Every six months or so I decide that I need to be saving way more money than I’m currently saving, and so I go on a fear-fueled Google binge of every Roth IRA and high yield savings account available until I ultimately decide that I can’t really afford to save much more money and just re-sign up for Keep the Change from Bank of America (which I periodically cancel because the idea of losing my money to myself is bizarre and confusing to me).

The reason I go through these bi-yearly panic attacks is because having enough money is my primary source of 20-something anxiety. It’s not rooted in a maniacal desire to be an island-buying billionaire with a house for a closet (though I wouldn’t pass up a shed for a shoe rack). I’m just consumed with having a healthy bank account, proper savings, and some semblance of investment so that I don’t end up like one of those weepy guests that Suze Orman yells at for being foolish with their finances.

My stress comes from the fact that I was once foolish with my finances. Though I’m not sure the word is “foolish” if you’re making 30K a year with 12K in student loans in an apartment that costs 1K a month. I think it’s called Manhattan, but the place is pretty foolish as a concept, so I guess the word holds. Regardless, I spent the first five years of my post-graduate career living pay check to pay check (note to youth of America: don’t be a Comm. major if you’re primary stress in life comes from having enough money).

But this whole issue got me thinking about whether or not my fear is the same fear most 20-somethings feel or if there are specific fears for specific personalities.

Are some people more consumed with being single than being poor? Do they prioritize all else in life around finding the special someone because the idea of ending up single is their greatest young-adult fear? Are there people who obsess over being successful above being in a stable relationship or having money? By successful I don’t mean rich. There are fashion designers, artists and writers who have fame long before they have money. What about people who can think of nothing else but achieving the highest education possible?

And then, how can you be sure what your strongest stresser really is? At the end of the day we all want all the elements of a stable life, but are the things we prioritize now indicators of the focus of the rest of our lives? Will I always put a stable job before my creative pursuits? Will the singer-songwriter ignore all else until she’s Natalie Imbruglia (“Torn” came on my iTunes shuffle)? Will the Phd. pursuer go bankrupt in his pursuit of the highest possible title?

Or will there come a time when all this intense focus flattens out and we find ourselves living a life where everything is equally stressful??

For now, I’m just going to continue to plan on saving more money while secretly hoping I sell a major motion picture within the next 10 years. Unless I have a baby within those 10 years, in which case all focus of any stress will shift to ensuring that baby is as stress-free as humanly possible.