April 13, 2015

From the Ground Up

            
 
         From the Ground Up


           
 
         Life may be going swimmingly well right now and the future seems assured. That is assuming nothing major changes. Here are a some examples of the sorts of changes which usually come as a surprise. Accidents, major illness, relational issues, business failures, redundancy and so on it goes. While it may be our intention to live a full and  happy life, and we should focus on that, it’s also reassuring to know that no matter what we’ve covered as many bases as possible.

         Over the next few posts we'll explore some of these and see what the outcomes were. 

In this post we'll explore accidents.

Accidents. 

Two came close to home in recent times. The first a retired couple on the holiday of a lifetime overseas only to be involved in an accident involving their car and a semi trailer. Though they were not at fault and had travel insurance they found just what a logistical nightmare it could be. Hospitalisation half a world away then needing special arrangements to be flown home for ongoing care and restructuring the home to cater for the now disabled partner. Then the cost of specialised care at home and respite for the partner carer.

In the second instance for many of us we often take the stance of “that will never happen to me.” It did recently in a fatal accident involving responsible young adults in their twenties. As the survivor said, “we didn't see it coming.” This impacted not only on families, but also on a business of which they were an integral part.

We see it on TV, in social media and in the news the loss or disability of a partner or family member. This generally means an impact on the household income which has been geared to income of both partners and sometimes others.

It's easy to remain detached and hope for the best, but when these things happen it's usually at the most inopportune time and need to be 'fixed' while still in shock or grief or both. 

Having a plan A and a plan B helps to eliminate some of the ‘what if’ stress.

Part for this will be covered when we talk about estate planning.

When building a plan for the future it’s important to factor in some what ifs, which while undesirable, could potentially impact in a huge way on lifestyle.

Bottom line take a look at how you want your future to be, identify possible impacts of outside events and provide some means of being able to reduce at least the financial burdens if they should happen. Having a supportive social network is also important.

And the people we spoke of earlier fortunately were provided for in the first instance with travel insurance. In the second case it allowed family time to focus on their grief without financial concerns.