Issue 2.10

It is hard to believe it has been 10 years since all that worry about Y2K.  I used that expression the other day with a teenager and he didn’t even know what I was talking about, yet for those of us who remember, the world was coming to an end that day.  It seems humans love to look forward to the end of the world.  There is something in us that fears, yet secretly yearns for some great disaster.

As a teenager in the 70’s I remember seeing advertisements showing factories pumping out heavy smoke from their smoke stacks.  The warning was that all that smoke would block out the sun and bring on a new ice age.  Though it has been a chilly Christmas week in the desert, I don’t think the dire predictions of a new ice age have come to pass.  I find it somewhat ironic that we now see similar advertisements with smoke stacks but the warning today is that all that smoke is going to trap in the heat and cook us all to death.  I think I will go out on a limb and predict that the doom-sayers will yet be wrong again.

Of course if you are still worried about the earth melting let me put your mind at ease.  Another group of Eeyores, whose message is being played out in a currently popular movie, are telling us that the whole world will end in 2012 based on some Mayan calendar.  I have to wonder, if the Mayans were really so smart about predicting the future why couldn’t they foresee their own demise?  I am not sure they are the ones I want to put my trust in.

I ran into a good friend recently who thanked me for my weekly articles.  Then she added, “You are always the optimistic one aren’t you?”  I took that as a great compliment.  I realize there are many problems in the world.  I also believe that problems are merely temporary roadblocks that need solutions, not a bunch of whining about how we are all going to die.

The coming year will bring with it great challenges and wonderful opportunities.  My goal each week in these articles will be to steer my readers towards the good that lies ahead.  My hope is that you will find there is no good that comes from being an Eeyore. Happy New Year!

Dan Wyson, CFP®  is author of the book “21 Financial Myths” and owner of Wyson Financial. 1173 S. 250 W #305 St. George 435-986-9525 – Securities offered through Linsco/Private Ledger member FINRA/SIPC

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