Now, two months later, with a bit of trepidation, we have booked a vacation to the Caribbean (actually to Santa Domingo) for the holidays.
"What are you crazy?" said one friend. "How could you fly with everything that's going on?"
"Good for you!" said another friend. "I wish I felt comfortable enough to fly."
"It's about time you made up your mind!" said my travel agent sister. "The best deals are already gone!"
Is it time to get back to flying? Is it okay to do your holiday shopping at the mall? Should you continue to invest in the stock market? If your answer is, "no, not now," how will you know if and when you are ready to return to "normal" activity?
Clearly, people vary in the amount of risk with which they are comfortable. When the bull market was soaring, some folks were just fine with taking high risks, while others still insisted upon playing it safe. And even before terrorism hit our skies, some people flew with ease while others did everything they could to avoid boarding an airplane.
These days risk is a very common topic of conversation. We are all contemplating our own risk-reward ratio. What risks am I willing to take to live the life I want to live? What risks are acceptable? When am I being overly cautious? There are no right or wrong answers to these questions. We each reach our own conclusions. However, risk, like everything else, is less frightening when we understand it better. Hence, here are a few things to keep in mind.
