Article April 16, 2001 Issue

Beyond cycles of boom & bust

For these people, financial strength does not end with the bottom line.

Name removed by request

A wave of pink slips hits the once-high-flying dot-coms in January and February. The stock market has been depressed for a year. Exaggerated public jitters erupt over Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan's every eyebrow twitch.

After the longest peacetime expansion in American history, how are we supposed to read these signs of the times? Do they signal a downturn or a full-blown economic recession? Economic volatility, whether the kind that can bring whole governments and currencies down in unstable regions of the world, or the kind that tarnishes the overall prosperity of more developed regions, can feel almost like a force of nature altering lives.

Public confidence is a major factor analysts and pundits use to gauge what turns the economy will take. Whether it's about your job security, the course of the business you own, or the health of your retirement fund, concern over a possible recession can grind on as a low-level, nagging worry, or explode into public panic.

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