The 2024 elections in the United States (U.S.) are done and dusted. Donald Trump won the presidential election convincingly and is set to become the 47^th President of U.S. The Republican Party has gained control of the Senate while control of the congress is still too close to call.

Owning a home is the dream for many globally, but it is a relatively new phenomenon in terms of human history. Our nomadic ancestors were continually on the move from one place to the next. The change toward an agrarian society began somewhere between 30,000 BC and 15,000 BC. But it was the industrial revolution that really kicked off the idea of individual home ownership.

As is always the case, the economy is a big topic of conversation in the run-up to elections. Why would it be any different in the United States? We covered this a few weeks ago, but thought we should spend some time on the often-talked-about-but-unfortunately-never-truly-understood issue… tariffs.

Oil dominates every aspect of our lives. It fuels our cars. It is used in the production of plastic goods. It provides electricity for our homes and factories. It’s even found in the fertiliser for the soil that grows our food.

Before investing in any sector, we need to understand how that sector relates to the overall economy. Like all good stories, we want to start at the beginning.

General elections can and do affect equity markets as the uncertainty around their outcome typically increases market volatility before votes are cast. Markets adjust further after an election takes place as the policy priorities of the newly installed government become available. A clear margin of victory and a returning incumbent tend to reduce uncertainty and minimise market volatility.

Interest rates have been cut by central banks across the globe and more cuts are expected going forward. But what does this mean?

This is the first major rate cut in some time and is a welcome relief from the COVID-inspired trend of continually raising rates. Historically, though, rate increases and cuts are part of the economic cycle. The problem is we have no accurate way of measuring how long periods of rate cuts, rate increases, or rate stability can last.

The start of September has not been a picnic for investors. Markets have been volatile. Investors are wondering if there is a bear in the woods. That fear and uncertainty has created challenges for investors, and we’re seeing big swings. The bear here is recession, and the fear is that interest rate cuts in the United States (U.S.) may not support economic growth as expected.

For a long time we’ve stated that one of our goals was to remove industry jargon from the conversation about investing and investments. That’s because we see so many examples of jargon in the financial press. I’m not sure who the intended audience is, but it certainly can’t be real people. This week I was asked about the difference between a tax and a tariff.

At the beginning of the year, if we had swung a hammer in a room full of industry analysts, no amount of fancy footwork would have made it possible to avoid injuring at least one or two analysts who were predicting several or more interest rate cuts early during the year to tame inflation. And they would have been wrong! Because as we all have witnessed, interest rates were held higher for longer, as governments continued the battle against inflation.