Labor Day weekend – a time to reflect and plan

How long can the good times last? The economy has been strong, posting the best GDP quarter since 2014, and the best unemployment figures since the 1960s. The stock market has been on a tear lately, with all-time highs reached for both the NASDAQ and S&P indexes. The real estate market is still gaining ground (price wise), even though the volume of existing home sales fell again for the seventh straight month. The only challenge in this rosy picture seems to be inflation, which has been ticking up slowly and eating into consumer’s real wages (which have actually declined, despite increases in nominal earnings due to the tight labor market).

This Labor Day weekend, think about how a change in economic conditions might impact your personal situation. Are you working in an industry that is prone to layoffs during a recession and are wondering if a recession is around the corner? Do you own your own business and are wondering if now is a good time to expand operations? Are you a middle manager in a large corporation wondering if you should swing for the fences, or take a defensive position?

All of these are good questions the we should ask ourselves. A three-day weekend is a good time to take stock of our situation an address any potential risk areas head-on. Like a tornado in the Midwest or hurricane in the Southeast teaches us, it is better to be prepared for changes that we know are coming. The last recession, also known as “The Great Recession,” lasted from 2007-2009 and per economic experts was the worst ever. A decade later, we should all be asking ourselves, when is the next one coming?