Hey, guys.

It's Chelsea from The Financial Diet. And if you don't already subscribe to us, go hit that Subscribe button for more money stuff.

And it is Election Day-- dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun dun. I don't actually know the tune of that song, but I think it's, like, very election sounding in my mind. Today is a very exciting day for democracy.

We all are heading to the polls or have already headed there or have mailed in our ballots. And we are making our voices heard and seeing what the outcome will be. I have champagne on the ready.

It is on ice. It will either be festive champagne or depression champagne-- hard to tell at this point. But whatever the outcome, I will certainly be glued to my screen like a lot of you guys.

I'm also here in Manhattan meaning, depending on how things go-- you know how New Yorkers are-- I might even end up taking to the streets at some point tonight. I was actually-- fun fact about Chelsea Fagan-- in Washington DC the night that Obama got elected. I was at a friend's house.

We were watching the election results come in on TV from his home in Maryland. And it became clear probably around, like, 9:30, 10:00 at night that Obama was going to win. And we were like, well, this is history.

We got to go to DC. So we all hopped in his car, headed to DC, and it was probably one of the most memorable nights of my entire life. It was like something out of a Disney movie.

It was, like, every intersection, all the cars were stopped, and there were, like, cops dancing with citizens. And it was extremely happy. And then we went to the White House, and a bunch of people were chanting outside, they're like, pack your shit, pack your shit, like, throwing things on the White House lawn.

It was quite a time, to be perfectly honest, and I'm glad I saw it. And yeah, who knows what this night will turn out to be. But suffice to say, I think we will all be very interested in the results.

And as you may be able to tell from my sort of a very harvesty cornucopia decorations here, it is actually October as I'm filming this. It's October 6, to be exact, which in 2020 time, is approximately 17 years before November 3. So a lot could happen between now and then.

Just in the past, like, 72 hours, Trump has like gotten COVID. There was a debate. He left the hospital.

He went on this sort of bizarre joy ride and waved to his fans in his car while having COVID. He just announced that he's not going to negotiate and is killing a stimulus bill until after the election. The Dow fell, like, 500 points.

And this was all in the span of, like, 72 hours. So suffice to say, anything could really happen between now and November 3. But I do think-- and this is something that I hope we can all kind of take with us through all of the various political and social upheavals that we'll live through in our lives-- at the end of the day, we can choose how glued we want to be to our screens and to our newsfeeds and to our social platforms.

And we can choose to either constantly be hyper focusing on whatever the latest development might be. Or we can choose to kind of take a step back and focus on what we can do in order to help bring the outcomes that we desire. Actually, as I'm sitting here, I am being filmed by our head of content, Holly, who has been volunteering evenings for the National Voter Assistance Hotline, helping people figure out how they can vote.

It is also what she's going to be doing today on election day. I'm coming at you from the past telling you what she's doing in the future. I'm a big fan of phone banking for candidates you believe in.

Canvassing is extremely exciting. Being a poll worker. All these things are available to us.

And it's not just on days like this that we should be involved. And I do think generally, although what's happening in the news can be riveting and hard to look away from, you're much better served focusing your time and energy on things that you can do to help rather than constantly be waiting for every bit of breaking news. But that being said, I threw it out to you guys on Twitter to ask me some spicy, juicy, interesting, political and social questions that you would like me to answer on election day.

And again, who knows where we'll be by the time this airs, but why not give them a crack now? Will I make it to November 3? Almost certainly yes.

Are you here? In your eyes, what are the most important steps we can take as citizens to build a stronger democracy post-election and not let this shit show haunt us forever? Good question.

Yeah, I would just say that, as I said before, it's important to remember that democracy and the government are ultimately just a collection of people. They're a collection of our choices, of our engagement, of power, who wields it, what they do with it. But these are all just people.

Even Donald Trump is just a person. Although his media profile might lead you to believe otherwise, he's just a human being a citizen of the United States like many of us watching. So I think remembering that democracy is ultimately just going to the collection of the actions that we all bring to it and the choices we make within it will hopefully empower us to make some of those choices.

I'm sure a lot of you are aware, but the turnout for things like local elections are ludicrously low. We're talking about sometimes literally in the teens of percentages of registered voters. So that is an infinitely small portion of the potential voting public who could have a say in things like who represents you locally or even at a state and county level.

And in many ways, these decisions politically can have bigger impacts on your day to day life than even who happens to be president at a given time. Growing up, my father, who's a cartoonist, was always very involved in political cartoons. He worked for newspapers doing freelance political cartoons in the different places that we lived.

And he was always covering local races, state races. And he did sometimes also cover national politics, but was also very focused on the local stage. And it made me very aware from a young age that these races, and these battles of ideas, and these battles of visions of what a city or a county or even a neighborhood should look like are constantly happening all around us.

And if we choose not to be involved in that, a very small amount of people who do choose to be involved are going to have a highly outsized level of influence, because in these kind of races, it can be a literal matter of a handful of votes that can change the course of a local area. Now obviously, at the national level, it can feel a little bit harder to have an impact. But do remember that the impact you can have goes way beyond voting.

Obviously, there are things like donating. There are things like volunteering, phone banking, and canvassing. There's even the possibility to have conversations with people in your own life about these kinds of things.

We all probably know people who are just not interested in politics. And those are often the people that we should be most invested in possibly bringing into the fold, because just for your own sanity, it is important to remember that it is infinitely easier to bring someone into your ideas or to get interested in your candidate or what have you if they're not interested in politics, if they're not voting, if they don't really pay attention, than if they're already on the opposite side. Most people who have an entrenched political view or have candidates that they prefer are not going to move over.

Your time is much better spent speaking to the millions of people who feel disenfranchised, who feel like this process doesn't speak to them, than you are trying to convince someone over. I think about a lot of what has happened over the past several years and the amount of energy that has been spent on trying to understand Trump voters, to bring them over, to convince them, to get them to denounce him. The endless, like, liberal newspaper and magazine articles that's like, we traveled to Trump country to ask five people in a diner what they think about this.

And it's, like, those people are yes, they're Americans. Yes, their view on things is in some ways, substantial and should be considered. But we shouldn't be focusing on them so heavily to the exclusion of the millions of other people who don't feel the way that they do.

What about the rapidly shifting demographics of America? The middle class now is much more diverse than it was 50 years ago. The kinds of jobs people hold-- we have infinitely more service workers than we do coal miners.

These are shifts in who the country really is, what the fabric of America really is. And I think we're still often very focused on a narrow, narrow slice of what that sort of portrait looks like. And are focused on understanding them and convincing them and winning them over, when there are so many people all around us who have really never been spoken to by the political process, who really never been attempted to be understood.

So really kind of shifting your energy there, I think, will be really, really important. And lastly, I think a lot of people have felt so overwhelmed and despairing about the disconnect that they perceive between-- and I'm sorry, there's no other way to say it-- I could try to be bipartisan here, but there's just really no way to be that. The disparity that they see between Trump's behavior and the kinds of things that he was doing and saying that were outlandish, that were dangerous, that were inciteful-- not insightful, inciteful.

Behavior that was so clearly not anything that we could reasonably expect from any politician, really, let alone the most powerful man in the world, arguably, and the hypocrisy that represented. And the inability of people who were already entrenched in their support for him to concede anything, no matter what the behavior was, no matter what the actions or speech were. Even if it was a 4:00 AM tweet stream that made no sense, it was all defended.

We saw this as well with the Supreme Court nomination. What happened when Obama at the end of his second term was attempting to nominate someone. He was stonewalled until he was replaced by a conservative that was able to put their person in power.

And we're now seeing that whole agenda of, like, we have to wait until the election, let the American people decide-- that's thrown out the window. The hypocrisy is, I think, really difficult for people to process and understand. And it feels frustrating.

And it feels like you're going crazy. But the truth is ultimately, those people who will never be won over, who will never look at these hypocrisies and identify them as such, who will never see egregious behavior or undignified behavior-- at minimum, undignified-- we could go way further, but let's say at minimum undignified behavior-- and will never be moved by that, I just don't think we have to focus on those people so much. Not only are they statistically not a majority of the population, it's also, as I said earlier, much better to focus on all of the other people who don't even vote, who aren't even really part of this process.

Who need to be brought in, who need to be spoken to. That strong need to get someone to acknowledge their hypocrisy or get someone to acknowledge when their person did something bad, let's say, it's an understandable need, it's a human need, but it is a terrible, terrible way to spend political energy. You want to be building.

You don't want to be arguing. Are you doing any prepping for the potential civil unrest? First of all, I don't even really know what that means.

So basically, a lot of media portrays New York is like this Mad Max hellhole that is unlivable since COVID hit and is nonstop riots on the ground every day. I live here. I've never seen any of that.

And honestly, even if there was a protest in my street, I'm 30 feet off the ground. I don't know who's, like, Spider-Man scaling the walls to get up here and steal some of my lamps or whatever. I don't know what situation we're envisioning, but-- I like the siren going off while I'm saying this.

I think there's a good chance-- let me put it this way. I think if Trump gets ousted from office, I think there's going to be a massive amount of people demonstrating in the street in front of Trump Tower. And I fully intend to be out there, two bottles of Veuve Clicquot.

One in each hand, just shaking it and spraying Trump Tower, and just living it up. So I will be part of that civil unrest. I'd like to know your action plan for both potential outcomes.

I assume what she's referring to is Trump or Biden winning. What comes next, what steps will you be taking under either administration to advocate for leftist policies and to maintain your own sanity? So two things.

I think one thing that's very important to remember is while there is a ton at stake with Trump or Biden winning-- obviously, there's a massive amount at stake. And obviously, the amount of media attention that is given to Trump at any given time makes it feel even more high stakes than a normal presidential election. In many ways, whether or not the Democrats take back the Senate today is going to be just as important in terms of impact and in terms of what that can mean for progressive politics.

If we take back the White House and we have both chambers of Congress, that is a game changer, obviously, in an enormous sense. I mean, then you can really start talking about things like ending the filibuster. There can be moves made that are seismic in terms of their impact.

There's also just a lot that you can do in terms of your shorter term agenda. There can be a lot done to protect the ACA to expand it, et cetera. There's a lot that can happen.

Packing the court, as people like to say. Expanding the Supreme Court is how I would define it, as has been done in the past. Adding Puerto Rico and DC can be big agenda items.

There's a lot that can happen. Obviously, if Biden gets into office and he only has the House and he doesn't have the Senate, that's going to make a lot of things more difficult for him. However, at the end of the day, whether Trump or Biden get into office, I think my agenda is the same, right?

I want both of them to implement left progressive policies that will enhance our social democracy, that will reduce the military industrial complex, that will reduce wealth inequality, that will increase quality of life for as many Americans as possible, protect the environment. Like, there's a pretty basic agenda here that I think most progressive share. And for most progressives like myself-- let me be clear.

At the end of the day, Biden is not going to come in on day one like, hell yeah, baby, Green New Deal, Medicare for all. Let's get this party started. That is not going to be the case.

So in many ways, the agenda of putting pressure on a candidate remains the same. And the idea is to swell the popularity, the consensus, the necessity around these issues. One thing that is demographically interesting about the United States is we are entering a period of time in which the sort of tyranny, if we can call it, of white boomers is kind of coming to a close, demographically.

For a long time, what white boomers wanted was what happened. And so we saw an increasing rightward drift on tons of fronts-- economically being one of those fronts. We used to have a much stronger social safety net on many fronts than we do now and many more beneficial social programs than we do now.

The marginal tax rates used to be much higher on high earners. But those things are not popular with young people-- millennials, zoomers. Good lord, the zoomers.

These generations do not favor economically conservative policies. They do not favor austerity-- surprise, surprise-- because they've lived under it their entire lives, and it's basically eliminated their economic prospects. So we're entering a time in which demographically, what is now going to be popular, what is now going to have the highest social purchase, and be a necessity for an increasing number of people to remain in elected office-- those priorities are going to change.

And the lived experience of a plurality of voters is going to be radically different than that of boomers who largely grew up with an incredibly strong social safety net that allowed them all to accrue wealth and establish themselves in an almost historically unprecedented way. We have to remember that the social mobility and the conditions of just after World War 2 in terms of American prosperity and in terms of its influence within the world and its power within the world was really historically unique, and not likely to ever be recreated. So the conditions that produced the white boomer voting bloc-- they're not coming back.

So we're now entering a time where demographically, it may become more and more of a political necessity to start moving leftward on a lot of these issues. And really reinforcing that with increasing the social and political narrative in that leftward direction is incredibly important, which is why my baby boy, Bernie, will always be, I think, historically important for how far left he was able to move the conversation. The fact that we're all even talking about where Biden stands on Medicare for All is an incredibly important thing.

And also, lest we forget, groups like the Justice Democrats have placed in positions of national power in Congress, many, many true progressives who even 10 years ago would not be even a remote possibility. People like Rashida Tlaib, Ilhan Omar, AOC, Cori Bush-- all of these people, they are as much part of the conversation as anyone else. So long story short, in both cases, agenda is to push them as far left as possible.

But luckily, history and demographics are on our side, baby. Aside from voting, how do you participate in a political system that runs on money/donating to favored candidates when you don't have that money? Honestly, unless you're donating vast sums of money, if you dedicate time to canvassing, phone banking, and other volunteer efforts for a candidate, you're doing just as much to help them win.

Whether you gave them a couple dollars or spent several days leading up to an election volunteering for them, I would say probably on the whole, you probably did more for that candidate by volunteering than giving them a couple hundred bucks. And obviously, if you're starting some like dark money fund and funneling millions of dollars into their campaign, then the money is more important. But what you can do on the ground for a candidate is huge.

What is the best cocktail to consume by the gallon while in bed watching reality TV and avoiding any and all election news for several days? Honey, well, that would have to be a Blackberry Bramble. Give us your spicy predictions about how the results will affect the stock market along with a firm caution not to try to time anything and to remain true to your investing plan.

Well, thank you for preempting me. My advice was just going to not, under any circumstances, try to time the market, to stay the course. To remember that there will always be volatility and that you're investing for the long game.

I think there's probably a good chance of volatility no matter what the outcome. It's really hard to say. I mean, as I mentioned, the Dow dropped by, I think, 500 points today, just when Trump announced no stimulus negotiations until after the election.

So who knows? How much money would you recommend be in an emerging fun for an out-of-state or even possibly out-of-country move? I mean, I don't think it's good to think in those terms.

Even if you want to move out of the state or out of the country, you shouldn't be tying it to an election. Like, that's a year-long process at least to financially prepare for that in a safe way. If it's out of country, at least 18 months.

I mean, when my husband moved back to the United States with me, he started planning for that two years in advance. And there's a lot that goes into that besides an emergency fund. There's also employment.

There's also paperwork. I mean, it is a very complicated thing. I know everyone always jokes about, all right, I'm moving to Canada or whatever whenever this happens.

But, like, if that is something you are seriously interested in doing, you should be planning out that move on many, many axes at least a year out-- aka, not a month before the election. I'd love to know definitively if you can post pictures of your ballot. I get so many mixed answers.

I'd also love recommendations for hangover cures for the next day. To the first one, I honestly have no idea. But I would recommend not to, because I feel like it's illegal, so why take the risk?

But this isn't my wheelhouse, so I don't know. Hangover cures, OK. So first of all, I mean, listen there's a couple routes you can go, right?

But I think the key is many liquids. I feel like you've got to have a few core liquids covered. Obviously, your caffeine, right?

You've got to get your coffee in there. If you're going to go the hair of the dog route, I feel like a Bloody Mary is the way to go. Definitely a sparkling water.

I love a Coca-Cola-- something fizzy and icy. Also, I feel like this is an unsung hero. I know everyone usually goes for the grand slam breakfast sandwich type thing, but I love ramen.

Like a nice tonkatsu. Or a pho. Leftover Chinese-- oh, that cold lo mein.

Holly behind the camera says exercise for a hangover, which is cursed advice. But I will say that highly depends on how hung over you are, because if you're just a little tired, because you had a couple of glasses the night before, yeah. But if you're really hung over-- I once did a pilates class while pretty hung over, and the entire time, I was, like, oh no, I'm going to throw up in this class.

I didn't, but it was a tight squeeze. OK. What was your reaction to both candidates passing away and the election being a race between a real-life donkey and elephant?

You know, it was a game changer, for sure. But honestly, I think we're better for it as a nation. Go donkey.

OK, so for the last question. How have election results impacted markets in the past and are there any trends? Yeah, so there have been-- and actually, this person does mention that the market went a bit haywire when Trump was elected, but then stabilized shortly thereafter.

I think if there's anything that you can sort of plan for, I would just say expect maybe some short term volatility, expect things to go a little crazy, especially in the couple of days leading up, when maybe one candidate is going to pull out something very unexpected or there is going to be some surprising news. And there could be a case for either candidate bolstering the markets or hurting them. Obviously, traditionally, Republicans are perceived as being friendlier to big business.

But at the same time, trunk-- Trump-- trunk-- trunk-- Trump has been such an agent of chaos that there might be a perceived level of international stability if Biden gets elected in the short term. It's really, really hard to say. I would just say plan for short term volatility, but that will likely stabilize in fairly short order.

Because again-- not to stress it too much-- but if you are investing, you're doing so for the long term. And there's going to be a whole lot of this over the years. But generally, if you stay the course long enough, it's that relatively steady climb.

So those are my thoughts. Now as a naive sweet summer child of October coming at you from the past, who knows what could have happened between now and election day? But I think suffice to say, short of a cataclysmic apocalyptic event, my general stance about participating in democracy, your actions kind of being the same no matter what happens, and subbing in hyper consumption of news with some real world activities and actions is just going to be the way to go.

I sincerely hope that everyone got out there and voted today. Unless you were getting out there to vote for Trump, in which case, I hope you tripped on some kind of a little stone and fell into a manhole and weren't able to get pulled out until after Election Day, Looney Tunes style. JK, I hope everyone participated in the democrat process of voting.

But as always, guys, I really thank you for watching. And do not forget to hit the Subscribe button, and to come back every Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday for new and awesome videos. Goodbye.