When i first started playing i was really struggling to keep my family fed and warm the first few days. I even got arrested a few times for delinquency.

After that switched it to Easy mode and that $20 safety net really helps when you're just learning to play the game(even if it does trivialize the risk/reward part). Anyone else do this just to alleviate the stress?

I didn't even know it had an easy mode.

Cash Rules Everything Around Me.

C.R.E.A.M. get the money

Dolla dolla bill y'all!

For as much as I think it would ruin the point. I might do that too. XD

This game really does push a few feelings!

This is one of the most stressful games I've played in a while. "OH GOD I WANT TO HELP YOU STAY WITH YOUR FAMILY BUT ONE MORE INFRACTION AND I'M FINED $5! FFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFFF" is usually the thought going through my head.

Even playing like a cold, heartless bastard who doesn't care about other people's problems has left me with practically nothing to live on.

The aim of the game is speed, but it's difficult to match that with analysing all the info quickly. At last, my history Degree has proved useful at something. Seriously though, I've gotten around half the endings now and it's much easier to be a merciless bastard, otherwise your family will die.

Haven't actually managed to keep my job till the end game yet, first time; they audited me and found I was with Ezic and swiftly executed me, the second time I escaped to Obristan but only had enough stolen passports for two of my family so half were left behind! Will have to go back and not get involved with Ezic, I want endless mode!

This game is amazing, even the simple act of changing difficulties gave me a bit of insight. It proved Maslow's hierarchy of needs perfectly; everyone gets screwed if that means providing the most basic needs for my family, but once those needs are secured (by the easier difficulty crutch), I was like mother fucking teresa in there, taking citations to help everyone out.

Loved it.

I wasn't aware there were adjustable difficulty settings in the first place.

To be honest I didn't ever really find the money situation to be an issue - surprisingly, since I'm not good at games in general (not awful either... just average). I guess this just suits my strengths. I was never near running into money issues at any point, like, here's an example of my 'save tree' for the first few days if you like:

The main thing is to be accurate. You want to be quick, but no point rushing if it means you make errors all the time - accuracy is more important. You get quicker as you get used to the interface, anyway. And if you read all the pages of the paper every day (you can do that before starting; doesn't take any time) you can get it all straight in your head before a timer even starts.

After successfully managing to finish the game with my job intact and my family alive, I've now started over in easy mode, so I can afford to be a nice guy, and make some exceptions. ;)

I had zero issues with money. It's all about the routine. Make sure you're checking the same things consistently, and try to get superfluous papers out of the way.

For example, the first thing I always did was quickly check the reason for entry against the entry permit as they were talking, and then I'd do height/weight/description so I could get that annoying piece of paper out of the way, then I'd check the passport ID and name on the entry permit and get that out of the way. Then I'd close it out with the passport itself.

Get a routine, and follow it. The more you do it the better and faster you'll get. It just takes a game plan. I was consistently getting 11-12 people through the checkpoint every day this way.