Here’s What Low Consumer Confidence Indicates About Trump’s Economic Policies: Financial Planner

Kelsey Wilson, founder and CEO, BlackLines Financial, joined "Forbes Newsroom" to discuss consumer sentiment and uncertainty in Trump's economy.

Transcript

00:00I want to talk about some new stats that kind of paint a bleak picture.

00:05According to the University of Michigan, consumer sentiment dropped over 8% since last month

00:11and 32% year over year. This is one of the lowest points historically that consumer

00:17sentiment has ever been in since the 1950s. What does that indicate to you?

00:22Yeah, so with that drop in the consumer sentiment,

00:27I really just think it's coming down to when it's called to the fear side of things and that

00:31uncertainty. So when we see that we can kind of wrap it right back to that, that uncertainty of

00:36what's happening and certainty of what's going on and then just the fear of that. And I do

00:44believe that as time goes on and there's more information that's given out and things become

00:50a little bit more clear, the landscape becomes a little bit more stable, that will change and that

00:56will shift. And so it really just boils down to a lot of people really not knowing what's going

01:01on or really not knowing what's going to be the next move. So as that becomes more and more clear,

01:06I do see those stats shifting and going back in the other direction.

01:09Speaking of that fear side, I mean, a lot of people over the past month did not even want to look at

01:16their 401k. They were scared to do so. And whenever there is market volatility, you're going to see

01:21more dramatic swings in your 401k. What's your advice to someone who did log on, might have seen

01:28that number and their heart might be in their stomach right now seeing that their 401k isn't worth as

01:34much as it was before the tariff plan was announced? Yeah. So one thing is just understanding that these

01:41are what's called paper losses. So when it comes to the market taking a dip and things changing,

01:48that is just the value at the time that you opened it. So at this point in time, you're likely not going

01:54to be taking money out of that 401k at this point in time. So it is only a loss on paper. So what I would

02:01tell someone in that space is just making sure that one, you're relying on your initial financial

02:06strategy and investment strategy that you were initially set up when you opened up that account

02:11and you started putting money into that. Because when it comes to investments and structure, it's all

02:18about preparation. And when you're putting money into your 401k, you're putting money into your

02:22investments. Most people's 401k's investment strategies are based upon their retirement time frames.

02:28There's a lot of target date funds and that's in those spaces. And it's based upon when they're

02:33going to retire. So just knowing that this is part of the preparation that was done when you set up

02:39your 401k. And when the market does take those dips, you don't want to panic. It's a turbulent time.

02:45Just like when you're on a plane, the pilot will tell you to put your seatbelt on and just kind of ride

02:52it out. The turbulence will go away. The worst thing you can do is take your seatbelt off and jump off the

02:56plane. So we really want to make sure that individuals realize that it is a turbulence.

03:01It is going to go up and down. But don't panic. Stay the course and then allow the market to recover.