This is Sonya. She’s a 36-year-old teacher and single parent to her 9-year-old son. Sonya budgets in order to live on her modest income and tracks where every dime goes. She has her paychecks set up for direct deposit so she doesn’t have to scramble to get to the bank on payday.

With her first paycheck each month, she pays her mortgage (which she has set up on auto debit), cable TV and utility bills. Out of the second check, Sonya makes her car payment (also on auto debit) and has a monthly deposit automatically made to her savings account.

Saving is very important to her. When her son was born, she started investing every month in a mutual fund for his college education. Sonya is also a homeowner and has good credit.