I don’t know how I feel about this subject. My son’s father was riding his bicycle home from work. A truck hesitated to the oncoming traffic, saw my ex, but proceeded to go forward. Thus, hitting him and causing him to flip over the hood of the guy’s truck, totalling the bicycle and causing damage to the ligaments in his knee. He was rather fortunate, the damage could have been worse. He suffered a large scrape on one shin and is going to have surgery on the knee. He will recover with some time, surgery and R & R.
Why it’s important to be financially prepared. Unfortunately, my son’s father was freaked out that they were going to charge him large sums of money if he took the ambulance (he has full health insurance). So, he had his mom take him to the hospital (I already yelled at him about that one and told him take the darn ambulance!). Least he is covered with full insurance offered by his work.
What he was not covered in: having money to hold him over until disability came through. This is where the Emergency Fund comes in handy.
The doctor’s gave him 3 months off work for surgery and healing. But, the doctor signed the disability papers late. Thus causing my ex not to get his disability checks at the necessary convienence. So, he is borrowing money from his mom and the bills are piling up. Needless to say, he owes people/bill companies quite a bit of money.
Why I am thankful that I have a financial plan. If I didn’t start this blog, gain wonderful blogging friends, and start planning my financial future I wouldn’t be able to do this: stock my ex’s fridge with food. Yes, it is weird to me to have my now DH and I buy my him food. And I am not saying this to gain praise, but it was really nice to be able to help someone in need.
Now, I just want to show him how to save for an emergency fund! But, I don’t think he’ll listen.
Moral of the story: Build and keep that emergency fund. You’ll never know when you need it!
Are you prepared for a potential financial hardship? Do you need to build an emergency fund? Are you looking to get your finances in shape? Please Read The Total Money Makeover
Ah, one more reason to get my emergency fund finished sooner rather than later. I’m not sure we would do well if we had to wait for disability insurance to send us a check, although my husband has about 8 weeks of unused vacation coming to him, I guess we could use that….
You helped your ex because he is your son’s father (and of course, you are a nice person!). I think I would do the same….well, maybe. :)-
That’s totally scary. I know we would be a financial crunch, too. But better off than not having anything at all. All the more reason to get this debt PIF’d and move onto building a 3 – 6 month EF.
It was a weird situation. And you’re probably right that I did it because he is my son’s father. But, it was just weird. Didn’t see myself ever coming across doing something like that for my ex.
Firstly – I hope he is OK 🙂 I think it is always wise to try to have a bit tucked away for a rainy day. I think it’s different for you though, having to pay for things like health stuff yourself. Here we have NHS – although some would rather go private anyhow 😉
He is okay. Kind of scared about the surgery, but he will be fine. Yes, I have to say that I like some particulars of having a NHS. I’m sure you see the conundrum going on with the US Health Care Debate. I try not to mess with it too much. Someone will get their way and I will have to deal with it. I have to say, that I am very happy & fortunate with my private health care. It would disappoint me to see it change.
you’re right, have some tucked away. It just takes a penny to start and a penny to continue to build a solid fund. 🙂
These days I lump any and all hardships into the same big ball of difficulties to tackle. Probably because they all sort of spend the same way, y’know? Loss of income, need food, need rent, etc.
Call me paranoid, but after all that’s happened with my family, I’m pretty much always expecting the next emergency or disability, not IF. 😉 And thus, I am a firm advocate of scraping pennies together until you’ve established a financial safety blanket for yourself.
I think that is good thinking. U know that things may not always be solid and should be prepared for an upcoming event. I am paranoid about not having enough to retire on. I don’t want to have to rely on my children for financial assistance. Although, I do hope that they are there for me to take on the administration part of it. Hopefully, they will be nice to me in my older years. 😉
Scraping pennies…. I used to think that penny pinching (nickel & diming it) was not a good option, but there is so many articles, like on Wisebread, to support that penny pinching makes a difference. So, I have to agree with you on that term.
Your actions remind me of Philippians 4:5 , “Let your gentleness be evident to all” Way to go! Your gentleness (kindness, compassion) will be evident to all–especially your kids.
Thank you. 🙂
My DH said the same thing about evident to the kids. Only I don’t think my teenage son is aware of the impact at this time. He asked why we were helping him out. Hopefully, as he gets older he will realize. Thank you for your wonderful comment.
Absolutely 100% true, solid advice. I’ve had to use my emergency fund and the blessing having it there has been wonderful!
I know we all subconciously think, “it won’t happen to me” or “i will save for it later”, but accidents can come at any moment.
My favorite saving, “fate rarely calls upon us at our moment of choice” ~Transformers