Don't Wait For Bad Things

One of the topics my clients most like to discuss and ask me about is the economy and my views on whether we are headed for hard times. I don’t have any more insight into the economy than anyone else, so I have no clue whether there are good times or bad times ahead, but I do want to share a story that’s burned into my psyche about always believing the end is around the next corner.

My Grandfather, who I loved and respected with all my might, was 23 years old with a wife and two children at the time of the Great Depression. Like it did for so many of his generation, the Great Depression affected him for the rest of his life, with him always believing there was another depression around the next corner. From the time I was 10-30 years old I spent nearly every day with my grandfather, and I don’t recall very many days when the topic of economic depression did not come up.

My Grandfather died at 83, and he has been gone for 30 years, yet the event he predicted was going to occur at any given minute has still never happened. I often reflect with sadness on the fear and anxiety he experienced waiting for impending disaster, and all the economic opportunities he missed by believing disaster was imminent.

There is a bright side to this story, however. Nearly 100 years have passed since the Great Depression, and while we have clearly had some ups and downs, course corrections, or whatever you want to call them, we have still never seen anything like the Great Depression. I am not suggesting we go along life’s path burying our heads in the sand and believing we will never have bad times again, nor am I suggesting we don’t worry about our business and financial decisions, but living your life in fear of the future is no way to live at all.