Hello everyone, Richard Wilson coming to you from Hawaii. I'm at a tax investment conference here, and inside the room, I'm talking with many of my clients. One of them is an ultra-wealthy family office manager, and he has been speaking with a lot of my clients today and this week about what it means now that Trump is going to become the next president.
So, I wanted to record this short video. I’m not a political advisor, I’m not a political expert, and I’m also not an economist. I haven’t listened to every word that Trump has said, just like nobody else has, really. So, I don’t pretend to be an expert in any of those areas. But what I want to convey here is what I’m hearing from all the family offices, investors, and founders within our network. In other words, this is what 80% of all the investors I talk to are thinking now that Trump has been voted in to be our next president of the United States.
I’m not reading from notes here, but these are the top 15 or so impacts that I hear over and over again. Doesn’t mean they’re true or that they’re going to happen, but I just wanted to share them.
First, things that are probably going to get better:

• The general consensus is that industries like cannabis, psychedelics, oil and gas, energy, and U.S.-based manufacturing in general will likely improve.
• Founders and business owners will probably do better with lower taxes. This will allow them to invest more in their businesses and the economy.
• I think real estate is going to improve, and the health and volatility of real estate will get better. There’s less danger of a collapse in real estate values because I think we’re going to see an economic boom from what Trump is going to do.

Other areas that might be negatively impacted:

• If we lay off half of federal employees—or 25% or 80%, who knows—they’ll probably get two-year severance packages, as I’ve heard Elon Musk say. But how will that impact the economy and their spending when they’re on severance? That could have an impact on the economy.
• There’s some concern that Trump’s strategy of threatening other countries with tariffs—using tariffs to negotiate and showing that he wasn’t bluffing—might lead to further inflation.

There is hope, though, that we’ll no longer feel like we’re on a path to bankrupting ourselves due to out-of-control spending.
One point Elon brought up that I’ve had several investors mention is this:
The U.S. government has over 400 federal agencies. We’ve only been around as a country for 200-odd years, so every year we’ve created two new government agencies. Elon likes to call them "brake pedals," saying that government’s function right now is essentially to tell you, “Don’t do that,” “Get a permit first,” “You’re not allowed to do that,” “That’s regulated,” “There’s a paperwork process,” etc. These are all brake pedals.
Elon says we should remove some of those brake pedals and replace them with gas pedals. That would spur growth, excitement, and opportunity, which creates a better environment for the American Dream. There could be more entrepreneurial opportunities, which means more jobs in the U.S. and a higher quality of life.
As AI replaces people in the workplace, and as we potentially lay off 25%, 50%, or 70% of government employees, how do we address the challenges with empathy and compassion? I don’t know if there are great answers to that yet.
On another note:
I do think big pharma and big food companies are going to have to change what they’re doing. They might have to start selling us food like they do in Europe—food with ingredients we can actually pronounce, instead of thousands of chemicals that are poisoning us and causing cancer.
I think one thing that will go down is people’s weight if the food we eat is healthier. I do believe that big pharma and big food will be scrutinized heavily, as they should be, for what they put into our food.
The last statistic I saw was that 72% of Americans are overweight and 42% are obese. If things don’t change, those numbers will rise—80% overweight, 50% obese.
Is Trump and JFK Jr.'s plan the magic pill that will fix all of this? I don’t know—I’m not a health expert or a doctor. But I do think that having tons of chemicals and artificial things in our food is probably not healthy. And being obese is definitely not healthy.
Some other points I’ve heard from investors:

• Free speech censorship is a big concern. Many feel like we’re losing our ability to speak the truth or explore the truth. The only thing not considered disinformation is something mandated by the government. This concerns many founders and is why they’ve switched to voting for Trump.
• There are many Republicans who did not feel comfortable voting for Trump due to concerns about his actions being disrespectful toward women, or not aligning with their moral values. However, Elon’s involvement—his principle-based approach and innovative track record—was enough to sway them. Even people who weren’t comfortable voting for Trump realized that, in this case, they were really voting for Elon and for the principle of making America healthier again, for free speech, and for the ability to speak the truth.

So, these are the things that have come up most often in my conversations. Again, I’m not a political advisor. We have members of our network who are Democrats, Republicans, and independents, and we have 100% respect for all viewpoints. As an investor club, we’re not here to tell you how to think about politics or how to vote.
However, as business owners, founders, and investors, we need to think about the next stage impacts. What should we do to adjust our businesses? How is this going to affect different industries? How does this affect our portfolios and business holdings? How can we stay a few steps ahead of the herd? And how should we position ourselves now, with Trump as president?
I just wanted to share these thoughts based on what I’m hearing. They’re probably similar to what you’re hearing, but I’ve had people text me, asking what we’re hearing in the grapevine—especially those who haven’t been to events recently or who don’t have a broad network of investors or founders. People are curious about what’s going to happen, whether things will get better or worse, and which areas are likely to improve or decline moving forward.
Hope this was helpful, and I hope to see you at one of our investor masterminds or summits soon.
Take care!