What does the future hold for us in 2008? Everybody would like to know. Many opinions are expressed, especially in the financial news media.

I am not in a position to take advantage of sophisticated economic models. I have to rely on what I can see and what I have experienced.

From that perspective, there is good news. Coin dealers and others active in numismatics have expressed their views in the most concrete way possible: with their cash.

I just deadlined the January 2008 issue of World Coin News. Display ad revenue decisively exceeded the target in our annual budget. The issue will be distributed at the Florida United Numismatists convention and the New York International Numismatic Convention in January.

This result does not mean the financial prognosticators who are pessimistic about next year are wrong, but it does cast some doubt. By both outlook and habit I am an optimist. I would love to be in the position of those hobbyists who live in the euro economies. Coins here seem incredibly cheap and euro-based buyers are aggressively in acquisition mode.

I saw a comment by World Coin News writer Bob Reis that his business was now higher abroad than domestically. That, he noted, had never happened before.

Every business person knows that profit is where you find it and you have to adjust behavior accordingly to maximize outcomes in ever changing conditions.

Conditions most assuredly are changing. But that isn’t necessarily a negative. It just means things are different. I like different. Hobby life would be boring if nothing ever changed.

There I go again, being the optimist.