Money Trauma

[Tobin S.]

I had to file for bankruptcy back in 2015. Since then money has still been tight even though the only debt I have now is the house and school loans. I get paid every two weeks, and for the past few years by the end of the second week we have usually been down to just a couple of hundred dollars, sometimes less, in my bank account. It's not all been bad. I have been saving for retirement in that time so it's not as if we have no savings. Ten percent of my income goes to my 401k and my employer kicks in another 5%.

I had a small 401k plan with a previous employer. I couldn't touch it for three years after termination of employment there. The required amount of time has passed and I went ahead and got that money. After taxes, it was about $12,000. For the first time in about 9 years, I feel a sense of relief with our financial situation. That money is not going to be spent on anything special. I'm not going to go out and blow it all of some high dollar item. I'm going to try to hang onto that cushion.

I realized last night that living right on the financial edge like that and almost losing everything at one point has been traumatic. I've been living with the stress of financial uncertainty for so long that I had forgotten what it feels like to not have it. Here's the kicker. Probably about half of the American population lives like that. No wonder our society is so restless and angry.