In the early days of the pandemic lockdown, I could barely recognize myself. I looked like me, but over the course of spring and summer of 2020, it seemed my financial self was in the best shape he had ever been—so much so that I felt guilty about it.
Uncertain of what lay beyond the apocalypse outside my apartment, I hoarded my paychecks—including the stimulus one—only daring to spend money on necessities such as groceries, sanitizer and a new TV when mine thumbed its nose at me during week two of quarantine. (There was no way I was going to make it through lockdown without a good TV.) My savings account was sitting nicely, and though lockdown (and the stock market) was scary, I didn’t ratchet down my 401(k) contribution below my employer’s match.