It's important to tell you what this book is not. It is not a book that will give you a paint-by-numbers approach to wealth. It is not a book about some statistically perfect formula. We believe many of those kinds of books are inexcusable sucker-plays aimed at taking a little more money from you and putting it in the pocket of the authors.

We've set out to do something different. We want to make you smarter and wiser. We want to give you the savvy that the pros guard so jealously. We want you to have the ammunition to forge your own successful path in an arena that is not nearly so simple to conquer as some of the pundits would have you believe.

This is also not a book that defends the bull market or declares that the Dow should be at 100,000. But hyperventilating nervous Nellies will not hold sway in this book either. Though the stock market has enjoyed a remarkable run, we still believe that over the long term the market has tremendous strength. We will not tell you how to cash in on the coming crash or instruct you on the merits of gold or other "safety" commodities. We believe the technology revolution has revolutionized American business. And while there will always be bumps and periods of uncertainty, we believe the stock market will reflect that revolution for some time to come.

What's behind our conviction? Much of what's driven the market boom of the last 20 years has been the diminished impact of the business cycle. Expansions have grown longer and deeper, while recessions have become narrower and shorter. The resulting long-run growth has created a New Economy, an economy that's forcing stock market analysts to redefine how they view investments and long-term earnings.

Dismissed as blarney by old Wall Street hands, the New Economy rests on several real changes. Productivity gains have improved profits while keeping inflation largely in check. Corporations, benefiting from improved technology, have become more adept at utilizing global capacity to evade the problems that arise with market tightness. Toss in increasing fiscal discipline among the developed countries (take the U.S. budget surplus, for one), and you have a recipe for a lengthy expansion.

Technology has played the starring role in the New Economy's emergence. The Internet has helped keep inflation at bay by slashing costs and improving the efficiency of individuals and corporations conducting transactions on it. Technology itself has benefited from rising productivity and healthy competition, with the cost of hardware and software falling sharply for consumers and business and keeping inflation in check.

The New Economy paradigm may not spell an endless period of growth, but we've seen the dips in the United States become less pronounced. And low unemployment and low inflation have now coexisted for several years, leaving the economists dumbfounded–much as they were during the impossible days of 1970s stagflation, when high inflation and high unemployment persisted together for a time.

Given the backdrop of benign inflation, a technology-driven productivity revolution, and sound fiscal policy, it becomes easier to see why a number of high-growth companies receive mind-boggling valuations. Of course, there will be corrections. And, as we've seen, not every wunderkind of the Internet will justify its valuation. Most won't. But the Internet and new technology have combined to fuel a remarkable period of growth that looks to continue, even if it is interrupted by moments of nervousness.

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