When months like this past January come around with their negative after negative stock market days, it challenges me to review my opinion of the economy and my holdings.

One resource I turn to is passenger traffic at major airports because it doesn’t matter if it’s for business or pleasure, people travel because they not only want to travel but they also have the means to travel.

Phone minutes are dirt cheap and with Skype, Facetime and Go-To Meetings type services it’s even easier to stay connected over great distances, yet passenger traffic has increased steadily each of the past four years. The reasons are three-fold: businesses are increasing their travel budgets for their staff, people have shifted from “staycations” to “vacations”, and grandma and grandpa are feeling flush enough to go visit the grandkids. All of these are signs of a growing economy especially since the increase in traffic is showing up across the nation and not just in certain regions.

Source: airport websites