with normal downturns and corrections but this is neither. This is trump and his retard team just creating panic and unnecessarily causing the market to shit itself |
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Date: March 16th, 2025 5:09 PM Author: .,..,,.,.,.,.,.,..,.,.,..,.., Trump is clearly better than Biden. He’s gonna have us down 24% in a fraction of the time (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5694996&forum_id=2Elisa#48753094) |
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Date: March 16th, 2025 2:29 PM Author: Prolemobiler tell all these fags, shitlibs or republican, to stfu. nobody give a fuck. (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5694996&forum_id=2Elisa#48752714) |
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Date: March 16th, 2025 3:29 PM Author: .,..,.,,.,..,,,.,.,.,..,..,..,.,..,,.,.,.,. Most of the Biden “gains” (still less than Trump’s first term btw) was just fraudlies inflation making assets more expensive in dollar terms.
If we can clamp down on that I’ll be happy. |
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Date: March 16th, 2025 4:31 PM Author: Herr von Pissenschitt This is over benzo’s head (http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5694996&forum_id=2Elisa#48753017) |
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Date: March 16th, 2025 3:37 PM Author: .....,,,,,...,,,,,..,.,,,,,.,,. Lol at any middleclassmos getting upset at all when the stock market declines. This is your opportunity.
The biggest winners in my portfolio are stocks I bought in December 2022 when they were at a 50% drawdown. |