Do you have a back up plan ?

[gottadance]

'll be honest, I have pretty much no plan.

I am a public school teacher and I have sick days in place that have added up so I have maybe 70 or 80 days. That would be approximately a half of a year of school. Then, if I continued to be sick, there is a sick bank that kicks in if I've given one of my sick days to it. (I did.) I have no clue how long that would last.

If I got a terminal illness, after about a year I better hope I'm dead bc then I'd be pretty much screwed. I do have 50-60K in equity in my house so if I sold that I could live another 2 years or so in a apartment I could rent but then I better die--quick!

Man, that would stink. Hope it doesn't happen.

I highly encourage you to get long-term care insurance. I am paying $70 a month and it will pay for three years of either in-home or nursing home care should I become incapacitated - say have a bad accident, etc. So it's not just when you get old - it protects you when you're young as well. I decided to get this because I am adopting a child and am single on one income. If something - a brain aneurysm or something devastating - were to happen, in order to qualify for federal assistance, I'd have to run through my assets - sell my house, use up my savings - that would be devastating to a child and to me if I couldn't eventually move back to my own home. For $70/month, it's totally worth it. I figured that if I live to age 90, I'll have put in $35K - but one year in a nursing home would cost at least that much.

In addition, having LTCI allows you to stay in nicer facilities than just state qualifying which can be so-so.

I do have some emergency savings, lots of home equity, short-term and long-term disability through my company and if I got laid off I'd be eligible for unemployment.

[frugalwarrior2]

Gotta dance-when my DH got hurt we were left w/ $60,000 in medical after ins. He had to be in a nursing home for 3 weeks at about 3500. a week. He had 12 surgeries,many hrs. of physical therapy,needed a hospital bed,a wheel chair,a walker,crutches. It all adds up and they have it all divided. His meds were $1000. a month for 3 months.
Luckily we had good ins.,st and long term care, and great hosp. coverage. Unfortunately,none of the contracted nursing homes were in our area,we had to build a ramp which they didn't cover ($3000.) and redo a room downstairs to sleep in as he wasn't doing stair. Then the bathroom. We didn't end up redoing it but $4000. for a step in tub and $15,000 to make it a handicapped bath. Needed extra wide doors-luckily our friend did it.
My point is-LOTs of unbelievable hidden costs. Dumb twists in what they'll pay.

[ladytoysdream]

I'm going to update this now, because I seem to be having computer problems. Hopefully I can take this one tomorrow to be checked out, but it is usually a week before I can get it back again. I do have a backup computer so hopefully that one works for me, if I need it.
We are still trying to find out more about hubby's knee before the doctor office calls this week. There is 2 family members that work in the medical field in his family. Hopefully one of them can get him some more info tomorrow.
The doctor told him after the xray that he has calicum deposits on his knee.
That is why they wanted the MRI done.
Hopefully he has not procrastinated too long, and the damage can be fixed with a minor surgery. He seems to be okay now after his fall. But I did see him with the cane outside when we were chasing the chickens back in the coop this afternoon. Hopefully he is not using the cane but keeping it in his hand if needed. It's one I found at a garage sale, and kept on the back of my pickup. It works fine for dragging things that slide forward in the truck bed. Like when I take the recyleables in to town.

[mndtrp]

Both my wife and I work. If we both lost our incomes, we could survive for about 6 months, without changing our lifestyle any. We could probably stretch it out a few more months by changing some things. If one of us was still bringing in money, we could survive much longer.

We both have health insurance, paid time off, short term disability, maternity leave and all the other typical benefits that come with decent sized businesses.

If things really got bad, my parents would be more than willing to help us out. My parents are the type that would provide support, with no strings attached.

[pollypurebred39]

I'm sorry to hear your DH got hurt Lady Goodness, it's always something isn't it? I'll be praying.

As far as the question, do you have a back up plan. We did, we exhausted it. But it's been over 4 years now with no reprieve. Just a wing and a prayer now, which may be worth more than our back up plan, considering I think God's got some time invested in our outcome.

[Momto5RN]

i have a plan in my head but its not inaction .

we are still paying off debt from when i was too sick with my fibromyalgia to work .

once that is done we start the real planning .

BTW a " good ALF ( assisted living facility )/ LTCF can cost up to 6000 a month - and thats now - who knows what in 20 or so years!!

[Winkie]

So sorry about your hubby, hope he is diagnosed & into treatment soon.

Our back up plan revolves mostly around me. DH was laid off as controller at a manufacturing company 8 years ago. We made it through that trauma because we had very little debt other than the houses. (We bought a house before selling the first one, then he lost his job- kind of a hairy situation...) anyway I am the major breadwinner. I carry the insurance. Through my work I have health insurance for both of us, about 6 months of accrued sick time, vacation time & life insurance. When we bought the house, I took out $100,000.00 in accident insurance. Of course you only get the $100,000.00 if you die in the accident, but it's pretty cheap ($11.00 per month) & at least DH could keep the house if I were killed.

We have decent savings & DH is old enough he could draw out of retirement savings with no penalty. He has a job now, but it is very low income. He will take retirement in March of 2013 & still work, so he will make more than he has in 8 years.

I have tax defferred savings I could tap into with a life altering event. Also we have a decent stockpile of food & HBA. If I lost my job & the health insurance with it, we would be on a wild ride...

[NikoSan999]

Sorry about your hubby. I hope the tests turn out not to be anything life altering and it's a short recovery.
Fingers, eyes and toes crossed. hugs and only the best of wishes for both of you

[ladytoysdream]

Another update.

Well the hubby is scheduled for surgery later this month.
I been making lists and trying to make sure everything is done and in place so I don't have to run any errands so I can keep a tight eye on him that first week.
Still waiting on paperwork from the bank for the HEL loan covered by disabiltiy insurance.
Health insurance should be fine and will cover everything.
Vacation, sick, and personal time add up to enough weeks, so that should cover his down time. And his anniversay work start date this spring will give him 2 weeks of vacation if he is still out that long. Because of who he works for, they don't pay into the disability insurance even though NY state mandates it for employees to have that coverage.

We bought a face cord of wood from the neighbor, that is cut short and split into smaller chunks so I can get it into the outdoor wood furnace with no problems.

I been crossing t's and dotting the i's and I think I got things figured out. If he goes into a longer amount of down time, then it will become a whole nother different ballgame.

[LNsGirl]

First of all, we are retired, but don't have to depend on Social Security. We are on Railroad Retirement. We have money in the bank and other places for back up. We also have close to a year's worth of food stockpiled. I want some shelves built in my extra bedroom to be able to organize the food storage pantry. I am building a library of frugal recipes and how to can, dehydrate and use my food storage.

[frugal is fun]

good luck with the surgery.

I am a single full time working mom and I do have things in place if I were to get sick or hurt for an extended period of time if not indefinitely.

The one thing I don't have is a stockpile. I just never caught on to a stockpile, maybe I'll try again.

But I have ST and LT disability insurance, I have unlimited sick days, and I have 5 weeks vacation. If I ended up on LT disability I also pay and extra $70/mon to increase what I get from my company that would up me to about 80% of my pay.

I have no debt except my mortgage and my car. I would either sell my car or pay it off depending on what the actual circumstance was.

I'm working on building my EF but I have money in mutual funds (not my 401(k) or my Roth) that is currently marked for retirement but would be my cash back up if needed.

[oheoh's momma]

I am working on a back up plan
It is hard...
step 1 stockpile working on
step 2 er fund working on this one grrr

[ladytoysdream]

A update on the hubby. He had his knee surgery this past week. Doing very well except for when he tries to do too much. Goes back this coming week to get the staples out. There is 10 stitches in the one area where the calicum deposit was removed. It was not attached to anything, thank goodness. Think full deck of cards, that kept getting bigger and was lumpy and in a balloon like sack not attached to anything. Looking like 3 to 4 weeks recovery versus the 6 to 8 weeks the orignal guesstimate. There was also 2 small tears in the knee area the doctor fixed. He is walking with a cane most of the time. Yesterday he had to use the walker a lot because he was too active the day before. A very motivated patient to get back to his normal routine. Thanks for all the good thoughts for us.

I had pushed the pencil last week and decided we would have made it about 12 weeks total. Very thankful about the possibility of him being back to work in about a month.
So what did I learn ? That we were in better shape than I though for, but still lots of room for improvement in the future.

I was reading a article in last night's local newspaper from a AP wirephoto story....
and I quote from the article ...
Obama finally scores coveted win on payroll tax .....
"Obama says these tax steps will help support a fragile recovery
from the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression."

If you don't have a backup plan in place currently.....
you better activate one .....

[CrazyHomemaker]

Sorry to hear about your DH. That has to be pretty painful.

We'd be in a pickle. I am the only one working. DH is retired and gets benefits. He still brings in more than I do per month, but we've adjusted downward to accommodate. He is getting really good at being creative so he doesn't go out and buy everything he wants. He can make most of everything with what he already has. This is very helpful.

I've got a few months worth of food in the pantry before we'd have to starve. DH hates it when I go to the lawn for greens for a salad. I think he'd think again before he complains about that.

Health insurance I now have to pay for. It's really lousy insurance, but it's insurance.

Yep. We'd be in a royal mess. Working on a plan.

P.S. Good news for your hubby! What a blessing!

[JustMegan79]

Our back up plan in in effect right now.
My boss (who is my landlord) laid me off in Nov. She sent a rental increase notice last week. 150 more a month. Dh hours are reduced...and this week he started getting garnished for a car accident hospital bill from 2001. 12k. We have no choice but to move back in with his Dad. In the boonies. And file bankruptcy.
It's just too much to think about right now. I am thankful we do have the option to move back there, so all is not lost. But it sure feels like it.