Its fundamentals may be strong, as one candidate for president seems to believe, but the economy‘s a little rough at the moment. That’s the topic of this week’s set of questions.

• First to play last week: Cat of Sweet Memes. Congratulations!

(According to the rules, “First to Play” requires you to be the first to include the link to the specific entry in which you answered the questions, not just the general link to your blog.)

Here are this week’s “Saturday Six” questions. Either answer the questions in a comment here, or put the answers in an entry on your journal…but either way, leave a link to your journal so that everyone else can visit! To be counted as “first to play,” you must be the first player to either answer the questions in a comment or to provide a complete link to the specific entry in your journal in which you answer the questions. A link to your journal in general cannot count. Enjoy!

1. Overall, do you feel like you’re in better financial shape now than you were five years ago, worse shape, or roughly the same shape?

2. Of the debts you currently owe, what percentage of them would you say are unnecessary debts that were caused by not watching your money closely enough?

3. Are you worried about the economy’s effect on your job?

4. Take the quiz: What’s Your Money Personality?

5. Should the government bail out the struggling banks, or should the government divide the money they’re going to give the banks among taxpayers as a one-time “shot in the arm” for America’s workers?

6. If a rich stranger were to hand you a check in an amount equal to a year’s salary, would that amount take care of all of your debt, make you feel financially stress-free, both or neither?

If you have a Reader’s Choice question you’d like to see asked (and answered), send me an email! I’d love to be able to include it in a future edition of the Saturday Six.

MY ANSWERS:
1. Slightly better, but should be much better.

2. Honestly, probably 70% or so. I’m not proud.

3. Very.

4. Your Money Personality is Healthy

You have a good relationship with money.

You don’t spend wildly, but you’re not opposed to treating yourself on occasion.

In general, you save some of what you earn.

You know the importance of a nest egg.

You aren’t afraid of being financially literate - you embrace learning more about finances.

From a retirement plan to having an emergency fund, you know what you need to have to be safe.

5. I’d vote for the shot-in-the-arm for workers. The banks are more guilty than consumers who over-extended themselves, because the banks are supposed to know better even when the consumers don’t.

6. Probably both.