Modern life has become a delicate balance of working enough to pay your way in the world and, hopefully, still having enough money left to save for retirement and family and personal life. This line is often skewed toward the work side of the spectrum for most folks for various reasons, thus making it more than simply a minor annoyance when disaster strikes. In fact, for many, any actions that will cause them disruption in their financial lives will constitute something utterly catastrophic that lots will be unable to recover from.
But what exactly constitutes something that can seriously impact your quality of life? This post will examine seven points that could qualify as disruptive events, slime avoidable, and others not so much.
Missing Work Because Of A Personal Injury
Being hurt due to an accident that was not your fault is exceptionally frustrating in and of itself, but when you consider potential income loss from missed work or out-of-pocket medical costs, the costs can start to mount quickly. For instance, if you have had to miss work thanks to an auto accident that was the fault of another or tripped and broken a bone due to negligence by a third party, it may be challenging to rebuild your finances. Fortunately, this initial issue is something that you can remedy by seeking advice from a qualified personal injury attorney and bringing a case against the other party.
Most reputable personal injury lawyers will offer a free initial consultation in which you can speak with them to ascertain whether you have a case or not. Moreover, you can discuss the costs involved and what you will need to do to increase your odds of successfully coming out of the other side of a business litigation.
Having Your Identity Stolen While Using The Internet
You might have heard horror stories about companies, organizations, and individuals being hacked and having their identities compromised in one way or another, but you probably never imagined that it could happen to you. However, while you don’t need to stay awake at night over the chance that you might fall prey, it can most assuredly happen to anyone online (everyone, in other words). Identity theft is a form of fraud in which someone steals your personal information and uses it to commit crimes, open accounts, take out loans, or otherwise impersonate you for their own gain. Common ways identity theft occurs include:
- Data breaches: Your personal info, like SSN, bank details, etc., is accessed by hackers who then sell it on the dark web.
- Phishing scams: Criminals send fake emails or texts pretending to be from legitimate companies to trick you into revealing personal info.
- Dumpster diving: Thieves rummage through the trash looking for documents with your info, like bank statements or credit card offers.
- Skimming: Your debit card is swiped through a special storage device that captures your card number.
- Old-fashioned stealing: Wallets, purses, and mail are stolen to acquire your driver’s license, SSN card, etc.
Fortunately, as long you take even the most basic precautions, you can avoid becoming a victim and ensure that your identity and private details are secured against the most nefarious online actors.
Chronic Health Issues
Everyone has experienced pain at some point in their lives. This is a perfectly natural phenomenon that can strike at any time in one’s life, more notably as you age. However, while most folks will only ever experience acute issues that can be cured with time, rest, and medication, others are less fortunate. Those who have never suffered from chronic pain will be unable to comprehend just how disruptive it can be. This obviously depends on the type of pain they are experiencing, but in the majority of cases, it can be completely incapacitating and prevent the person from working and earning a living.
Even though some persistent pain problems can be somewhat alleviated by medication, the drugs are typically very potent and can have adverse health effects if taken for an extended period of time. It should go without saying that a chronic health condition will have a terrible impact on your life and way of life.
Elderly Or Disabled Family Members
This point might sound harsh initially, but having elderly or severely disabled family members who are unable to care for themselves, will undoubtedly put a severe strain on your personal life and livelihood. In some extreme cases, you may be unable to seek employment because you had to become a full-time carer. You might be able to make a living if you are fortunate enough to afford outside care or if the state is willing to help. However, even in these situations, you will still be responsible for caring for them for a considerable amount of time.
Catastrophes Caused By Nature
As you can see from the numerous natural disasters wreaking havoc around the world, this problem seems more common. Moreover, regardless of your stance regarding climate change, it’s clear that nations are experiencing more and more national disasters ranging from devasting storms to wildfires, than ever before in recorded history. When a natural disaster like a hurricane, tornado, or earthquake strikes, workplaces such as factories, offices, stores, and other businesses may sustain substantial damage or even be destroyed entirely. This leaves employees unable to get to work or do their jobs.
At the same time, infrastructure like roads, bridges, power lines, and communication networks can be knocked out by disasters. With roads impassable and power outages widespread, employees may have no way to travel to work or be unable to perform their jobs.
National Strikes Causing Travel Disruption
This point is especially pertinent and current because several countries are currently experiencing large-scale industrial action due to the squeeze on living expenses. Regardless of your position on the subject, there is no denying that industrial action can negatively impact most people’s lives. It can be mildly annoying to extremely disruptive, ranging from longer travel times to hospital closures.
Having Your Employment Terminated
Nobody wants to be summoned to the boss’s office only to hear that their employment has been terminated. Aside from the stress factor, it will force you to eat into any savings you might have while you seek alternative arraignments, causing you to set back your retirement timeline even further. Moreover, with the threat of disruptive technologies looming overhead, the odds of losing your job to some technological marvel are slowly creeping up.
There are plenty of things that can disrupt your livelihood, from becoming injured and thus being unable to work to technology that comes along and makes you redundant. While some are avoidable and manageable, you are entirely at the mercy of others.
