Up until now I had not felt any direct impact from the economy. Prices here had remained stable, employers always have "help wanted" signs up, and new business and resteraunts are constantly being built and opened. The only thing that I have noticed is that there are a LOT of "for sale" signs on homes. A LOT! But that really does not effect me at this time, we are already home owners, and if the price of our home goes up/down does not matter to me because we have a fixed mortgage and plan on staying in this house for a loooooooong time. Probably will not move until the kids are moved out, and well we don't even have any kids yet, soooo I'd say we have about 20 years for the price of our home to recover if it does go down.
But this last week the recession finally came knocking. My employer laid off roughly 600 people nationwide(only 5 from my location, thankfully I am still employed). Our bonuses have been estimated to be much lower, and our company matched 401K has been lowered. They were matching 50% up to your contribution of 6% and that was lowered to 50% up to your contribution of 3%. Of course I was taking full advantage of this and contributing 6%, so as of 2010 I will lower my contribution to the 3% and find somewhere else to invest the other 3%.