Today there was a sudden, all hands on deck Teams meeting (that’s like corporate Zoom) with the president of the company I work at. We were going to be merging with another subsidiary of our parent company, with the intention to cut costs and combine functions

These mergers generally necessitate the culling of the herd, so we saw 4 people get laid off immediately, with assurances that the company wanted to move forward with the rest. By my count, the company has far less than 100 people, so 4 is a lot.

Despite some cuts to the managerial class last year (to the tune of 12,000 people across the parent company), we were told our jobs would be safe

Yeah, they lied.

Not even the Vice President was safe. She discovered her termination this morning after a 90 minute commute to work, where she had to ask a manager to assist her in clearing out her office before making the 90-minute drive back home.

Though I have a strong track record and can do a lot more than my salary would indicate, my job is not safe.

Neither is yours

This is why it’s so important to save part of your income for rainy days. You never know what life can throw at you

The afternoon had my coworkers looking like zombies. No one knows what the future will hold and it’s nerve wracking.

Surprisingly, I was calm. This is partly due to my value to the company, but mostly because I’ve been saving aggressively for times like this since my 20s when I decided I never wanted to be financially insecure again, so I have a buffer now.

What also helped is the fact that my wife finally got a part time job after passing the nursing exam back in February

We’re having a baby at the end of the year and I’m nervous, but feel more at ease due to my savings and the additional income

Save your money and someday your money may save you