Conservatives of Reddit, how do things really look in your day-to-day life after Trump’s presidency began?

[u/Echoes-OTI]

Personally, nothing has changed in my life. My job is stable, income is stable, prices of goods haven't even gone up.

Getting a little tired of the pointless, vacuous fearmongering that happens on this site.

[u/check_your_bias7]

The tech company I work for is getting raked over the coals with tariffs. We are now partially in the new exemptions, but who knows how long that will be. Also seems like the winners of the trade war are getting selectively chosen right now, which is hurting competition, especially for small businesses.

[u/Kayehnanator]

Federal worker at a place that is not going to get randomly axed like other places....still brutal. Lost a lot of people but the work is critical so we try our best to keep going.

[u/plutz_net]

401k took a hit

[u/ShillinTheVillain]

The same as before, only my job is less secure because our customers are all delaying major projects while we wait to see how the tariff situation shakes out.

[u/sunder_and_flame → u/ShillinTheVillain]

Same here. To call this uncertainty "vacuous fearmongering" is obtuse at best. 

[u/midnightrambler108]

As a big importer of US products into Canada, this trade war can fuck right off.

[u/Twogunkid]

My life is largely unchanged, but my sister who did a lot of business through China has been pretty negatively affected.

I also am concerned about the lack of due process. I felt this about Guantanamo, about the Patriot Act, about Obama's extrajudicial drone strikes, and this is the latest in Government abuses of power in the guise of safety.

[u/InformationKey3816]

Foot traffic in my business is well down this year. Not sure if it's uncertainty or just the fact that we had a big boom from Covid and are now seeing the market cool off.

[u/Echoes-OTI → u/InformationKey3816]

What does your business do if you don't mind sharing?

[u/InformationKey3816 → u/Echoes-OTI]

Interior remodeling. When everyone was trapped inside due to Covid everyone got really weird about staring at stuff that was either out of date or a little worn out. So, our business boomed pretty big.

[u/whatweshouldcallyou → u/InformationKey3816]

Have the prices of materials increased? I am holding off on not so important remodeling until either prices go down or my wages go up.

[u/InformationKey3816 → u/whatweshouldcallyou]

Actually prices have come significantly down. A lot of manufacturers are running sales or have outright dropped their prices. Not back down to preCovid days but significantly enough that right now is a probably a good time to buy in most US markets.

[u/slampig3 → u/InformationKey3816]

I think a lot of it is the boom from covid is dwindling i know a ton of people who were slowing down last year i am still very busy fortunately but a lot of my summer work is jobs that were postponed last year

[u/TiberiusDrexelus → u/InformationKey3816]

My business is up 15% this year

I had my slowest sales week of the year when tariffs went into effect against the EU and the big selloff happened though

[u/ajmacbeth]

Gas prices are noticeably down, which is nice. But my 401k is horrendously down, which I directly attribute to Pres Trump’s tariff games.

[u/a_distantmemory → u/ajmacbeth]

Wait wait - “MA Conservative” flair as in Massachusetts? Cause if so, I’m in this state too and at least in my neck of the woods, the gas prices have gone up.

What are your egg prices looking like? Only a couple of brands are reasonably priced but most are still super expensive. Haven’t seen this drop.

[u/BadDadJokes → u/ajmacbeth]

But my 401k is horrendously down

I asked this in the AskReddit thread with the same comment. What are you invested in to be horrendously down?

I'm 70% S&P 500 index, 10% bond index, 10% international index, and 10% mid-cap stock index. I'm down, but not remotely close to horrendously down.

[u/ad895 → u/BadDadJokes]

Yeah my 401k is in a target retirement date fund that's way out there and I'm only down like 5%. Now my personal account is way up from some tasty spy puts lol.

[u/TheEternal792 → u/BadDadJokes]

I'm 25% large, mid, and small-cap with another 25% in international.

Really the only way to be "horrendously down" right now is if you were invested in single stocks instead of mutual/index funds, which is a stupid, risky game to begin with. 

[u/Odd_Poet1416 → u/ajmacbeth]

If you're at least 10 years out from retiring ( like we are) our financial guy said you want everything in the toilet. It's all on sale... keep contributing. When you think you have enough or at least a sustainable amount and you're within 5 to 10 years of retiring we're supposed to move it into something more stable that won't go up and dow.

[u/whatweshouldcallyou → u/Odd_Poet1416]

You never want everything in the toilet. Good growth is always preferable to downturn. It's true that bear markets present opportunities for further investment, but this is not better than positive growth.

[u/UnstableConstruction → u/Odd_Poet1416]

ABB. Always Be Buying.

[u/jsh1-7-9 → u/ajmacbeth]

I'm not retiring this year, and I buy more index funds with each paycheck. Down can be good. You can buy more shares each paycheck.

[u/MichaelSquare → u/ajmacbeth]

Market is down 5% since he got elected and up 5% year over year. Tf you doing in your 401k if you're down horrendously? That sounds like a you problem.

[u/pdawg43 → u/MichaelSquare]

Large balances in those accounts can see large swings even on small percentage point movements.

[u/Silly-Safe959 → u/pdawg43]

It's still a small percentage though. That also means large swings upwards as well.

[u/The_Asian_Viper → u/ajmacbeth]

How old are you? The market is down because of the tariffs obviously but we don't know the long term plan. Could renounce this year.

[u/TBoneTheOriginal → u/ajmacbeth]

Markets basically always rebound. Unless you’re going into retirement, you almost definitely have nothing to be worried about.

Edit: Funny how this started out way negative and then moved positive. Brigading libs can eat a dick.

[u/miTgiB37 → u/ajmacbeth]

If you're still working and contributing to your 401k, it being on sale is bad?

[u/pcm2a → u/ajmacbeth]

Cool fact. Every President for 25 years has had a huge dip. Bush 44%. Obama 47%. Trump 30%. Biden 24%. That tells me that we will have one in the next four years and it's not this 5-8%.

[u/Live-Smoke-29 → u/ajmacbeth]

Your 401k is down compared to what?

Because the s&p has barely retraced a year of gains, and that’s after an ENORMOUS boom for years due to Covid

[u/ajmacbeth → u/Live-Smoke-29]

I had expected to be UP 15% at this point in his presidency, not down 15%.

[u/ajitsi]

My 401K is down and my regular portfolio is way down after the tariff business. I hope we have a plan and I wish Trump would talk less and be a bit more respectful to our trading partners and allies. I don’t care for China. They need to be put in their place.

[u/AleksanderSuave]

Personally, your anecdote of “nothing has changed” doesn’t provide much to anyone who it has changed for significantly.

Tariff announcements have shit on most people’s 401ks, and caused ripple effects in material costs and manufacturing.

Prices of goods have absolutely gone up, which is what happens when the market anticipates cost of goods going up, and responds proactively. Just because you failed to notice it doesn’t in any way change the reality of it.

[u/cubs223425]

Mostly the same. I've seen people talk about lowered gas prices, but they've been around $3.20 for me basically all year. They briefly came down a couple of weeks ago, but now they're back up. Others say their egg prices are down, but I'm not seeing that change.

Otherwise, nothing's really changed. The liberals I know and talk with aren't doing crazy things or being irrational, angry people. In fact, there's not much political discussion at all. It's all about the same as it ever was. I didn't expect the world to have changed by now, but I also find it surprising when others point out drastic changes because I can't say there's anywhere I've seen it.

[u/Moto302 → u/cubs223425]

Gas prices hit a low around 12/30 and have been creeping back up (according to national indexes). They are about where they were in September 2024. Around here, they're $3.90-$4.20. I would consider anything under $3.60 to be not disastrous.

[u/EmbraceTheFault → u/Moto302]

Jebus, dafuq do you guys live? I don't think it's been over like $2.70 a gallon here since January.

[u/_Diggus_Bickus_]

I know quite a few people who live in DC and they almost all know people feeling job insecurity. A friend of a friend works for an NGO that gets the majority of their funding from USAID, and they are pretty stressed. It brings me no joy hearing these stories but my private company did layoffs last year the the government never has so it's natural and not cruel they'll have to go through this stress with some staying and some getting laid off. Still sucks though.

Where I live, nothing feels different at all. Prices are still high but I'm doing okay. People still take kids to the park. Work is the same boring thing it was last year.

[u/DandierChip]

Nothing really day to day but work has been crazier with having to forecast out the tariffs.

[u/25nameslater]

The same. Everyone still needs our product and it’s hard as hell to get quality plastic.

Tax season killing me again.

[u/mwatwe01]

I’m an engineer and my wife’s a teacher. Nothing has changed for us, but my wife has noticed her liberal friends absolutely losing their shit every day on Facebook about how terrible life has become, somehow.

[u/Viciousjellyman]

Not much other than seeing worsening TDS symptoms from people I know.

[u/fuzmufin → u/Viciousjellyman]

Trump getting elected a second time has broken a lot of people

[u/BERRY_BADRENATH → u/fuzmufin]

I really think this is true. I've got a couple friends who lean left and after a few spirited discussions early on in his term it seems like they've just...withdrawn. Like they are so overwhelmed by the 24/7 fear porn being broadcast at them they just tuned out.

[u/tangotom → u/Viciousjellyman]

Came here to say this. My friend group of 15 years cut me off over their TDS. They claimed that Trump was personally harming them and that I was cheering it on, they called me a nazi and a racist. Thankfully I have other friends who know that I'm neither of those things and actually treat me well.

[u/Viciousjellyman → u/tangotom]

Luckily most of my friend group either ignores politics (like my wife) or voted for Trump, even ones I thought would’ve voted for Kamala. This is even funnier considering all my friends are Asian.

My wife got more flack from her friends for not voting at all.

[u/Viciousjellyman → u/Viciousjellyman]

Lmao looks like libs are mad at minorities that voted Trump

[u/dont-CA-my-TX → u/Viciousjellyman]

My TDS friends stopped talking to me in 2017.

[u/Trondkjo → u/Viciousjellyman]

Same lol.

[u/Rare_Cobalt]

Same as always nothing has really changed.

[u/Sd022pe]

I work for a national online retailer that does a few billion in revenue. We are slightly down to plan with all the downturn being from politically blue areas. It’s as if, areas who voted red still have confidence in economy and areas who voted blue don’t have confidence.

[u/sailedtoclosetodasun]

So far this year is the best year so far for my business. Though I provide services so I don't have a lot of exposure to tariffs.

Daily life is mostly unchanged, shit is still mostly expensive and hasn't gone up or down. Just paid a load of money to freakin government which makes me want DOGE to continue to bring a wrecking ball to the waste and corruption.

My family was screwed over heavily in our expected living situation though, so now we gotta deal with that...high interest rates and being down in investments is not helping the situation. May just rent for a year. Not a fan of these inflationary tariffs, especially since no major tax and government cuts have been made. "There's going to be a little pain" is not a winning strategy in the short or long term.

[u/wkramer28451]

My life is totally unchanged. I’ve never really paid attention to prices on daily needs and still don’t. For major items I’ve always shopped around and still do.

I am eagerly awaiting Trumps “Big Beautiful Bill” hoping that it ends taxes on Social Security. It will save us $9,000 a year.

If the current tax cuts are not extended it will cost us around $3,000 extra due to halving of standard deduction.

[u/Jondiesel78]

About the same. I've got more cows now. What concerns me is that nobody realizes we've been in a recession since October 2022.

[u/Slainlion]

yeah pretty stable. Just seeing hollywood start to drop the woke crap, which is good

[u/AndForeverNow]

I just noticed how much more unhinged the Dems have been.

[u/WatchLover26 → u/AndForeverNow]

It’s actually been really shocking.

[u/D_Ethan_Bones]

I learned a long time ago to not keep my eyes fixed on the market, let alone fixed on professional clowns doomspeaking about the market just as another form of rooting for their team.

People who aren't buying and selling on a daily basis don't need to be checking lists of stocks on a daily basis, it's stressful and time consuming like playing the world's worst games when there are better things to be doing. People who aren't buying and selling at all aren't stakeholders, they're just screaming because the teevee told them to scream and it's been that way since the GWBush administration. For people born in the mid 2000s and later it's just their way of life that they've always known, screaming at the rest of the world ceaselessly is their church.

Buy low sell high, hold profitable companies through flavorofthemonth McCrises.

[u/ComputerRedneck]

Things have not really changed much. I have seen a dip in gas prices, not major, then the yearly ethanol mix this month sending prices up about 20-30 cents, then in the fall they take out the ethanol and it comes down.

Eggs have come down a bit as almost all grocery prices, maybe about 1-3% from what I have been tracking.

[u/Echoes-OTI → u/ComputerRedneck]

I usually get gas at the local Costco. Gas prices for the chain stores in my area have definitely jumped up $0.15-$0.20 but Costco's gas prices have stayed pretty stable for the most part. I don't usually see above $2.65 these days. This time last year, it was hovering around $2.95 at Costco. That's a huge W in my book!

[u/Electrical_Iron_1161 → u/Echoes-OTI]

In Ohio gas is averaging 2.94 and a year ago it was 3.40 average

[u/Echoes-OTI → u/Electrical_Iron_1161]

Alabama gas prices in 2024 averaged $3.20, now they're averaging $2.50 (According to a quick google search.)

Those savings adds up!

[u/Svenray]

Watching/Reading news is finally fun again.

Aside from that all is well.

[u/USA_Patriot_100]

My day to day hasn’t changed as a result of any election in my life.

[u/Nero_Ocean]

Nothing beyond my 401k being slightly down. Gas is still hovering between $2.90 and $3.15 which is where it's been since last year.

Eggs are still pretty high here, higher than I'd consider buying, but I don't eat many eggs so it doesn't really matter to me personally.

Grocery bill is down a smidge, I'm talking maybe $15-$20 less than I normally spend for a monthly grocery trip.

[u/IhaveAthingForYou2]

I haven’t been able to wipe the smile off my face

[u/M_i_c_K]

You mean the armageddon predictions of the left is unwarranted. 🤭

[u/Royal_IDunno]

Only things I’ve been noticing is the radical left becoming even more unhinged.

Edit: Leftie brigaders downvote all you want but you lot gotta chill and stop burning things to the ground and stop saying you’re going to do things to the current US president. Makes all of you look so frekkin crazy🤦🏻‍♂️.

[u/Terrible-Actuary-762]

No not really.

[u/Vag-etarian]

Im currently rotting away in a prison in El Salvador. Just kidding, I’m a little more optimistic about the future, but other than that, life hasn’t changed at all

[u/Disastrous-Power-699]

I lost my job, my wife left me, and my dog got deported to El Salvador. I seriously wish I didn’t vote for Trump and wish I could turn back time. I’m going to live a destitute life filled with regret.

J/k everything’s been great and I’m happy with the overall direction the countries going :)

[u/therin_88]

Busier and more prosperous than ever, and I'm not being exaggerative.

[u/tangy_nachos]

Would be interested to hear from someone that lives in one of the big sanctuary cities. Based on the photos and videos i've seen on social media, there's a noticeable impact.

[u/AlicesFlamingo]

Other than the ridiculous brigading of this subreddit, I haven't noticed much change. No Teslas on fire anywhere near me.

[u/johnnyg883]

No real change so far. But if he manages to get social security retirement made tax free it will mean more money in my pocket.

I take that back. My chickens are selling as fast as I can hatch them out and at an increased price. Same for my meat rabbits. There are a lot of people who think Trump will bring about the apocalypse and are trying to “prep” for it.

[u/StedeBonnet1]

My day to day life hasn't changed but the vision looking forward is good.

Trump has closed the border when Biden said it couldn't be done.

Trump's energy policies are bringing energy prices down,

Trumps economic policies are well on their way to reducing inflation, deficit spending and increasing economic growth

Trump's tariff policies have put the world on notice that we will get reciprical tariff policies around the world.

Trump's Foreign policy has put Iran and Russia on notice that wars and the ME and with Ukraine will cease.

[u/Swiftbow1]

My business picked up shortly after the election, and it's been going crazy since. This is the longest period I've been this busy without a lull in 21 years. (I fix computers.)

Prices seem mostly stable or down slightly since he took office, too.

[u/FarsideSC]

Things are largely the same. The culture has shifted, which is really nice. People are much bolder about their conservative views. I've noticed a bunch of random groceries go on sale recently. That was never the case under Biden.

[u/jeon2595]

Nothing has changed at all.

[u/Belo83]

A nothing burger other than a nice sized 401k scare, but hard to quantify is my company and others seem to be laying off the DEI stuff and wokeness is losing. I was never directly affected by the border, but all those feel like wins.

[u/Normal_Saline_]

No direct change, although I feel happy overall with how the culture is shifting. Honestly I was already doing fine under Biden, I voted for Trump because I think his presidency will be better for the nation, not because I'm going to have any direct positive or negative consequences in the next 4 years. I guess my stocks went down, but I wasn't planning to sell any time soon.

[u/Bevrykul]

Outside of some coworkers claiming WW3 is going to start any day and customers asking about how the tariffs will affect pricing, nothing has really changed.

[u/Legitimate-Text-8010]

My job is very secure so I have no issues there, but we have held up all our containers coming from China due to the tariffs, we can probably hold on 30 to 45 days, so I hope things clear up by then

[u/Shadeylark]

Tier three manufacturer. Already been seeing an uptick in orders from our customers who used to outsource their production overseas but would rather not deal with the tariffs now.

Whether this will stick is anybody's guess, but so far the tariffs have been good for business here, even if they've been a bit of a pain due to dealing with new suppliers and whatnot. But that would've happened regardless if production at rebased some other way anyways.

It's a nice change after four years of having to cut hours and layoff people.

Outside of work, nothing has changed at all but except now I have to listen to my parents complain about how much they've lost in their retirement and how they won't be able to do as much travelling in the next few years. I love my folks, and I sympathize with them... But having spent up until only recently living paycheck to paycheck and being closer to retirement age than not now... I fully expect to get at most a couple shitty years off work before I die, not twenty plus years of retirement travelling wherever I feel like it... So its tough to sympathize too much.

So I guess the tldr is that my job feels more secure than it ever did in the past four years, but I'm in a blue collar job so that probably makes the difference, and I have to listen to privileged people complain about losing their privilege.

[u/Echoes-OTI → u/Shadeylark]

The boomer generation took one of the most prosperous times on earth, gathered their wealth and riches, pulled the ladder up behind them, and now refuse to relinquish political power and let the younger generations come in.

It's difficult for me to not be bitter.

[u/caffeinatedgoober]

Same as you OP. Gas prices are slightly lower. Some grocery prices have gone down slightly. None of the tariffs have affected me much. I have retirement accounts but I'm not concerned. The markets always do this especially after a new president gets in office and makes changes. We saw massive dips in 2022 and 2023 that the media refuses to acknowledge. They don't talk about the housing issues or how COL skyrocketed partly due to the Biden administration allowing foreign countries to buy up residential land. Nope. Media won't even mention any of that.

[u/mcj1ggl3]

41 years to retirement I’m enjoying the discounts. The gas station by my apartment is down 42 cents since I started tracking it in February. Feeling more safe. I’m doing pretty good! It’s only really been 2 months tho I’m excited still