Pandemics. Civil Unrest. Trade Wars. Rising Unemployment. In recent years, Americans have been battered from pillar to post. Nothing seems secure or certain.  Incomes and retirement account values barely increase while costs continue to increase.

Many citizens question whether the American Dream is possible for their children and grandchildren. Is a long-planned-for retirement still attainable? Will I lose my job? How will I pay for my healthcare?

I am an unabashed fan of the American system and I have utmost faith in American ingenuity, persistence, and hard work. Since the founding of the country in 1776, Americans have built the greatest economic engine the world has ever seen.

I understand the worries and stress that occupy our daily thoughts. I talk with parents each day worrying about college costs for their children, workers who have watched their retirement savings disappear, and young people just beginning their careers who doubt their life style will equal their parents. I reassure them that the hard times of today will be over and advise them to stay the course with their savings and investments.

I remind them that stock values always fluctuate  over the short-term, the prices driven by alternating emotions of fear and greed. When we become too fearful, we lose faith in our economy and sell securities of the very companies that are likely to rebound to new heights when reason returns. When we become too greedy and overcome with self-confidence, we ignore logic, discount risk, and buy stocks in companies with obsolete products, poor management, and declining fortunes.