John [00:00:08]

Hi everyone, and welcome again to another episode of the Human Centric Investing podcast. My name is John Diehl, senior vice president at Hartford Funds. I’m usually joined by my colleague Julie Genjac. But Julie couldn’t be with us for today’s episode, where I talk to JT Taylor. JT is our go to guy at Hartford Funds when it comes to politics. And so with the year turning now to 2024, a presidential election year. I know in my travels, I’ve been hearing much more about reading the tea leaves, what may happen, and trying to predict, what the implications will be going forward. Now, it’s only January of 2024 when we’re when we recorded this conversation. So a lot still has to come out. But I really appreciated the conversation I have with JT to at least get us pointed in the right direction. With that, let me introduce our guest today on the podcast. JT Taylor serves as a senior policy analyst with Hedgeye Potomac Research. Prior to joining Hedgeye, he ran Pelorus Research, the US public markets division of the Holdingham Group based in the United Kingdom. JT has worked extensively in both government and business in Washington, D.C., with experience that spans both the legislative and executive functions, as well as a D.C. based consulting firm that he founded with Secretary Jack Kemp in 2002. So please join me as we speak to JT Taylor about reading the tea leaves of the 2024 political climate. Hi, I’m John.

Julie [00:01:54]

And I’m Julie.

John [00:01:56]

We’re the hosts of the Hartford Funds Human Centric Investing podcast.

Julie [00:02:00]

Every other week, we’re talking with inspiring thought leaders to hear their best ideas for how you can transform your relationships with your clients.

John [00:02:10]

Let’s go. JT. Welcome back to the Human Centric Investing Podcast.

JT [00:02:16]

Thanks for having me back, John.

John [00:02:18]

Well, JT, we’re recording this episode in late January 2024, so there are some things we know. We know that Donald Trump has, what appears to be a very significant lead in the race for the Republican primary. Joe Biden, of course, is unopposed. We know that recently, Ron DeSantis dropped out of the GOP nomination race, which basically leaves it a two candidate race, going into, future primaries here. I guess South Carolina is the next one. But, JT, I wanted your thoughts in general. So I just kind of set the stage for where we are as we’re recording this podcast. But your thoughts right now on the frontrunners, for the nominations, both the Democrat Party, Republican Party and what do you think is most likely to happen when we talked, I don’t know, last October, maybe things didn’t look a whole lot different, but there were more questions. But where do you think we stand today with Biden and Trump?

JT [00:03:20]

Yeah, I think questions day by day are being answered. And we’re gonna have plenty of unanswered, in the next ten months. But. For all intents and purposes, John, I believe the general election started right after, New Hampshire, the New Hampshire results. Nikki Haley, is contemplating and she’s saying that she’s still in the race right now. And we’ll have to see how that turns out. But for all intents and purposes, the general election has begun. And just get ready, because this is going to be the longest, presidential cycle I think we’ve ever seen, when we pretty much have both candidates already determined again, to some, there are some factors out there that still have to be determined. We’ve got a Supreme Court, ruling on on February 8th. They’re going to do a, they’re going to have a hearing on this topic. We’ve got some trial dates. I mean, there are just so many uncertainties out there, but it is Biden. It is Trump. Both have flaws. And I think most of the country knows that. But, Biden is going into this and, you know, he’s got a lot of doubts in his party, about whether or not he can carry the banner. But it’s the dog, that, that they’re they’re taking to the hunt right now, and they’re not going to look back unless you think we’ve discussed this before, unless there’s a health issue or something. Something. Irregular happens between now and the summertime on the Trump end. Same thing. I mean, this is I think Republicans are realizing that this is the remember the dog that got the bumper another analogy here. And they’re they’re already starting to have or cast some doubts as to whether or not we’re going to talk about independence here in a second. On whether or not Trump is going to be able to carry the day with independence right now. He’s got generally a lot of support in the party. The he’s really created a juggernaut here in the past 5 or 6 months, both on the fundraising side and on the support side. In fact, you mentioned Haley going to South Carolina and, just under a month now, he has wrapped up the entire leadership of the state, the Republican delegation, the governor, the dog catcher. I mean, he’s got everything but one member of Congress, on his side. And that’s that’s pretty formidable. So just looking ahead, you know, don’t for don’t for a second. You know, people are looking at Nikki Haley right now. She could be a spoiler. She could agitate him for the next couple of weeks here. But at the end of the day, New Hampshire, remember, New Hampshire was very fertile ground for her. A lot of independents up there. And it’s been proven that she garnered 65, almost 65% of those independents. When she goes to South Carolina in some of these other states. That terrain is not going to be as favorable. That’s why I keep going back to the fact that Trump will just continue his march until Super Tuesday. Could she you know, that’s her remaining in the race, extend his delegate count, you know, or, by a week or two instead of March 5th, Super Tuesday, does it become, you know, March 12th, or sometime later in March? Possibly. But be not mistaken. It is going to be, Trump is the Republican nominee.

John [00:06:40]

So, JT, let’s assume that, nothing, nothing out of the ordinary happens in either nomination, and it is going to be, let’s say Trump and Biden. Probably the next question on everybody’s mind now that many people have said, well, obviously Trump’s the nominee is, kind of reminds me, watching an episode of The Bachelor, The Bachelorette, right. Like, who’s going to be his VP? Right? Is it going to be one of these, one of the contenders for the nomination that he has, he hasn’t debated, obviously. He he, but he knows them well. Or is it going to be somebody completely different? How do you handicap the vice presidential nomination at this point?

JT [00:07:21]

You know, I don’t think with one exception, I don’t think it’s going to be any of his primary opponents. Again, there was there was, there is a little bad blood between him and DeSantis, maybe a lot of bad blood, as some people would say. I don’t see that happening. I think the only person in that field that’s viable is Tim Scott. Senator Scott from South Carolina. Other than that, the way I handicap this is, you know, where is his weakness going to be going into the general. And I just said it a couple of minutes ago, independent, and we’re going to get in a second to this other theory, theory I have about disaffected Republicans and disaffected Democrats. But with that, he’s going to be vulnerable with women. We’ve got the abortion issue resurfacing. Democrats aren’t going to let that rest. So you’ve got candidates like Christie. No, governor. No, you’ve got, this woman in Arizona who’s running for Senate, I believe her name is Kari Lake. You have the number four in line in the Republican House. Elise Stefanik, congresswoman, from from upstate New York, as a potential candidate as well, or vice presidential candidate. So I believe it’s going to be a woman or potentially Tim Scott. Yes. Could it be someone outside of that, that realm? Yeah. But I do think at the end of the day, if I were a betting man, I put money on a woman right now.

John [00:08:45]

So let me flip to the other side of the aisle and talk about you mentioned a possible Joe Biden’s going to be the candidate unless there’s a health issue. If there is a health issue, are we to automatically assume that Kamala Harris would kind of move into that, presidential nominee slot? Or do you see something else potentially happening?

JT [00:09:07]

You know, this is starting to take root. I mean, I’ve heard this from, numerous clients over the last couple of weeks about, you know, what happens if. Something happens to Biden. First off, if it’s a minor health scare, you know, even a minor health scare, I think is going to raise alarms even louder in the in the Democratic Party, if it’s a major health scare, I think all bets are off that just my hunch right now is just beneath the surface. I think Democrats are really uneasy, and the country is really uneasy generally with his age. So if it’s a major health scare, then I think there might be a move to potentially replace him. But cross that bridge when you get to it. For for Harris to, sort of be in play here, John, I think one he’d have to sort of either step down or be incapacitated. And and if he’s incapacitated, meaning he can’t fulfill the office of the president’s presidency, that’s pretty much the only way I see Harris being viable and being the nominee. Other than that, I think there is disenchantment with her as well within the party, as the standard bearer. And I think you’ll have to look at other candidates in there. She would put her hat in the ring, most certainly. It would be a and she would, will be a formidable candidate. But I suspect that you’ll see other candidates jumping in as well. If you get in, that will wreak havoc on the, on the system that will wreak havoc on the party. And that would likely have to take place before the conventions.

John [00:10:40]

So, JT, you mentioned, independents, a little while ago. And let’s not leave out, disaffected, people in the Republican Party who aren’t big fans of Trump. And we know that even Biden in his own party has disaffected Democrats that aren’t big Biden supporters and notably reading the press, younger voters, maybe minority voters. How does that, middle, if you will play out in this election, do you think?

JT [00:11:09]

Yeah. So that’s my new thing, John. You hit the nail on the head here first off. This is a rematch. We’ve been through this before. And, and so I don’t know that there are many undecideds out there. I think even the independents have, for the most part, decided, which way they’re going to break. I think what this election will come down to, as you indicated in that just illustrate, some of the exit polling, out of New Hampshire. 10% of Democrats who cast their ballots said they would absolutely not vote for Biden in the general election. Over 20% of Republicans. To your point, I think it might be actually 24% of Republicans said they would not vote for Trump. Republicans said they would not vote for Trump in the general election. So that’s the universe we’re looking at in this election. Independents? Yes. But remember, independents have been through this before. Republicans, Democrats, independents had the same, election, just over three years ago. So, you know, again, the fact that, that there are a lot of undecided independents, independents will matter, but it’s going to be these disaffected, voters on both sides of the aisle that will be the target. And let me just just take this one step further. If you go back to 2020, John, kind of 7 to 10 states at the onset were in play. I think it came down to about seven states at the end of the day. Right now I think we’re looking at this don’t hold me to this number, but we’re roughly in this election. We’re going to be looking at five, 6 or 7 states once again, probably about half a million people, about 500,000 people are going to be targeted. So this is this is going to come this is a smaller universe than we’ve ever seen before. From an election standpoint. These campaigns are very sophisticated. Know technology, voter identification, voter sentiment. These individuals are going to be targeted. So they’re going to, you know, they’re really micro-targeting these folks. And by the way, if you’re one of these people, you’re going to be bombarded with TV ads, phone calls, emails, text. That’s what this election is going to come down to, like probably a half a million people in five, six, maybe seven states. And all the rest of us are going to be watching from the sidelines.

John [00:13:36]

Oh, we should just be thankful that we won’t be bombarded with emails, phone calls, right? So on, so forth. But beyond the influence of independents and some of those disaffected voters, or maybe thinking about them, we’ve heard some noise about third party candidates. We we know kind of the history of third party candidates. We’ve had them from time to time. Do you think a third party candidate is possible in the coming election? And if so, which side do you think it may hurt the most to have a third party candidate?

JT [00:14:08]

Yeah, I guess historically, I don’t believe I don’t think even Ross Perot got over. I don’t think anyone has said double digits, digits on, on, on the third party candidacy. I think this time around could be different. Again, there’s lots of variables out there, that could, come home to roost. But there are a couple of entities working on, third party candidacies, especially an entity called No Labels. And if I’m not mistaken, I think the big hurdle is qualifying for the ballots. I believe they’re on ballots right now, are qualifying for ballots in 13 states, including Arizona, Nevada and North Carolina. So not small states, by the way. So if the I believe that No Labels is going to announce their unity ticket in the spring, Joe Manchin and we’ve heard that name on this podcast before, Joe Manchin has as, emerged as someone that could be on that ticket if Nikki Haley, doesn’t fall, into the Republican camp and doesn’t succeed in the Republican camp, there is now talk over the last 24 to 48 hours that she could be the Republican on that ticket. So a lot to watch in that space, who they field in the springtime. You also have the likes of Jill Stein who heads up the Green Party. She’ll certainly take away votes from from Joe Biden. And then Kennedy, depending on, on whatever he latches onto, there’s a thought that he take away from Biden that now there’s a thought that he’d take away from Trump. So you see Trump starting to attack him. So, it’s really, really, going to be a toss up. Who, this third party, if No Labels does emerge, as a viable option, who they’re going to impact more. So that’s that’s definitely a space worth watching this spring time when they announce it. So a lot of some questions at me when there starts to be more noise on this because I’ll be, right on top of it.

John [00:16:10]

Sounds like a wait and see.

JT [00:16:13]

Wait and see.

John [00:16:13]

You know, JT, when we think about these election years, I know investors, but clients of financial professionals oftentimes become distracted by looking solely at the presidential election, because that’s what media is covering. That’s, you know, this person versus this person, all that kind of stuff. But we can’t forget the other houses of Congress because they do actually play a role. We saw surprising results in the midterms and that many people expected a red wave never came. We talked about how closely divided Congress is currently the House being Republican, the Senate being Democrat. JT, where where do the races stand for Congress?

JT [00:17:00]

Yeah. And just a sidebar here. Not only that, not only are the margins close in both houses on the house side, it’s going to get even closer. So McCarthy resigned at the end of the year. We had another Republican resign and and took a university job in Ohio. The Republican majority is now down to two. Wow. And there’s going to be a special election, maybe three. But there’s going to be a special election for that seat in New York. Three, which was, held by that disgraced, member of Congress, Santos. And, that was a Democrat district before, Santos won it. So that’s going to be a toss up. So this this Republican majority in the Senate could be down to 2 or 1. At the end of the day, the other seats will remain Republican. But that’s not going to be until the springtime when these special elections are held. And I don’t know if you knew this, but the Democrats don’t have it any easier in the Senate with a one seat majority. Kamala Harris broke more tiebreakers in the history of the Senate last year than any other in almost 200 years. I think there’s somewhere between 33 or 34 tiebreakers. So we’re we’re we’re we’re in for that. It looks as if, after these elections again, if everything stays the same and lots of variables will change, throughout 2024. But right now, this election in the House is going to come down to roughly 23, 24, 25 seats there in purple districts, toss up seats. That’s what this Congress is down to. And it’s kind of pretty, pretty sad that all the rest are in red or blue or deep red or deep blue states. Right now it comes down to these the small universe of purple states. The Democrats have an advantage here because we have five House Democrats running in Trump seats right now. The districts of Trump won 18 Republicans and Biden held, districts. So that is that math is not going to help, the Republicans next time around. That’s a lot of ground, for the Republicans, to defend. Again, depends on what this climate is like. So my prediction is that that the House will flip from Republican to Democrat, and then the Senate, on the other side of the dome here, has a different problem. And the Democrats are the ones that are behind the eight ball. The Democrats just one third of the Senate, John, as you know, is up every year. 3333 and this is a year where there’s 34. So we have 34 senators up this year. You’ve got 23, Democrats up, right? And only 11 Republicans up. And in those 23 Democrat races, you’ve got them in some some red states, like West Virginia. That’s 99% going to go. That’s Manchin. See, that’s going to go from blue to red, almost assured. The other states are Wyoming, and in Montana, in Ohio. So those states, those those races are going to be really, really tough for Democrats to hold. So I think the Senate is going to flip back, to, to Republican hands at some point down the line. We’ll, we’ll bring up maps and we’ll show you, where some of these other races are. But but mark my words, they’re in some ruby red and, and, some very royal blue states. So everything else I think is going to stay static. It’s going to come down once again to 5 or 6 Senate seats at the end of the day.

John [00:20:40]

And again.

JT [00:20:41]

Even better.

John [00:20:43]

Even better. It sounds like whatever happens is going to be narrow again, right?

JT [00:20:47]

Narrow on both sides and likely divided government again. Again, unless there’s a wave election. And again, it’s anybody’s guess what happens in ten months. There’s a lot of ground between now and November 8th. We’ve you know, we’re still looking at the economy. We still are involved in to currently to foreign conflicts. We still have age issues. There are a lot of things out there undetermined, that that, could impact this election.

John [00:21:22]

So, sounds like a recipe for continued dysfunction, if you ask me. But, you know.

JT [00:21:28]

Continued dysfunction.

John [00:21:30]

So I have to ask this question, too. So when the Democrats lost the House in the midterms, it seemed like that was the impetus for a transition of of House leadership. Nancy Pelosi stepped down and, we got a new, House majority leader. You said the Senate is likely to flip just given, kind of how everything lays out if the Republicans retake the Senate. Would Mitch McConnell, try to stay on as leader? Would that give him the momentum to stay on, or do you expect that he’ll step down regardless of the election outcome?

JT [00:22:09]

Yeah, I think McConnell would like nothing better than to finish as majority leader, finish his career off. He is in his early 80s right now, and there was a lot of talk about his health, last year that has sort of been toned down a little bit. And he’s is his health is considerably better. But I think the forces at work, and the powers of the, come November, might be too strong for him to do it. So there’s a chance he’d likely either step down, step aside, and pass the baton to one of what we call here, the three John’s. So you’ve got John Barrasso, from Wyoming, who I think would probably be the frontrunner because he’s a a stalwart Trump supporter. You’ve got John Cornyn of Texas, that, also in the running in right now, John Thune of South Dakota, who would also be, in the mix, they’re all in leadership now. They’re all, looking, to succeed. There’s they make no bones about succeeding McConnell. I do predict that, if the Republicans take the Senate, it would be one of those three that would become the majority leader, not McConnell.

John [00:23:18]

So, JT, I’m going to leave the personalities, aside for a minute, because personalities are what we all get worked up about. You know who’s going to win, who’s going to do this and that. But let’s talk about what is sometimes viewed as more mundane, but actually probably impacts us more than anything. And that’s policy. We know that, we know that Congress has been struggling to come up with some kind of a budget prior to April 1st, when, I guess automatic budget cuts, set in. But, what? Let’s start just with this year, 2024. What can anything be accomplished in 2024 given the run up to the November elections? Can we expect anything this year?

JT [00:24:03]

I don’t believe so. And I think, you know, if you go back to where we started this program on this in, you know, the general election starting, you already see Trump meddling in the Republican agenda on the Hill, for example. Republicans and Democrats in the Senate were pretty close to a border deal. I you know, the fact that we’re still talking about the border, ten years later and this administration had three years to work on in the prior administration before and we’re still in the same place is is shocking to me. But there is talk that that, Trump is, is, for all intents and purposes, threatening senators saying do not pass this bill. I don’t want to give Biden a win. So I think that that is going to be with the presidential starting this early. And I think in one of my last, one of the last pieces, I said that, you know, by the time the spring rolls around early summer, you’re done legislating in an election year. I think it’s going to be much earlier now. And I think this is the first sign that the only things we’re going to struggle to get done, are, the spending bills, the appropriations bills. And we now have a target of early March, for those bills, you have a couple of reauthorization on the Federal Aviation Administration. The FAA needs to be reauthorized. We still haven’t really done the farm bill. I mean, there’s a massive, massive billion dollar bill, that needs to be addressed. That was just extended. It hasn’t been updated since 2017 or 2018. They need to work on that, but I don’t see a consensus on that as well. So I just think it’s going to come down to, getting these spending bills over the finishing line. Remember this, this Congress. And I think there was a chart, sent out, in one of the previous missives I did. This is the the that I do nothing Congress not it’s not just a Republican thing or it’s a bipartisan do nothing Congress. It the all time low and getting legislation passed and getting legislation through. And I believe that 2024 is only going to add to that horrible stat. Some might some out there might say, well, they’re not passing legislation. That’s a good thing. It means more legislation, more regulation, what have you. But there are certain things that need to get passed. We do need to address a lot of issues in this country, the debt and the deficit, first and foremost. But, no, there’s not going to be a consensus, and I predict that it’s going to be even harder, next time around. The one thing I’ll say that they they started coming together on defense late last year. We’ve been talking a little bit more about, defense spending. And it does seem to be one area of consensus right now as well as China. So you might look for, China, some sort of China tariffs, bill to come out this year. And or China has what we call, permanent trade status, preferred trade stance with the US. I think as a political message, you’ll see both Republicans and Democrats trying to revoke that status this year, favored status, trade status. Other than that, John, crickets and a lot of fighting.

John [00:27:21]

So, taking that thought one step further, JT, those of us who aren’t in the political world don’t think too much about timing past the next election. Right. So we’ve been focused on who’s going to run, who’s going to win, what’s going to happen in Congress. But, I know you have been looking even past the election into 2025, because there’s some important issues. They’re going to have to be decided and things that may specifically impact the financial services industry. Can you just give us a top level JT on on why this coming election will be influential in terms of policy decisions beginning in 2025?

JT [00:28:03]

Yeah, I mean, I just mentioned one of them. That’s the debt in the deficit, 34 trillion in debt growing into approximately 2 trillion a year. That’s unsustainable. So at some point, Congress and the white House, whoever holds, power in those three bodies, is going to have to address those topics. And there there is talk right now of a bipartisan commission, to address the debt and deficit. Let’s keep our fingers crossed that they’ll look at it. But that is saddling every American, with, unnecessary, again, debt burdens that we don’t need. The 2017 tax cuts expire, in 2025. So the next Congress, the next president, will have to deal with a major tax cut bill. Whether or not to renew that, is going to be front and center. And I think you’re seeing a little of that play out right now in, a smaller tax bill, that’s trying to move through Congress. There’s bipartisan consensus on this tax bill that renews the child care tax credit in exchange for some business tax breaks, R&D interest deductibility, etc.. And there’s the came out of one of the committees, 40 to 3 John the Ways and Means Committee in the House side. That’s a big big victory bipartisan victory for that bill. But it’s being shot at by the progressives on the left and the far right. Conservatives on the right. And, I if you asked me a week ago, I thought we would probably have just slightly better than 50% chance of getting through. Now it’s got a big target on its back. So this is a that’s a that topic right there. But we’re dealing with present day is a microcosm of a much larger, tax, debate we’re going to have in 2025. And then lastly, the debt ceiling. The debt ceiling expires in January 2025. All that noise in the spring of last year is going to come back again in January of of next year, right after the president, the new president who’s either reelected, or well, both of them could be reelected for that matter. But, and the new Congress, will have to deal with the debt ceiling right out of the gate in 2025. So those are the three issues, top of mind, you know, Republican wins. The white House, I think you’ll likely see, you know, you see these every four years, probably more, of a bent toward oil and gas and those types of stocks, energy, in the energy realm, the green energy stocks. If the Democrats win, I mean, you’ll start to see some of those issues emerge. But at the end of the day, everything if everything if everything flips and these margins are as close as they are now and you still have some of the same players, it’s going to be tough in 25 and 26 to get legislation through. So, I think we’re in for. A bit of, legislative political stagnation here, if you will, for the next 2 or 3 years.

John [00:31:14]

And then, of course, will have, depending on the outcome of the executive branch agency heads, decision on a fed chairman. All that kind of stuff. Then we’ll get to talk to you about at some point in the future. But let’s not let’s not put the cart ahead of the horse. So let’s, play it out a few more months and see what more information that we have. But, JT, before we let you go, as you know, on the Human Centric Investing podcast, we like to ask our guest what we call lightning round questions to help our audience get to know, aside from the world of Washington. Let’s learn a little bit more about JT Taylor. And so if you’re up for it, I’d like to fire some questions at you. Top of the top of your head responses. I may ask for some reasoning, but. Hey, are you game?

JT [00:32:04]

Oh, boy. Here we go.

John [00:32:06]

All right. If you could travel anywhere in the world for free, where would you go?

JT [00:32:14]

Right now I would go to. We’re going to have to start this over.

John [00:32:21]

Well, we’ll give you time. You’ll get it.

JT [00:32:26]

There’s six places I got Spain in my head. I’ve got. Egypt in my head.

John [00:32:35]

Hey, I’ll take multiple choice if that works for you.

JT [00:32:41]

Ten more seconds of time, guys. So everybody out there is watching us having fun with this one. I have all your names. I know where you guys live.

John [00:32:53]

All right. When you were a kid, what did you want to be when you grew up? And don’t say political pundit unless you really meant it.

JT [00:33:02]

Wanted to be a maxillofacial surgeon. Really? Yeah. I wanted to, sort of, the first step was, being a dentist, and then you would. There were more school going to be a, maxillofacial surgeon and, recreate faces. Wow. That was, you know, to take accident victims and, and and babies born without faces or deformities and fix them, and then later do plastic surgery in my senior year, shall we say. But, chemistry got in the way of that.

John [00:33:38]

Oh, yeah.

JT [00:33:39]

Organic chemistry, to be exact.

John [00:33:40]

Understandable. Are you a morning person or a night owl?

JT [00:33:46]

Both. I mean, morning for sure. I’m up early, but, yeah, I, I tend to be a night owl, depending on, the time of the week, but. Morning. Definitely the morning.

John [00:33:58]

What is a food that you could eat for a week straight?

JT [00:34:04]

Sushi.

John [00:34:06]

That’s a good choice. I went with you on that one as well. Speaking. What’s for dinner tonight? Any idea?

JT [00:34:12]

Sushi.

John [00:34:14]

Perfect timing. That’s awesome. What was the last TV show that you watched or binged?

JT [00:34:21]

Oh my gosh. I wasn’t expecting this one. The bear. I’ve been watching the bear on, Hulu since, the holidays, and I just finished season two. It’s exceptional.

John [00:34:33]

Good. I’m glad to hear that. It’s on my list. How about, what is your favorite month of the year?

JT [00:34:40]

Wow. Favorite month of the year is probably September. Just the weather and, perfect down here in D.C. and, perfect golf weather as well.

John [00:34:52]

If you had the choice to travel to the past or to the future, which would you pick?

JT [00:35:00]

The past.

John [00:35:02]

Why so?

JT [00:35:04]

Just love. I love history. So I would love to go back to the, Revolutionary War time, the the founding of the colonies. It would just be fascinating to live without technology, as we know it today.

John [00:35:25]

One last question, one that really defines a person. What’s the first concert you ever attended?

JT [00:35:32]

First concert I ever attended was U2, if I’m not mistaken.

John [00:35:38]

Wow. That’s pretty cool.

JT [00:35:39]

Still going to the U2 concerts so there you go. That is, other than the Rolling Stones. I mean, those guys have some longevity.

John [00:35:47]

Oh, absolutely. Well, JT, can’t thank you enough for coming on to help all our listeners kind of understand a little bit and begin to make sense because I think, financial professionals are soon, if not already going to be get getting a torrent of questions about their thoughts about what’s going on. And we’re very grateful that you’re able to at least give us some things to think about as we head into the rest of this year.

JT [00:36:13]

Awesome. John. Always good to be with you in the family there. So love this. Can’t wait for the next one.

John [00:36:19]

Sounds good. We’re going to talk to you just prior to the election to kind of see what else sorts itself out. So on behalf of Hartford Funds, JT, thank you. And thanks to all of you for listening. We look forward to visiting with you again on our next episode of the Human Centric Investing podcast.

Julie [00:36:38]

Thanks for listening to the Hartford Buttons Human Centric Investing podcast. If you’d like to tune in for more episodes, don’t forget to subscribe wherever you get your podcasts and follow us on LinkedIn, Twitter, or YouTube.

John [00:36:53]

And if you’d like to be a guest and share your best ideas for transforming client relationships, email us a guest booking at Hartford funds.com. We’d love to hear from you.

Julie [00:37:04]

Talk to you soon.

Speaker 4 [00:37:06]

The views and opinions expressed herein are those of the guest who is not affiliated with Hartford Funds. Hartford Mutual funds may or may not be invested in the companies referenced herein. However, no particular endorsement of any product or service has been made. Financial professionals should always consult their compliance department and individual firm policies before accessing any social media or using online communication tools for business purpose.