Now isn’t that a bright and riveting post title??

Seriously, though… the older we get, the more life we have to deal with.

Have you ever had “one of those years”? I have, and I know a few others who have.

Just as my children were entering or approaching their teens, I had three women friends die of cancer within a few months of each other. One was a close family friend, one was another neighbourhood mother, and the other was a neighbour.

Each of these women was just like me. We were all fit, we ate healthily, we had no “vices”… there were no apparent differences between them and me… and most of the other women I knew.

Our neighbourhood really struggled that year. Not only did we have our own sorrow, our children were collectively confused, and scared: Moms weren’t supposed to die! did that mean their own mom could?

Mortality really slapped us upside the head!

As I’ve gotten older, I’ve lost a few more friends to Cancer. I know other women with MS, ALS… and so far I continue to dodge the bullet.

I’m a single woman, with the usual encumbrances of life (mortgage, etc.) plus I have a few pesky habits I can’t shake… like eating, and driving, and showers with hot water. If I get a major illness and can’t work, I keep most of my expenses but lose most of my income. There is no other wage-earner in my home that could support me. That equation is really scary and would not help my mindset in facing a serious health issue.

Have you ever given this some thought?

I don’t want you to dwell on the depressing but we do have to face reality.

Are you financially stable enough to maintain your current home, with you in it, if you had to stop work and deal with a catastrophic diagnosis and the treatment regimen that accompanied it?

I still have my job in what we generically call “Elder”care. I do, however, see more and more people in my age range (and range means younger than me, too) who not only have to give up the life they were living, but when they move into subsidized care they still have to apply for rate exemptions because they are too young for much in the way of pensions. Their life becomes about as bare bones as one can imagine because they have no financial safety net.  Bare bones on top of life-changing or -threatening health issues.

Are you still reading? Have I depressed the bejeepers out of you yet?

Or are you one of the confident few?

This is one of the realities of mid-life, and is an even more serious reality for a single person.

This reality is another reason I am focused on developing my business into a large money-maker. I have, in the past, talked about multiple streams of income, and residual income, and these facets of an on-line business are what not only create a large income stream for the present, but keep on producing income if you need to take some time off from your business.

Personally, I also have the security of having Critical Illness Insurance and that is a huge safety net. As my business grows, financial fall-out from a serious illness will not be one of the things that keep me awake at night.

Does any of this keep you awake at night?

If you are not comfortable leaving a comment in the box below, feel free to contact me privately for more information about how you can create a financial safety net for your future.

You’re probably the only person who will.