I am early 30's male and make a bit over $100k (not in tech) living which is not too much considering I am in a very HCOL area, but it is more that enough for me. I have a somewhat healthy savings, TFSA and investment portfolios and 0 debt. I am also single with no kids.
However, I have been anxious about my situation lately. I am obessing over an idea of losing my job and becoming poor again even though I can afford many months of unemployment. I am not afraid of getting fired/being laid off , but really fearing of never making as much money and lose everything I have and the idea of having things which I am planning to buy in the future (car, condo/house, etc.).
I was anxious about my finances before, but those were situations where I was making less than a half of my current salary and thought I would get priced out of the area where I live, and in my late teens-early 20's I was 'rolling pennies for instant noodles' broke and was hours away from becoming homeless..
But this is a different kind of anxiety I am feeling right now… as if I can lose everything anytime and never recover.
I am experiencing a pretty weird kind of financial anxiety I never felt before. Is it common?
byu/Iwann4kn0w inpersonalfinance
Posted by Iwann4kn0w
20 Comments
Yea me too. I make really good money but I feel 0 security that I would be able to make the same amount of money and that thought is kind of scary. Job market feels in shambles right now with all the news… I just invest as much money as I can and hoard so that I can feel better about the current state of the job market
I think it’s because so many people are getting laid off and the concept of job security feels really far fetched these days. I feel the same way. Mid 30s, just over 100k, comfortable now, but don’t expect to get anywhere near this pay if I lost my job.
I don’t think it’s common to be *obsessed* over your financing. If anything, it’s far more common for people to pay less attention to their finances than they should.
It’s because you can.
How is your health insurance?
Do you have a good emergency fund? 2 months is fine, 6 is better.
How is your career going? Do you know how your industry is fairing? Your company?
Is your savings in cash? Are your investments diversified?
Can you be doing extra training to give yourself a safety net if you do lose your job?
When you don’t have anything, you don’t have anything to lose. Why worry about starting over when you’re still at the starting line?
Now that you have plenty, you have plenty to lose. And so you worry about it.
The fix is a couple of things:
1. Take steps to shore up your foundation with solid, diversified, low risk investments well suited to your risk tolerance.
2. Learn to accept that nothing is certain, and that ultimately YOU are your greatest asset. You are capable of adding value in the world, and that will always be valuable. If you did lose everything tomorrow, you would be able to work it out, somehow.
It may feel trivial but talk to a doctor about the anxiety if you can. Secondly, avoid the news a little while, because that helps a ton. Third, I reassure you that at this point you could likely self-employ as a consultant in your field or as a freelancer and make that much money on your own. In times like this, companies need someone who can step in and do work on an as-needed consultant basis when they can’t employ someone full time, and frankly, I make more money working that way than in traditional employment even with the self-employment tax. I simply cold called companies and told them what I can do for them; you’re in the industry, you know your pain points. Solve those pain points for others. Sitting down and figuring out a business plan for if you ever need to do that may go a long way for your worries. I did this leap with 2 kids and a stay at home spouse and an anxiety disorder – you’re way more equipped than I was to have to pivot. You seem like you’ve got a good foundation.
Edit – for insight I charged whatever it took (lump or hourly) to make 2.5x my take home pay rate at my prior job when I left to self employ.
Yea man, being broke will do that to you, even years later.
Keep doing the right things, saving, investing in boring index funds, and learning new skills and sucking up at work.
AI is going to blow up most industries, and we are in uncharted waters with what is going on in Washington. We honestly should all be anxious about the future.
Worrying that you’re going to go backwards is absolutely what a lot of us face who didn’t have a big safety net growing up. I’d recommend therapy.
Break down some worse case scenarios. What would you sell first, where could you get food, who could you crash with, what shitty job would probably hire you right away so you could keep the lights on. It helps to have even a shit plan that you probably won’t use.
How is your debt situation? That’s extremely important. It is normal to feel this way, especially in our economic environment. It’s going to be okay though. Make sure you have an emergency fund. Throw something between my breasts.
Yup. I feel the same. But that’s probably because there have been tons of layoffs where I work so ya….. very anxiety inducing
Could be OCD depending on how intrusive these thoughts are.
I’m in the same boat with you except I have a wife and kid but my wife is the breadwinner and in healthcare. I make over $100K too…I do miss those days when I was in my young 20s and made about $42K and felt happier but lately I’ve been feeling lots of dread over what would happen if my job gets cooked which is likely…
It is normal. I had that same anxiety when I was somewhat in 35. Realizing how fragile my financial could become if I lose my job. During that time, many people lost jobs and NG had hard time finding jobs. I picked up the sentiment from surroundings.
Not to add stress on you, I did get laid off a few months later.
A lot to work through here. Is this the first time you have felt this anxiety? Are you so fiscally focused that you’re unable to splurge every once in awhile, will deny yourself a fast food meal while running errands, because why pay $15 when you have food at home? Do you avoid social events because you may have to pay a little more than you actually spent because the event is evenly split between all?Did you spend hours finding the best deal for a purchase that is $100 or less? 9 (chrometophobia) Or is it the work environment, and your fear of being unemployed and self-sustaining if you get laid off? One is reasonable the other is not
Yeah in those cases it is usually worth taking some reflection time, there is likely something unprocessed that should be given an airing. The lack of processing is infinitely worse than having some space to let the fear wash over and experience it, and then better understand what it is really about.
It’s real , better not buy a condo because your hoa fee will rise to the cost of rent eventually, 900+ dollars , your cars will eventually be old , and money is losing its value. Best to stay where you are and save as much money as possible , you’re still broke . Say if you have 6 million dollars right now , that’s enough to spend 100k a year for 60 years. If you don’t have that you’re not safe
currently i am having same feeling,,,
I am 18M and once became homeless for a little time(2 months ago, but recovered)
Still going to School, paying my Tution fees(more than my parents Anually Income), always scoring the most in class, with 3 hours sleep per day.
literally surviving.
I want to get fired from my part time job and i started going to work late and doing slow work so they can fire me..
well i think,
I am tired from life at this age.. XD
I make $200k and have $1M in the bank and feel the same way.
Life is going to give you some unexpected twists and turns. Some may turn out to be positive, some may turn out to be negative, some may turn out just to be weird.
It makes sense to take reasonable precautions to mitigate risks. So if you work hard at your job to get good skills/experience, that will help should something bad happen. Building your reputation outside of your company can also help – professional organizations, meeting peers throughout your industry/profession, etc.
Doesn’t have to take up all your waking hours. I used to take a few hours each week to ensure I was helping make myself more employable/more recession-proof. You may find that you have slack time at work and that’s a good time-filler task. You get to improve your skills and knowledge, employer gets at least some of that benefit.
You can’t predict the future, but you can prepare. Make preparations, then rest easy knowing you’ve done what you can to look out for yourself and your future. Good luck!