So, having to restart because of the portraits the wall ate wasn't the end of the world - this time, when I had my founder marry Meadow, she brought along a car worth 21k. Then I found a Miner at the consignment shop, and the first thing he dug up was a giant space rock worth 2k. I almost didn't analyze it but in the end decided to and it was worth 14k.
I made him pose for a photo with it before selling it.
Of course, the Sim taking the photo had no photo skill but one of them turned out okay. I kept them all anyway
So... yeah, not so torn up about having to start over. The Simiverse is telling me it's going to be ok. (Wish real life was that easy)