The SP 500 index performance in the three months before the election has proven a good forecaster of who will win the Presidency. In the past, a rising market in this period has indicated that the incumbent will win. Stock market losses, by contrast, have often predicted the opposition party wins.

The world changes at a rapid pace in these modern times. The market crash that occurred primarily in March 2020 is already one for the history books. We are now getting our first data on how individual investors fared during this tumultuous period, and to me, it was a shock.

Will Covid-19 lead to another Great Depression? Find out some important differences between then and today.

If you played King of the Hill as a child, you'll remember the goal was to beat the other kids to the top. Not easy (at least it wasn't for me). But going down the hill was a breeze. The other kids and gravity were always ready to help! It's easier to go down than up - this is the world of physics. The principle for how this applies to investments is called the Arithmetic of Loss. The math: losses hurt more than gains help. For example, losing 5% is more negative than gaining 5% is positive.