My laundry list:
My home has lost 50% of its top value here in So. Cal.
I have current "possible" trading losses in stocks of 110,000. KRY & KOOL
My business has been down 50% in revenues/income for three years +
No one in my family has a current illness or is on medication. I'm 59.
I have no unusual debt. Only the mortgage and line of credit. 2.875%/3.99%.
My House is not underwater by any stretch.
My wife and I collect unemployment on the weeks my business is dead.
I have a 5th wheel trailer we could always end up in as a last resort.
All in all I am positive and if my 110,000 in possible trading losses become a real loss I still will be a happy and positive individual. I will still live the same lifestyle for the current year going forward and every month that goes by I am that much closer to the end of the current financial mess. Savings in the form of money is not something to get attached to. You can lose it in so many ways that you have not even considered yet. Even very conservative ways. Money comes in and it goes out. Live more in the present and you will be happier. The present is all you really have.