The Financial Fire Drill Every Family Should Run
On a recent date night, I brought up a conversation that most people avoid.
As the analytical nerd I am, I had gone down the rabbit hole—studying economic trends, imagining a potential recession, and asking myself the hard question: what would this mean for my family?
To be clear: no alarms are ringing. There’s no current emergency.
But we decided to run a financial fire drill anyway.
The Thought Experiment
We sat down and played out a dark but plausible scenario. Not out of fear, but out of discipline.
What if…
A global slowdown causes income to drop dramatically, or disappear completely?
The stock market crashes 50% or more, crushing retirement accounts and investment portfolios. You can’t sell because the losses are too steep, and the bank just shut off access to your brokerage credit line.
Banks freeze HELOCs and cancel business credit lines.
You’re left with limited income, no liquidity, no access to credit… and a family depending on you.
This isn’t doomsday paranoia.
It’s a 1-in-10 possibility.
Not likely, but certainly possible.
And if it happened…
Could we survive it?
Would we react or respond?
Would we scramble or lead?
The Real Risk Isn’t the Crisis. It’s the Complacency.
Most families feel financially secure until they aren’t.
We build portfolios. We diversify. We create passive income streams.
But we rarely stress test any of it.
We assume the good times will keep rolling. That access to capital will always be there. That income will always flow.
But when those assumptions fail, if they fail, it’s too late to start planning.
Enter: The Financial Fire Drill
This is the exercise Kaity and I walked through.
It took less than 30 minutes, but it shifted our entire mindset.
Here’s what we asked:
What would we do if our income dropped by 50% tomorrow?
If the market crashed, what assets could we actually access quickly?
What is our monthly essential burn rate (food, housing, insurance, utilities)?
How long could we sustain our lifestyle with no new income?
What expenses could we cut immediately?
What are our backup plans for cash flow or credit, and how reliable are they?
Where are we assuming too much stability?
What would we do differently if we knew this scenario was 90 days away?
Are we emotionally prepared to lead through that kind of storm?
What We Found
Yes, it was sobering.
But also, incredibly grounding.
Because preparation creates clarity, and clarity reduces fear.
Even with years of thoughtful planning, we found assumptions we hadn’t tested.
We didn’t need to panic or overhaul everything.
But we needed to reinforce our game plan. Sharpen it, simplify it, and make sure it could hold under pressure.
That gave us more peace, not less.
Why You Should Have This Conversation
This isn’t about being pessimistic.
It’s about being proactive.
You don’t need to become a prepper.
But you do need to know what levers you could pull if things changed quickly.
You can’t control the market.
You can’t control global events, the Fed, or consumer behavior.
But you can control how prepared you are to respond.
That’s real leadership.
That’s real stewardship.
And that’s the kind of peace we should be building our lives around.
Run the Drill. Lead with Clarity.
You practice fire drills.
You prepare for earthquakes, floods, and storms.
So why not your finances?
Sit down.
Ask the uncomfortable questions.
And walk away with the confidence of someone who leads with clarity, even in uncertainty.
