I guess it depends where you are in life. When I was a kid, life was pretty easy, never had to worry about a thing. After I got married, had kids, bought a house, etc... I then had to worry about making sure I have the income to support the people that depend on me. My wife doesn't work and I have 4 kids (all in college) so I need to make sure I keep myself as a valuable employee and don't get laid off or anything during this economy. Things are fine for us but could get very difficult, very quickly, should I lose my job.