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Everyone dreams of finding the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow, although literally finding either is practically impossible. However, the desire for such a discovery has sufficed to power the efforts of many seekers of fortune. Turning it around, one might say that by persevering long enough, one might even find the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow! Indeed, in an earlier part of my life, I too was similarly expanding myself. Only, I had to worry about keeping safe what little gold – wealth – I had found, and for urgent reasons!
A family’s financial health is the most affected aspect when any of the members gets diagnosed with a chronic disease. Rare conditions are showing up more often and the cost of treatment and hospital assistance is rising in tandem. For many reasons, it was scary when my doctors addressed me as ‘rare’ and – instantly – my illness became the illness of the family. We experienced countless challenges, many sleepless nights, and frequent running to temples for prayers while trying to gather as much information as possible. Every one of us had many unanswered questions about the entire situation – my health, career, and above all meet the current cash flows. Any description of those spine-chilling memories would be an underestimate that no one could truly understand, no matter how I explain it.
After the initial few days, we as a family started to get used to our new normal, which is when I thought it right to address things, especially the cash-flow part. I wanted to talk to my family about a concept called Financial Planning, about maintaining a document that recorded my financial situation. The process identified, evaluated, and implemented present and future investments and aligned the cash flows. My main objective behind this process was to ensure the availability of funds when required, reach defined goals, and maximize the utility of my resources.
Sometimes, our mind instructs us to limit ourselves, my father always found such jargon confusing and time-consuming and preferred his primitive ways of money management. In my professional experience of over 13 years as an investment banker, I was always taught to understand the nitty-gritty of emergency situations and work towards taking charge of the money, so I knew this was my moment. As everyone in the room was interested-attentive, I explained how my portfolio’s risk-managing tools were effectively equipped to answer all our questions and tackle this life-distracting situation better in three easy steps:
- I had built a contingency fund for unexpected expenditures.
- The previous night I had revisited the plan to make changes in some short-term goals and that money could be used to pay our current medical bills.
- I could use my health insurance to pay off (even the pre- and post-hospitalization expenses for some time)
Instantly, I felt the energies change and it caramelized the essence of the room. I felt proud about contributing to my family’s happiness during such disturbing times.
No matter how we measure time, we can never forget the teachings of the investors and others who pulled generations out of various financial crises. All of them adhered to planning and demonstrated a disciplined financial approach that can never go out of vogue. Over the years, money management systems have evolved through all available investment avenues. I decided to park my contingency funds in debt with fixed returns that offered easy liquidity options with minimum hassles.
As it was a first-hand experience for everyone, we as a family had many learnings to cope better with future modalities:
- effective communication between members is the key.
- follow the divide-and-conquer policy by distributing the excess workload!
- positivity enhances the decision-making process.
- a clear purpose defined financial plan can be a source of motivation.
- everyone’s situation is unique, don’t get carried away by peer groups and get hungry to keep wallets full from time to time.
- it is optimistic to look at situations with hope but not all situations offer opportunities.
- a targeted approach is the way toward financial freedom and, therefore, plan expenditures better instead of spending more.
I have experienced how a strong financial plan can streamline one’s wealth and percolate down to a beneficial health journey.
DISCLAIMER
The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not represent any kind of medical advice.
