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.
