This is a household profile of a participant in the U.S. Financial Diaries project. Mike Smith, a single man in his mid-50s, lives in a two-bedroom, one-bathroom house in Kentucky, in a small town near the Ohio River. Even though his resources are limited, he manages to save by strictly controlling how much he spends, even on groceries and medical care. He is frustrated by the fact that he can’t seem to earn more income even though he works hard