Do you know anyone who lost it all in the Great Recession?

I have some relatives who were in their 60's and relatively wealthy but over-leveraged. They ended up going BK, lost the majority of their assets, and will likely have to work for the rest of their lives. Definitely a cautionary tale for why it's important to live within your means

Know a handful of back office/middle office BB employees who quit finance all together and went into medicine instead. The job market was absolutely brutal from 2008-2010 especially in finance.

In terms of generational wealth, heard of a rich family that stayed in their home until it got foreclosed (was heavily invested in gold/real estate, probably had $10M in assets including a private boat and a mansion with a small private beach). They were too prideful to sell it ASAP and eventually lost a ton of money.

Know a surgeon who lost about $500K in Florida real estate assets. I don't think it hurt him that much. May have postponed retirement a year or two.

I actually think I know more people who got hurt really bad by the 2001 crash (6-7 figure losses in the stock market or the shares they had within a VC-backed startup that was pre-IPO).

A professor from community college had his retirement delayed for a bit after the market crash.

Besides that, I worked in mortgages assisting people refinance post 2008 market crash. Many people treat their home real estate as an investment, a lot lost so much money.

Personally? This may feel off topic, but l feel people follow suit on social media when people promote investments on XYZ product/item.

Often times people ask me why I don’t invest and park my money because I’m losing against inflation. This has often been the theme of conversations with many “finance” professionals I’ve run into. I do plenty, it’s called the 401k, Roth IRA.