Sorry to go on about Coronavirus, but it's really all that is happening now. There is no issue or concern that is not related to it somehow -- except maybe the murder hornets.
As I mentioned, I am very lucky. The biggest reason for that is I still have my job. I work in software development for a global, Fortune 500 conglomerate. The work is what I would call government/regulatory-adjacent so while there will certainly be a hit to revenue, it will be much smaller than most. I haven't heard anything about possible layoffs and no contractors have been let go (I assume they would be first). The only hint of any problems has been a hiring freeze and gently worded announcements to please try to curtail expenses as much as possible. I suspect what will happen this year is that raises and bonuses will be eliminated for the time being.
Even better, I can work from home in relative comfort. So although my retirement plans took a hit -- when you're 59 you don't have decades to recover -- I really have no urgent money worries. I live in a big house in a comfortable, borderline rural, neighborhood with plenty of space and opportunities to get exercise outdoors. My biggest concerns are that I hate wearing a mask and I can't go to the gym.
Why am I cataloging this? Well, partially because there is really nothing else to write about these days (Yes, I know. I should write fiction.), but mostly because I want to understand what it says about me.
First of all, my current state should make any opinion I have about the need to extend restrictions highly suspect. As a corollary I should be very wary of dismissing the opinions of re-openers because I simply am not having the same experience as them. We might all be in this together, but we are not all in this equally.
But more interesting to me is what it means for me to say "I'm lucky." That is to ask, how much of my relatively happy circumstance is just chance versus will? Have I done smart things and made good decisions to get here, or did I just happen to stumble down a path that is letting me ride this out in comparative comfort?
Much of this hinges on financial security. I had some timely advantages here. First I inadvertently took a long time to graduate from college. But that effectively allowed me to work my way through. I took out a small loan when I was a sophomore, just a couple thousand dollars, but I was able to pay that off before I even graduated. When I was young I benefited from a gift of a car from my grandmother when I graduated college. I was wise enough to choose a Toyota which gave me 9 years of service. So that was nine years at the start of my adult life, when many people are accumulating debt that will hinder them for many years, where I got a head start. Is that luck? In some sense it is. It was not my plan, it just sort of worked out that way, but still it was my nature that allowed me to make the choices for it to happen without letting missteps undermine me. (Is my nature a matter of having good luck? Perhaps.)
This is not to say that everything worked out easily. I have a remarkable inability to find a job when I need one. This surprises people who know me who seem to think I am a pretty solid candidate for work -- I am very thoughtful, relatively diligent, personable when I try to be, though quite introverted. I am not the sort of person you would think to have trouble finding employment, but the two extended stretches of my life where I was unemployed were excruciatingly frustrating. In both cases, after months of effort, I ended up with jobs that I was quite underqualified for just to stay solvent. Does that count as bad luck? Or is it my fault for not playing the networking game and preparing better for interviews and being less, well, introverted. (Is my nature a matter of having bad luck? Perhaps.)
That brings me to the two things that allow me to be as comfortable as I am. One of those lousy jobs directly led the job I currently have and have been at for 27 years. My career advancement has been virtually non-existent, but it has been unwaveringly steady the whole time. My salary has grown equally steadily, and my 401k along with it. I have done nothing stupid with the money. I have mostly invested my savings conventionally. I travelled quite a bit, but never at great expense. Since that initial Toyota I have owned exactly 3 other cars, paid in full at purchase; I have never had a car payment. I purchased a condo which I lived in for 15 years which I recouped 100% at sale (no profit, but still better than renting). Was all that good luck? Again, I didn't pick the company thinking it was a place I could work and financially grow for nearly three decades, but I also didn't job hop around hoping to stumble on an amazing opportunity and a shot at the c-suite. I know folks who did that and are caught out of work now, at the worst time possible. Essentially I inadvertently took a low risk path. Was I lucky to stumble on that path? Probably. Was I wise to appreciate it and stay on it? Also, probably. Was my wisdom the result of my nature? Maybe. (Is my nature a matter of luck? Perhaps.)
Almost certainly, though, the biggest thing that contributed to my financial well-being has been not having a family. Raising children is where the bulk of people spend their money over their lives; many would argue it is the reason for the money to begin with. Though having a family at this exact point in time is a tremendous stressor, not just financially, I suspect very few people are serious thinking that they wish they hadn't started a family because it would be much easier on them right now. Without going into excruciating personal detail, not having a family is definitely the result of my nature. Few people would say someone who's nature drove them to never have a family was lucky, except perhaps in the case of pandemic.
There is no telling if my nature is a matter of luck or not, good or bad.
All this leads me to see this crisis as playing to my strengths. I am able to help out my friends in many ways. Provide some back-up, so to speak; be of value to those who have built up social capital with me. I am not under any tremendous stress (yet). That in itself is a form of luck. The crisis that happened is the crisis I happened to be well prepared for. I'm sure there are other crises that would devastate me and have me at my wit's end. The extent to which my current circumstances are the result of luck I can't say. I can say I am lucky that this crisis was one that I was set for.
So this post was my gut check. Am I doing this right? Acknowledge my good fortune. Support the people I care about as needed. Recognize that most people are living a very different experience than me, and respect that.
Yes, I think I'm doing OK.
