Within hours of a recent major stock market drop, I telephoned my Ford dealer and ordered the station wagon that I test-drove the day before. As my friends not so subtly pointed out, the Dow Jones Industrial Average didn't have much to do with my financial situation and shouldn't affect my purchase. Besides, my old car had caused me headaches for months. Still, I spent the evening asking myself: Could I afford a new car? Should I be saving instead of spending? Would we need to cut back on vacations? On the list of items people worry about, money is almost always at the top. A study in the Wall Street Journal found that 70% of the public lives from paycheck to paycheck. Mortgage debt has increased 300% since 1975, and consumer bankruptcies are at an all-time high. Most marriages that fail list financial problems as a contributing factor.