On this episode of Saving the American Dream, we’re talking about financial topics in the news and how it could affect you.

Travel sector

Since the rollout of the vaccines, more and more people are planning to travel this summer. Southwest and American are both reporting an uptick in travel, and Southwest reported a profit for the first quarter instead of a fifth consecutive quarter of losses.

So, how should we view the travel and tourism industry from an investment standpoint this year?

We want to make sure we’re staying focused on having a diversified portfolio, not stock picking and not market timing. Those have no part in how we manage our clients’ investments.

A lot of these companies have a financial hole that they need to dig out of, so that’s one thing that to keep in mind. The other thing to keep in mind is how these expected increases in demand for travel and tourism are already factored into the price of these travel and tourism stocks.

Campaign contributions

Between campaign donations and lobbying efforts, Wall Street corporations spent a record total $2.9 billion on political contributions. President Biden’s campaign was a recipient of $252 million, while Trump’s campaign got just over $100 million.

Most of the net new jobs in this country are coming from small and medium sized businesses. Most of the companies that are throwing large amounts of political contributions to candidates in both parties are companies that employ more than 500 people.

We’re at a point where there’s just such a huge disconnect with who these candidates are actually representing because they’re representing the companies and the people that are giving them the money. A lot of them are just focused on campaign financing and getting reelected, and they’re career politicians.

“These career politicians don’t give two craps about any of the companies that I work with that are small and medium sized businesses,” said Michael.

Listen to the full podcast or use the timestamps below to jump to a specific section.

Navigating the Show

[1:30] – Travel sector

[6:18] – Campaign donations

[10:42] – Market

[13:07] – Economy

[16:21] – Mailbag: Dream home

[18:59] – Mailbag: Emergency fund

“We want to make sure we’re staying focused on having a diversified portfolio, not stock picking and not market timing.”

– Michael Schulte