1999 financial picture: Looks good for me

Most Americans expect to have a good year financially in 1999, according to a nationwide survey done for the Lutheran Brotherhood in Minneapolis, Minn. For the fifth straight year, the annual survey found that Americans feel optimistic about their families being better off and their incomes increasing.

Even so, nearly three-quarters of those surveyed expect the United States economy to either worsen or stay the same in 1999.