It was December 2008 and Kathy was at a loss for words.
A hard working single mother, she just spent the afternoon mulling over the last 2 years.
What came to be known as the Great Recession had wrecked the economy.
Her income fell by over 30% when the annual bonus she’d gotten like clockwork the last 12 years, didn’t come.
Looking for some good news, she went to her 401(k). Nearly all of it was invested in her employer’s stock which was down 82% over the prior 30 months.
Now, as she prepped for 2009 she was looking at a smaller paycheck than ever before and no safety net to catch her if it went lower.
Yet strangely, life for her and her son didn’t change.
They lived in the same house, her son still went to school, ate the same food, played the same sports.
Her son had no idea how much the ground had shifted beneath them.
Fast forward to January 2016: Life was good. Her 401(k) had recovered, her bonuses were back and better than ever, and her son was getting ready to go to college in the fall.
Then, one day she was informed that her company of 20 years would be laying her off.
The income she expected to ride out for a few more years before retirement had vanished.
This was 2008 all over again.
Yet again, strangely, life didn’t change.
Her son still went to college that fall, paid for by Kathy.
The mortgage still got paid.
The car stayed in the driveway.
Life stayed familiar.
How my mom pulled this off was an absolute blessing - and not appreciated by me until recently.
Throughout all of the chaos, life felt completely stable.
Only later did I realize how rare that is.
Mom had a rock solid financial system of monthly automatic savings, paid in full credit cards, and a lifestyle that didn’t creep up with her income.
Had we gone through those same moments with a new car payment, stretched mortgage, and growing credit card balances, that stability disappears.
Instead, I remember minor tweaks: We ate fewer meals out, visited family instead of vacationing, and didn’t go to an Astros game for a few years.
Mom set us up so that whenever the world changed, life didn’t have to.
