Posted on 09/11/2012 12:19:42 PM PDT by Kaslin
Dear Dave,
One of my relatives just discovered she has cancer. She’s a single mom with two young kids, and I’m not sure if she’s prepared to face something like this. What are the best steps she can take financially at this point?
Shannon
Dear Shannon,
I’m really sorry to hear about this. I know cancer is a scary thing to hear, but please remember to pray and be there for her all you can. God willing, things can still turn out okay.
When people ask if a person has their affairs in order, they’re usually asking a couple of different questions. Are you right with God? Do you have life insurance and a will? Another important thing is to have all the paperwork of your life organized and in a safe place, so someone you trust can handle the details if things don’t turn out well.
Everyone should have a good term life insurance policy in place. My advice is to have a policy worth 10 times your annual income. When it comes to a will, make sure it’s state specific. Probate and estate regulations are not federal laws, they’re state laws. So any will should be drawn up according to guidelines for the state in which you live.
Make sure, too, that she has made arrangements for any minor children. It might be a good idea to sit down and talk with two or three trusted family members or close friends and decide who will take them if the worst should happen. Whoever this is should be incredibly responsible and caring, and willing to love and raise these kids as if they were their very own.
Good luck, Shannon. And God bless you and your family.
—Dave
Dear Dave,
My wife just received news that her company will experience significant layoffs in the next two months. On top of all this, she’s one of the newest workers there. We’ve been trying to follow your plan, but what should we do with the possibility of unemployment on the horizon?
Tyler
Dear Tyler,
It’s a pretty safe bet that your wife will lose her job, especially if she’s new to the company. If what she makes right now is a significant portion of your overall income, my advice would be to press pause on your Total Money Makeover and build up your savings as much as possible.
I love that you guys are trying to take control of your money, but right now there are storm clouds brewing in your financial lives. Sit down together and come up with a seriously belt-tightening budget. Scrape together every nickel you can from every area of your lives and put it into savings. Things like going to the movies or eating out are going to be a big no-no for a while. And you may have to look at the possibility of cutting some other non-essentials, like television. There’s nothing good on these days anyway!
If they do lay her off, she might be looking at a severance package, but at this point you can’t really count on that happening. So batten down the hatches and prepare for the worst while hoping for the best. The best way to do that right now is save, save, save!
—Dave
Dave Ramsey ping!
I find it funny that Ramsey considered a pregnancy to be an emergency(storm cloud mode). We know what causes pregnancy now. We can stop it from happening.
I saw no mention of pregnancy in the article. Did I miss something?
I didn’t say it was in the article.
True, you didn’t say it was. You must be basing your statement on another article that I have not seen.
Maybe this freeper is saying he’s found Dave Ramsey to be pro-abortion.
Okay AppyPappy, I'll bite. On what is your statement based? Link?
Considering that Dave's ministry is faith based, I seriously doubt he's pro-death, uh, I mean pro-choice.
Ever heard of birth control?
If that's the reference, I draw a different conclusion.
Agreed.
After reading AppyPappy’s reply in nine, I have to say that NO manual birth control method (pills, shots, rings, diaphragms, etc.) is 100% guaranteed.
Sterilization is. That's what I went with.
Oh, I would add that was done in 1971. Still no babies.
The reason he recommends that people go into storm cloud mode when they are expecting is so that they will have money saved up to pay for hospital expenses, etc.
http://www.mytotalmoneymakeover.com/index.cfm?event=dspAskDave&intContentItemId=6054
Correct but it is an expected expense, not a surprise or emergency.
Half the women on the Dave Ramsey forums were shocked to discover they were pregnant.
That’s a bold claim. Care to back it up?
Do you want to read the Dave Ramsey forums or just admit that I know more about it than you do?
It's an expense, both immediate and ongoing, once you know your situation has changed. Pregnancy is generally a possible result of certain activity, but it can occur even when not expected.
Do you think that if someone drives a car they should expect to have an accident even though they drive carefully?
If they drive without paying attention, they should. Pregnancy is a result of sex. If you have sex without birth control, you should expect to get pregnant.
You haven’t established that you know more about it than I do.
What happened to your evidence? You made a bold claim. Let’s see it backed up.
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