Guidant Financial Group Blog

Have you ever had the feeling that you should be worrying about something, but you don’t remember what it is?

We think Wall Street was feeling that during the last few days and, unfortunately, today the light went on.

Oh, yeah. The economy.

While the election hoopla had thankfully given Wall Street and Main Street a brief respite from their constant fingernail nibbling, we suppose it was inevitable that they would eventually remember to start worrying again.

But does it really have to be that way? Do we really have to return to the ambiguous, dark outlook on the future?

No – not really.

The fact of the matter is: Change is coming. Now, we are not being political here (and yes, we are well aware that the word “change” will now forever be associated with the 44th president’s campaign to the White House), we’re talking about real change – no quotation marks.

Kiplinger succinctly addressed the top 10 priorities of our new president-elect, Barack Obama, and the tasks addressed are not quite as simple as the pithy list they reside on. Among Obama’s priorities will be calming of the economic markets, clear plans of action in Iraq and Afghanistan and environmental regulation (see Obama’s 10 Big Challenges).

But here’s a secret: If everyone else is running around, confused about what to do with an ambivalent future, that means that you can give yourself an advantage. You can choose to be sure.

Yup. That’s right. You have a choice.

Just as Obama has a choice as to how he will handle the challenges that lay ahead, you have a choice about how you wish to pursue your economic goals. Seth Godin recognized this unique opportunity in a recent blog posting (see Looking for a Reason to Hide). He believes that this uncertainty leaves room for immeasurable opportunity. “If I wasn't already running my own business, today is the day I'd start one,” he writes.

So, when you see the Dow drop 500 points after election day and you hear about more companies being “prudent” or “conservative,” remember that poem you read in high school:

Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth.

Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same.

And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.

I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I--
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.

-- Robert Frost
(1916)