WHEN Disaster Strikes (not IF!) - Will You Be Ready?

The last 10 days have been some of the most challenging of my adult life - physically, emotionally, and especially FINANCIALLY! Note to self - do NOT injure yourself in a foreign country. It's a whole different world and if you don't have some cash on hand, you could be in quite a pickle!

It started innocently enough - my husband and I went down to the Bahamas to celebrate our 40th Wedding Anniversary. That's a normal enough thing to do, right?

DISASTER #1

We were having a pretty good time up until the last day when we were supposed to go snorkeling. That didn't go well at all. Trying to get on the boat, I fell and fractured my ankle in 3 places - ouch! Fortunately, it happened right in the marina - just outside Margaritaville, so some nice people bought us shots while waiting for the ambulance!

We did have specific travel insurance to cover the whole trip, plus our medical insurance, but that didn't matter. The hospital wasn't going to take a chance on a denied claim, so they wanted CASH up front or they weren't going to do much for me. Credit card or wire transfer and there is no way around it. I sat in the ER for a miserable 12 hours trying to get together enough cash to mortgage my way into a hospital room.

FIRST MAJOR EXPENSE

Ambulance fee - $3,000

ER fee - $7,000

Dr's fee - $3,500

If we'd done the surgery there to install the pins, would have been $30K, so we decided to fly home and do it in the US.

We needed a wheelchair hotel room since our original hotel had lots of stairs. Needed an extra legroom seat on the plane, needed a walker and a wheelchair to get me home from the airport, needed a ramp to get me into the house, and all sorts of miscellaneous stuff.

SECOND MAJOR EXPENSE

About $1800 for all that gear. Did you know you can get a wheelchair from Amazon with overnight delivery? It's not a great wheelchair, but it does the job..... The ramps alone were $800, but absolutely necessary with our stairs.

No idea what the surgery bill will be and it's a crapshoot how much we'll be reimbursed for these costs. Fortunately, we had breathing room on several different credit cards plus emergency savings.

DISASTER #2

For most people, a broken ankle would have been plenty to deal with, but the universe decided we needed more trials. Just before we left, our sink was stopped up and the plumber found some dirt and leaves in the pipe - never a good sign. So, the day before my surgery, we had a team of plumbers going through all our plumbing.

Long story short - our entire plumbing system was shot. There was about a 3 foot break in the kitchen line. Very bad news because they had to bring out jackhammers to even get to it - VERY expensive, but these guys are good and they seem very honest.

THIRD MAJOR EXPENSE

We aren't even sure yet - looks like we might top out at about $20K when it's all done (sigh)

DISASTER #3

You'd think with all this going on, we'd have enough to deal with. But apparently not. When looking at the plumbing, the guy discovered that our ancient heater was leaking deadly carbon monoxide about 20 feet from where our SON sleeps! We had a detector, but it was just low enough that it hadn't tripped the detector yet, or it wasn't working.

So, they had to shut OFF the heat in 20 degree weather and change out our entire heating/AC system - sigh.... Again, did I mention that this was the day before surgery when I was completely helpless with a badly broken ankle? But they gave us some space heaters so we were pretty cozy, and they swapped out the whole system in just one day so we didn't all die.

FOURTH MAJOR EXPENSE

$14K for the heating system. I think that was a bit high, but we were hardly in a position to shop around or negotiate. At this point, we were wondering if it was going to be frogs or locusts next.....

Shit Happens Sometimes - What do you DO About it?

If you've been adding it up, we're at about $45K+ outlay in less than a week. Forty-five THOUSAND dollars in unexpected spending out of the clear, blue sky. That's a car!

Many people don't understand that this is just life. Maybe not in triplicate like we've had, but cars get crashed, water heaters break, roofs leak, jobs are lost, people get sick, kids break bones - shit HAPPENS.

In my financial coaching, I speak to people all the time who have ZERO savings - not a dime, not a bean. I find this incredibly baffling and alarming.

Look at the people in Lahaina, and LA, look at the people in all these horrible floods. And um, we did have a worldwide PANDEMIC just a short time ago. Credit cards are not going to save you because you have to pay that money BACK at some point.

Be READY for the bad stuff

If you're in this spot, here's what you do. Set up your direct deposit to put money into a savings account. At least $100-$200 per payday. I know that's hard, but I promise you are spending money in other areas where you can reduce. I see people spending $400-$600/month in fast food and coffee, but don't put a dime away for a rainy day, let alone a monsoon like this.

And save for your damn retirement. A previous newsletter covered all the nasty surprises we've had since our retirement. You have much fewer options after 60+ and you have to be prepared for just anything. Trust me - this goes BADLY for a lot of people, and you don't want to burden your kids. That's my worst-case senario....

Also, some simple things. Get a CO Detector - they are $25 bucks at Walmart. I bought FOUR of them 3 for us and 1 for our married kids. Here's a link - buy one today. No amount of money is worth the life of a loved one, and kids and the elderly are especially sensitive https://amzn.to/4bezkF0

Also get a WATER ALARM. That has saved our butt soooooooo many times because our basement floods a bit in heavy rain. We have one under each sink, one near the water heater, and one by the washer. Again, it's a cheap little thing, but it can save you thousands. Get one today - https://amzn.to/4i8nDSl

If you travel, get comprehensive travel insurance. Not just that junky policy you get when you buy your plane ticket, that only covers your luggage and a few other things. It's usually only $150-$200 per trip for a policy that covers EVERYTHING - cancelled flight, accident, illness, mugging, luggage, lost passports, medical transportation, or cancel the whole damn trip.

My father-in-law passed 5 days prior to our 25th Anniversary Cruise, which can happen to anyone. Because we had this insurance, we could have cancelled and not lost a dime, but we decided we needed the rest, so we did end up going. But we had that CHOICE.

I use World Nomads or Berkshire Hathaway or Allianz. Depends on who is running the best deal, but it's pretty straightforward. Put in your dates, your countries, your names, and the approx value of your trip and they give you a quote in 5 min.

The Wrap Up

The end of this is that, we will eventually be fine. I feel like God was looking out for us and this could have been soooooooo much worse. Plus we've had tons of family and friends to look out for us, plus the professionals. My Dr in the Bahamas was the physician to their National Cricket Team, so we was well versed in this type of injury and was kindly checking with me every step of the way home.

And having a positive attitude helps. I could have been mad, sad, tearful, hysterical, or whatever, but I managed to keep my sense of humor and my sense of gratitude through this and that's the best way to be. After we got to the heater problem, I was actually LAUGHING because it had gotten so completely ridiculous!

God is good - all the time

All the time - God is good