Lucky is mostly set in 2008, when a major financial crash dramatically influenced both investment banking and the ability to grift people involved with investment banking. The 2007 to 2008 crash, also known as the Global Financial Crisis, began in the American banking system. Banks had been issuing home mortgages without considering the risk because those banks could package the mortgages and sell them to other financial institutions. This trend continued until banks were signing off on mortgages with practically no due diligence whatsoever and using mortgage-backed securities, rather than cash, to meet federal requirements for banks. When customers failed to make payments, the value of these securities dropped, leaving many banks insolvent. While regulation did improve in several ways after the Global Financial Crisis, US banks are still vulnerable. The US did not adopt the same requirements as other countries, and mortgage-backed securities continue to be issued. In 2024, they are called collateralized mortgage obligations to try to avoid the negative associations that come with having collapsed the entire world’s economy.

After Lucky gets her business degree and “certifications,” she opens a “small investment and accounting firm” (162). Before the crash, she and Cary are able to move around her clients’ money without them realizing it.