Ben Carlson, Columnist

Investors Need to Look Well Beyond the Inauguration

Predicting market returns requires a focus on the long-term.

January 19, 2017 at 3:28 PM UTC

Ben Carlson is director of institutional asset management at Ritholtz Wealth Management. He is the author of "Organizational Alpha: How to Add Value in Institutional Asset Management."

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Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg

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Investors always try to predict what’s going to happen in the short-term -- and that's probably all the more the case with the inauguration of Donald Trump as the 45th president of the U.S. just a day away. Intelligent investors, however, understand that the long-term is the only time horizon that matters.

One of the best ways to plan for the long-term is by setting reasonable expectations. What's considered reasonable based on where we stand today? Hint: Lower your expectations for future stock market returns in the U.S., expect higher returns in foreign equities and brush up on your bond math.