We are working and living in scary times and everyone has advice. I would give my two cents worth but I am quite sure it is being used to help out the banks, wall street, and other financial institutions.

I am not sure there is a solution. What I do know is that Dave and I came up with a simple solution. We bought a white board, hung it in our kitchen, and across the top is written IS IT A WANT OR IS IT A NEED?

That governs every financial decision we make from whether or not to run to out to a restaurant or to build a deck. And it is working.  We have found we can do without more than we thought. Our 401K like everyone has been hit hard. We had no intentions of ever quitting work so that was not an issue but we are like everyone else our age; we live with what if.

I talk to lots of law firms and lots of lawyers and I am not hearing talk of laying people off. I am hearing more of how can we weather this storm. This means that now is the time to be a true high performance team player. Be a part of the solution. Lawyers are stressed and that stresses their employees. Perhaps now is the time for some straight talk and some offers to help however needed.

We didn't get into this problem over-night and it will not be fixed over-night. What we can do is attempt to get back in the business of working and living and believing that we can do th is. I am beginning to believe my grand-parents and even my parents were right. Hard work wins every time. A penny saved is a penny earned. And, there is a price to pay for easy.

Paralegals are such resourceful individuals. I would suspect that you all have figured out what I already know...that this too shall pass.