Fortunately, despite all of the media hype, the threshold of pain from this recession wasn’t anywhere near what it was in the Great Depression. So, many Americans will sign right back up for car payments as soon as they get a job. I hope at least some of the people who started saving the 5% will stick with it in the future. It sure is a comforting feeling to have money put away.
Bret @ Hope to Prosper´s last post: Senators want new tax limit on health execs pay

IMHO, that line captures the essence and ultimate goal of personal finance. Not to have X amount of money, or be living a certain lifestyle or having certain investments, etc, but to be at a point of being able to break free of it all and to live a life of our own choosing. That’s a way of being rich without necessarily being wealthy.
Kevin@OutOfYourRut´s last post: Finding Work by Working for Free

I don’t know–maybe it’s just me–but I see how people react to their friends and neighbors during good times, and during bad times, and I think it has a big influence on how we act with our money, even if we do it subconsciously.

But if you’re steadfast in your goals, like you were, to get to the point of independence, then yes–I think you should ignore the outside world and do what you think is right for yourself.

Lucky for me, over the past 20 years I have been able to maintain a course of saving, investing, and living within my means – just practicing responsible personal financial management. The reward for me, or anybody else who makes such a commitment, of course, is that eventually you become financially free-enough to pretty much do what you want, without regard to how the economy is doing.

Best,

Len
Len Penzo dot Com
Len Penzo´s last post: Drive-By Movie Review: Star Trek

Couponing is one things that I haven’t really gotten into yet, although I understand the idea and how to do it. But I have found other ways of reducing grocery costs, like shopping at a different store.

But I’m always going to be against indiscriminate, excessive spending. We don’t need every gadget that comes down the pipeline; we don’t need every bit of decor that catches our eye at the store.

Unfortunately, I’m pessimistic about Americans’ ability to remember this lesson. The recession is not nearly as bad as the Great Depression was, despite all the parallels people are drawing. It’s not enough to change a generation, especially when this generation was living so much larger than the majority of folks in the 20s. Yeah, there were some stock market fat cats. But many people devastated by the depression were just working folks who suddenly couldn’t find work.