The moving truck was in my neighbors' front yard this morning, and I saw the movers pulling stuff out of the house as I picked the newspaper off the front porch. I'm not especially close to my neighbors, but it made me sad. They didn't really want to move, but the small ad agency the husband runs has been hit hard the last year or so, and they finally couldn't see staying any longer. Their kids are getting into high school and college, and the costs associated with that didn't help matters.

It's got nothing to do with me. Their finances are theirs, mine are mine. And I'm doing fairly well considering the larger economy. But it's still kind of a punch in the gut when you see people having money problems, even when you don't. (Or maybe especially when you don't.)

They say that people are often unhappy if they are wealthy but the people around them are even wealthier. I think it can go both ways. It can be unsatisfying to have good fortune when those in your circle of family/friends/neighbors are in trouble. When we're all doing well (in a middle-class sort of way), we're all fairly happy, and money doesn't come into the equation much. When those close to you start to do poorly financially, you can end up feeling a bit apologetic, or at least you try a little harder to mask your money around those people. That new car is a little less fun when you see that it causes a bit of unhappiness in the eyes of someone whose feelings you care about.