More on money:

Every year, Jay sets up a rough budget. The income is basically our biweekly take home paycheck X2 X12. This shorts us 2 paychecks. Jay does this on purpose and assumes we just put this money into savings. Then we mark out what we spend every month and/or we take the yearly payout (for example, violin lessons that I pay 3x a year) and divide by 12 to get a rough monthly payout. The difference is our "savings".

We automatically pay into our 403(b) accounts (those are like 401(k) accounts, but for educational professionals), so that money is never counted in our  budget. It isn’t counted on the income or outgoing. Vapor money. That’s for retirement.

We have two "types" of accounts with our financial adviser. A "savings" account and a "retirement" account. The money we place in the retirement accounts, we ignore. That money is not to be touched unless we absolutely have to. So far, we haven’t needed to. The "savings" accounts are used for the big items: new furnace in our old house, down payment for the car, the kitchen remodel, the electrical work we need to do this week.

I am always worried about having savings. When I was in college, I lived less than paycheck to paycheck. It was scary and that is knowing that I could always ask family to help. Now I see that more and more people are living this way. Not being able to save because of the costs of life. Then something happens. Even something simple as a water heater failing. That is enough to get someone behind.

I see that my sister is struggling. She always has. Can one ever escape this cycle? I think the new economy won’t allow people to escape this. We are seeing more and more people losing their homes, not because they were greedy, but a health issue. That’s usually the "something". Health insurance covers somethings, but not all.

The new economy scares me. Not really for me, but for everyone. Who can afford their home? Who has lost a job? What is going to happen for these people?