Unexpectedly a story will hit home so hard you need a minute to take it all in. The Recovery threw the middle class under a Benz is me. Wow - the trauma.
Unlike Millennials during the recession of 2008, I had been employed for four years post-college, trying to figure out a career while earning decent money for a single gal in the city. On the day that Lehman crashed my Executive Assistant job at a hedge fund was done by 8am. I started at 7:30am.
Young and naïve me (like the rest of the country) had no clue what was coming our way. Instead of stressing myself out about work I relaxed, went backpacking to Costa Rica and Panama and decided to try working in different fields to get more “direction in my life”. On a resume, this didn’t look good.
At the time I was earning $60k with a $10k bonus and received a severance of $10k. The twenty-four/twenty five year old me was not particularly stressing about work. I had a decent savings account, a 401K and was living within my means with a roommate in the Bronx.
Fast forward to 2010/2011 and I can’t get hired for the life of me. My savings dwindled to almost nothing and I’m barely getting by on cup o’ noodles and Lipton soup. The frustration of doing all the “right things” and being “punished” for my actions was beyond anything I’d ever experienced. Corporate America’s excuse for not hiring me was I’ve been out of the work far too long. I have to admit, at the time I was not mentally or emotionally mature enough to handle the situation differently.
Some of you may recall there were plenty of protests on Wall Street. It’s safe to say, I’m not the only one left with a distinct bitter taste in my mouth. I still wonder what my life would’ve been like if I would’ve been able to continue climbing up the corporate ladder. I imagine with, at least, a salary $40-50k more than now. A ‘real’ professional title – stature – grandeur – established.
That’s the word that hits the hardest, established. At this stage in life I expected to have a fabulous condo with one or two rental incomes and a-whatever-job to ensure medical insurance. My lifetime goal was and still is, to be able to travel the world carefree. Almost ten years later and I’m still playing catch-up to my goals and life expectations.
My success wasn’t based on others’ definition of success. Mine was simply based on being able to travel at my leisure. Fast forward to marriage, baby, divorce and a mortgage and things become a bit more complicated.
During that time my credit was ruined. I lost my 401K and my savings. I was working 2-3 jobs just to cover my rent at some point. Eventually finding a steady 9-5 with an employer that bragged about paying employees just enough to get by on life. Those scars run deep. At times the emotional toll was too much to bear. It’s sad to say, but I can still hear me at that time asking myself, "why is this happening to me? I don’t understand." It was tough.
And then you get an article like this, “A decade after this debacle, the typical middle-class family’s net worth is still more than $40,000 below where it was in 2007, according to the Federal Reserve. The damage done to the middle-class psyche is impossible to price, of course, but no one doubts that it was vast.” All my fears and frustrations confirmed by the Federal Reserve. The wound opened up just a little – a wee little bit. It’s a bitter, dare I say, acrid taste.
I must say, newly empowered me is ready for a serious comeback and upgrade!
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