-
How much can you afford to lose due to an injury?
In the thread involving Manitoubass2 he has announced that his stumble at work not only did a complete tear of his ACL but now, two weeks later, he learns he also broke his femur. Fortunately for him, he is an employee with various benefits to help him through this painful struggle.
Many of us are what you might can a one-man band. We may have a trained monkey assisting in getting the job done, but, no one else is in a position to actually take the reins and keep the survey chariot going without our physical presence and knowledge in the field. For many just getting started out on their own there may be nowhere near enough insurance to take care of the medical bills. The loss of new cash flow for an extended period may be disastrous.
No matter how careful you believe you are, you can still have a mishap. Also, you can’t stop the driver in the oncoming lane from having a heart attack and suddenly putting his radiator through yours. Even worse are unpredictable health issues of your own. As an example, our 61 year-old high school football coach apparently experienced a stroke last weekend while simply hanging out around his house taking life easy. About 15 years ago a fellow surveyor (about 50 at the time) laid his head on his work table after lunch as if to take a nap. He was having a stroke. His brain ended up sort of like Swiss cheese and he was unable to work ever again. A fellow who is about 30 and who has done some work for me in the past has spent the past week 150 miles from home at a children’s hospital with his wife and their less than three-pound newborn baby. He is currently a Government employee so he is good shape, but a year ago he had no such support mechanism. I lost the services of my early 40’s physician a few years ago due to the onset of Multiple Sclerosis that forced her to restructure her life dramatically.
Having freedom to do as we like is absolutely wonderful, but it can be incredibly expensive if bad things happen.
Log in to reply.