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Trumpism

 What followed over the next 8 years was one of the most successful economic periods in American history.

  • 20 million new jobs created
  • Inflation dropped from 13.5% in 1980 to 4.1% in 1988
  • Unemployment fell from 7.6% to 5.5%
  • Net worth of average earning families grew by 27%
  • Real gross national product rose 26%
  • Interest rates down from 21.5% in 1980 to 10% in 1988

You know when a period of economic success has taken place when they name it after the leader and the term Reaganism economic policy is now embedded into American political history. It is true that Reagan held a degree in Economics but Donald Trump’s personal economic record is not too shabby either.

I have a feeling that Trump would be fired up to prove the world wrong and would want to make America great again. The American and world economy would be something he would take on as a personal challenge to establish his own place in history and he does seem to have the Midas touch.

How a President Trump would affect Europe is anyone’s guess.  Hopefully he would listen to his advisers and not continue to poke his nose into the affairs of Europe.  Criticising Merkel and other European leaders is not something that will build relationships and let us hope that the comments he is making about European policies on immigration, for example, are just his own electioneering.

What is needed is something to give the markets a boost.  Shares have continued to spiral downwards over a prolonged period and the price of Oil is continuing to float around the $30 a barrel price – though whether this is due to the normal supply and demand factors or whether it is due to the USA controlling the price by flooding the market for their own political reasons is another question.

 

Other News

As state pension systems slip, investment advice becomes paramount

Golden piggy bankWhen an expat is faced with the question of what to do with their pension, there are several options available to them. And it’s important to understand everything that could be beneficial for your pension pot because very few countries offer their citizens high standard pension systems, as shown by the latest Melbourne Mercer Global Pension Index, which ranks the pensions provided by the governments of 30 countries.

The good news is that the Index’s ranking had a few standouts. Near the top of the table, coming in at number two (beaten only by Denmark), was the Dutch system, which is great for any expats in the Netherlands who are eligible to receive the country’s state pension. If you’ve lived or worked in Netherlands, then you would have built up a Dutch state pension. The longer you have lived in the country, the larger your Dutch pension will be (you can combine it with a state pension accumulated in another EU and EEA member country).

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Done & Dusted

The much talked about UK election is now well and truly behind us, how can the opinion polls have been so wrong you may be asking yourself, it had most investors worried about a hung parliament or even a Labour victory which we were led to believe would send the markets crashing down around us.

Well now you can let out a sigh of relief, or can you, the result was taken well by the UK equity markets and in the short term should provide businesses with a stable political and legislative background in which to invest for the future.

However it is debatable as to whether the UK election results will have any impact on interest rates, the Bank of England voted last week to keep the base rate at 0.50%. Official figures at the end of the last month showed the total size of the economy increased by just 0.3 per cent in the first quarter of 2015. That was half the 0.6 per cent growth rate seen in the previous quarter and the worst performance since late 2012 – raising fears that the recovery is running out of steam.

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