Financial Advisors Doubt Election's Ability to Cause a Bear Market

If Republicans kept control of both houses, a bear market was likely, according to 14.88% of respondents, while 50.41% said that politics wouldn't generate the beginning of a bear market.

In a Hartford Funds blog post, advisors were reminded of a few techniques to use with clients who turn out not to be so sanguine about election results. Pointing out that dramatic headlines draw the most readers, advisors can remind clients that any connection between the election and market volatility is probably engineered — and offer clients a breakdown in the numbers to reassure them.

Another suggestion for panic-prone clients is to point out that "history shows that the stock market (as represented by the S&P 500 Index) generally marches higher regardless of which party is in charge."

And remind clients that surrendering to election panic, even if during volatility, can cause them to miss out on the long-term effects of being invested in the market — since "markets inevitably bounce back." And since the long term is — or should be — what they're really interested in, it pays to sit tight and wait for the turbulence to pass.