When we headed into 2009 and thought about our financial planning in the context of a sustained recession/low-growth environment, we decided to focus on some specific objectives for the year...these will carry into 2010 and likely 2011.

1) Solidify liquidity and ensure one year lay-off fund without tapping any deferred investment structures like IRAs

The great implosion demonstrated that credit lines and other things we take for granted to ensure short-term liquidity can curl up and die quickly. We decided to ensure that we had one year of liquid cash on hand at all times.

2) Ensure insurance is appropriate

2008 was the year we all got reminded that risk exists in life. We've always carried life insurance but decided to revisit the amounts & terms. If things are bad now, they would be a disaster if (God forbid) something happened to one of us.

3) Secure Retirement

Time heals all (most) wounds. With lots of time left from now until retirement, we forced ourselves not to blink on saving for retirement. Doubly so given that those are tax-preferred structures that provide some hedge against near-term tax increases to deal with the govt spending spasms.

4) Secure College Savings

Like most everyone, we saw a 40% hole get blown through our college savings for our kids. We thought we were done and then we essentially saw 10 years of gains reduced to $0. Would have been better off putting it all in a CD. We switched to a more conservative investment strategy and returned to monthly contributions.

5) Develop a "Hard-Core" Balance sheet

We redesigned our family's personal balance sheet to be more "hard core" about what our net worth is -- both near-term and long-term. We put the deferred tax liability associated with our 401K onto the balance sheet -- there goes 50% of what we thought we had for retirement. Same with the future costs of college alongside the college savings. By doing this, we got much more "real" about our actual net worth and the roles different investment vehicles can play in developing that net worth.

My wife helpfully sums up the above by saying that we returned to "Socking money away and not spending it." :-)

Hope this is helpful.