What’s your ideal retirement? Traveling? Practicing your favorite hobbies? Caring for loved ones? Whatever you envision, creating a plan of action can feel exhausting. There are, however, a few simple, yet commonly overlooked steps you can take today to help you feel more comfortable throughout your planning process.

In a perfect world, every money decision we make would be totally rational.

We’d consider all of the facts. Then, we’d balance them with the risks to make the most logical choice available.¹

That sounds simple.

Yet it doesn’t happen as much as it should in the real world.^{1, 2}

Smart investing doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Current events matter, and this year, the 2024 Presidential Elections are taking center stage. That’s rattling a lot of us, causing more election stress than ever before.1 It’s also raising a lot of questions about investing in election years, how to respond to market uncertainty, and what money moves truly make sense. Here’s a handful of key factors to keep in mind when you’re investing in an election year.