Tuesday Tip of the Week: Health and your Money (continued)
Welcome to my “Tip of the Week.” Today I am going to revisit yesterday’s topic about health and how it affects your money. I spoke a bit about my health woes and how they cost me years and dollars. I think it is important to understand that the change was drastic and the root of it was all health. From the age of 19-25, I had no coverage and bad health. In those years I could barely work and proceeded to accumulate 50K in debt and destroy my credit. From the ages of 26-present, I have coverage and better health. I erased that debt and was able to bring my net worth to over 50K. I also repaired my credit, helped someone through university and started focusing on a career. I will never get those years back or that money back. The sad part is that it could have been prevented if I took the right steps. Here are the ways you can protect your most valuable asset, your ability to work.
1) Health Insurance
Many people have it through work but some do not. Having health insurance is not just important, it’s crucial. Not having it changed my life. Having it changed it again. Just to think, I could have spent a little bit of money every month and had all my prescription drugs covered. I could have also been able to see the dentist which I didn’t do for 6 years. Don’t worry, never had a cavity, always floss baby. Let’s get back to the subject. A little bit of money every month and I could have continued working and not accumulated a large amount of debt. I wish I had a time machine. Not only that, I was miserable and in constant pain. The money spent every month would have been worth it to eliminate that alone.
2) Disability and Critical Illness Insurance
For a two year period before I received drug coverage I was terribly ill. When I met my family doctor during that time, she was afraid for my life. She knew I was fading hard. I would go through 30-pound swings in a couple weeks. Despite that fact, I still tried my best to make it to work every day. I would go in for a shift and spend 10 minutes every hour puking out of both ends. I really shouldn’t have been at work. I just couldn’t afford to not work. I should have been at home focusing on getting better. If I had disability insurance at the time I could have been able to receive an income and not have to worry about paying bills. Once again a little money every month would have saved me time and money. I wish I had that time machine again.
3) Life Insurance
This is a weird one to bring up eh? Let me explain. If I would have purchased a life insurance policy when I was younger and healthier I would not have denied one last year when I tried to obtain one. Yes, it’s true. The first application I put through as an agent was my own and it was declined due to health. So not only is it tougher now for me to obtain coverage because of health; I also lost out on having an investment that today would be worth over $100,000. All of that for a little bit of money every month. Now just imagine if my parents had to foresight to buy insurance on me when I was a baby. I would now have an investment that is worth over 200K and insurability would never be an issue. Please, someone, invent that damn time machine.
Insurance, insurance, insurance. Blah, blah, blah. Not that exciting eh? Well, let’s look back at what I said. If I had taken the simple steps of covering myself for a little money every month I could have saved thousands of dollars. I also could have physically felt a lot better. I also would have been more productive during the years from the age of 19-26, years when I should have been super productive. Let’s not get into all the money I lost on interest for the money I could have been saving. It makes me want to puke.
We have to look at insurance a little differently. This isn’t a warranty on your iPhone or a service plan on your laptop. This is protecting your ability to work. You know work right? That place you go that gives you money to buy iPhones and laptops. Now if you think life is hard when you are working, just imagine if you couldn’t work. I know what that is like and it’s not pretty.
My system for my clients includes saving money for the future and also the fun things in life. None of that works though if you can’t work. None of that works if you get sick or injured and then have no money coming in. Insurance isn’t meant to make you or anyone else rich. It’s meant to protect your ability to make money and keep you from being poor. Do you think it’s rough paying that premium? I wish I had that chance to pay those before everything went sour. Thousands of dollars and a lot of heartaches later and now I’m back where I should have always been. I will never get those years back though.
Tune in tomorrow for “Wednesday WTF,” my weekly rant about things that waste your money. Have a great day friends!
“A healthy man has a million wishes; a sick man only has one”
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Joseph James Francis is a Financial Advisor. You can find him on various social media platforms and at budgetboss.ca.