Each year in the game is approximately 3 hours and 30 minutes of our time. Normally, a family will last about a week but the game is just projecting a sample of how much money will be generated given the current amount in the bank.

The money given seems to be calculated using our time as opposed to theirs since they don't get their salary every 3 and a half hours of our time.

The problem is if you don't open your game often, for example if you just open it once a week or once every two days, time will naturally slow for them and it does not turn into 3 hours and 30 minutes of our time equating to 1 year in the game. If you do this, make sure the fridge is well-stocked and you will be coming back to a really messy house. I don't really recommend it

I have left it for a week once to find that only a few years have passed. I guess it's up to us to figure out how often we want to check in on our peeps and how long they last.