Problem

The U.S. stock market returns have been somewhat of a "roller-coaster" for a number of years. The U.S. markets react to news from within our country and to news from around the world very quickly.

We live in an age where something that happens on the other side of the world shows up on our Internet Home Page in a matter of hours.

There was a time when political and/or financial events would happen but by the time this news really reached the main-stream media the stock markets would have time to absorb, digest this information, and react accordingly.

In your opinion, is all of this information a good thing as far as our assessment of financial risk and return?

Do you feel individuals are more or less risk-adverse than in the past? Does this "instant information" play a role in peoples' attitudes towards risk?