Working for a temporary agency — these jobs often become permanent.
Getting your money plans started
Money flows like water. If you stop spending it in one area, it flows around that area just to be spent somewhere else. The only way to save it is to channel your money carefully into a reservoir or holding tank. Yes, we're talking about saving.
Because this isn't an investment book, we're not going to suggest specific types of investments. Rather, the purpose of this book is to help you understand and deal with anxiety. So if you're anxious about money, you'll have less anxiety if you have more money saved. And it doesn't matter much where you put it — money adds up even in a savings account with zero percent interest.
So start now. Begin with what you have and build slowly. Continually increase your contributions to your savings as soon as you can. You may just surprise yourself.
Planning for the long haul
Not too many years ago, people worked for the same company for a lifetime and looked forward to a retirement of fishing and golf. More often than not, nowadays that dream is just that — a dream that won't ever find fulfillment, at least as it was originally envisioned. Many jobs have evaporated, a surprising number of pension plans have gone belly up, and many IRA and 401(k) types of accounts have shriveled.
Is this state of affairs a cause for despair and hopelessness? We don't think so. Sure, you're right to feel concerned and maybe even disappointed that you may not be able to retire when you want or live the retirement lifestyle that you once expected. But the trait of flexibility we talk about earlier in this chapter applies here too. You should know that research reported in the Journal of Occupational Health Psychology in 2009 actually found that people who work part time instead of completely retiring are healthier both physically and mentally. This finding held up even when controlling for variables like age, education, and wealth.
So consider that the goal of complete retirement may not even be especially good for you! You don't have to make as much as you did prior to semi-retiring or work as many hours. That's because part-time work can go a long way toward stretching whatever retirement account dollars you already have. Consider looking for an encore career that gives you more satisfaction and meaning than just money. Or try something brand new that comes with less stress but connects you with people. It's a whole lot easier to go to work if you're having fun. At this time in your life, your job doesn't need to build your ego or impress other people.
Finally, try to realize that a certain amount of uncertainty is certain! In other words, life and investments will always take unexpected twists and turns. You can't avoid setbacks, but you can recover. In the long haul, markets, economies, and people inevitably rise and fall.
Chapter 15: Keeping Steady When the World Is Shaking
In This Chapter
Looking at the true statistics
Evaluating risk realistically
Managing risks
Coping constructively
Perhaps you think that you're a rational person. If so, you probably believe that the fears that make you the most anxious are the things that pose the greatest risk to you — after all, that would be the most rational perspective, wouldn't it? But that's not how the mind works. People focus and dwell on worries that grab their attention, not those that are most likely to happen.
News media, inadvertently or otherwise, often exacerbate the problem. When natural disasters hit, news helicopters take off like a flock of geese startled by a shotgun blast. Television screens fill with images of horror, pain, suffering, and death. Reporters seemingly thrive on interviews with grief-stricken victims and run their tales of woe repeatedly for days at a time. No wonder many people spend lots of time worrying about natural disasters.
On the other hand, perhaps you have a variety of anxieties and worries, but natural disasters aren't something that bother you. If so, you can feel free to skip this chapter — unless you're just curious about the subject.
In this chapter, we help you sort through such fears and worries. We help you see that you may be spending lots of time on issues of low risk and/or things you really can't do anything about. We also discuss how to look at your personal risks. Sometimes, worrying about natural disasters is realistic if you live in certain high-risk areas. In those cases, we suggest ways to manage such risks from a practical as well as emotional standpoint. We conclude with ideas about what you can do to cope actively rather than passively by working to improve the world and the lives of others when they encounter natural disasters.
Assessing Your Risks
Because images of natural disasters vividly stream from television screens within minutes of their occurrence, keeping a realistic perspective on how much risk they really pose to you is often difficult. In the next couple of sections, we briefly review the types of natural disasters in the world and the frequency with which they occur. We also help you understand your true risks for encountering a natural disaster.
Looking at the likelihood of dying from a natural disaster
You've certainly heard the eternal question about when a tree falls in a forest — if no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Natural disasters are sort of like that tree. Are calamitous events truly calamitous if no one is around when they occur? Maybe not.
However, plenty of disasters hurt people — often in significant numbers — when they occur. Disasters can also lead to financial, environmental, and emotional distress or loss. The following list represents some of the most common natural disasters that people worry about:
Avalanches are sudden snow slides that break loose and pummel or bury anything in their path. They kill about 150 people per year. Most avalanches occur after a winter storm. The risk of dying in an avalanche can be put in perspective by knowing that the world population now stands at about 6.8 billion and counting.
Earthquakes occur thousands of times every day. The vast majority of these quakes are minor and unnoticeable on the earth's surface. From time to time, however, earthquakes unleash a powerful explosion of pent-up energy sending huge, destructive seismic waves across a broad area. On average, about 10,000 people die in earthquakes each year. Most die in collapsed buildings, but earthquake-triggered landslides, fires, and floods also claim lives.
Fires, whether in forests, houses, or buildings, kill more people than most natural disasters. The U.S. Fire Administration claims that the United States' rate of fire deaths is among the highest in the industrialized world. Nonetheless, the risk of dying from fire in the United States is somewhere around 15 in one million.
Floods occur when large volumes of water submerge land, houses, buildings, and people. They often result from extreme weather such as hurricanes or torrential downpours. Floods also occur when dams and other barriers break. The overall risk of dying from floods has declined due to improved warning systems and knowledge about where they're likely to occur. According to the Civil Society Coalition on Climate Change, your overall risk of dying from floods stands at around one in a million each year. However, floods sometimes kill more than 100,000 people in a single incident. And many more people lose their possessions and property to floods.
Hurricanes emerge from some tropical storms and generate wind speeds of 75 to over 150 miles an hour. Most of those who die from hurricanes die from flooding (see the preceding item in this list).
Have we got you worried? Consider that this list pales in comparison to all the possible natural disasters. Perhaps you can't readily think of other disasters, but Wikipedia lists these (among others!):
Asteroids
Blizzards & extreme cold
Falling junk from outer space
Gamma ray bursts (massive electromagnetic explosions in galaxies that have even been speculated as having the potential to someday cause mass extinctions on earth!)
Hailstorms
Heat waves
Lightning
Limnic eruptions (a huge eruption of carbon dioxide from deep
lakes that can suffocate livestock and people in the area)
Tornados
Tsunamis
Volcanic eruptions
You get the idea. Possibilities abound. But your overall risk of death from any particular natural disaster is far lower than death by your own hand or accidental death — both of which most people worry much less about than natural disasters. On the other hand, your risk of death from natural disasters may be far greater than most people's. We tell you how to determine that risk next.
Tabulating your personal risks
The lists in the preceding section include the most common natural disasters (and obviously a number that aren't so common). But you probably don't have to worry too much about them happening to you unless you live in an area plagued by them. However, you never know when something may erupt. So make a list of your personal risk factors. Do you live, work, travel, or play in areas that may be subject to a natural disaster?
For example, people who live in certain areas of California choose the wonderful weather over the risk of living in earthquake, fire, and mudslide risk zones. And if you go helicopter skiing frequently, you darn well better know about what triggers avalanches. So a given individual may have a much greater risk of being harmed or killed by natural disasters than the average person. If that risk applies to you, you want to take extra precautions.
If you don't know your risks, try using a search engine on the Internet to find out. After all, you don't want to live in denial anymore than you want to obsess about risks that are greater in your mind than in reality.
For example, we live in landlocked New Mexico and usually don't even think about natural disasters. Every once in a while, a weather system in the Pacific causes it to rain like crazy here, and we get a few flooded streets and arroyos (you might call them drainage ditches). In some areas of the state, forest fires present some risk. In addition, if you look out our home's window, you can see some dusty old volcanoes that were active about 3,000 years ago. We don't worry too much about those either.
But just to make sure, we entered "New Mexico and volcanoes" into our browser, and, much to our surprise, we found out that our state is known as the "volcano state." Furthermore, we sit on a large continental rift and live on top of large veins of hot lava. The time frame listed for another eruption was listed as "geologically soon." Oh no! What should we do? Read on.
Preparing a Plan for Realistic Worries
You can never prepare for every imaginable crisis. Rather, it's important to assess which risks have a realistic chance of happening. Then prepare for those in proportion to the risks they pose, as best you can.
Probably the most important piece of advice we can give you is this: During times of crisis, listen to public service announcements and directives — and follow them. In addition, we suggest you ponder the following questions in advance of any calamity:
Have I become educated about the specific risks in my area?
If I live in a place in which natural disasters occur, have I made reasonable preparations?
Do I know the emergency evacuation route for my area?
If a disaster appears imminent, do I have a full tank of gas?
Do I have supplies on hand, such as flashlights, warm clothing, extra batteries, at least a three-day stockpile of food and water, and a battery-powered radio?
Do I have a first-aid kit?
Do I have a plan if an emergency occurs?
Do I have an emergency stash of cash?
Do I have my important documents saved in a safety deposit box or fireproof safe?
Do I know how to use a fire extinguisher, and do I have a fully charged extinguisher?
Do I know how to shut off utilities in the event of a disaster?
Do I know what I would take with me in case I need to evacuate?
Do I have a plan in place to communicate with my family?
Do I have a way to protect my pets?
After you've gone through the list of questions, take any actions that seem necessary and reasonable. Then stop worrying; you've done all you can do.
Note the first question on our list is: Have I become educated about the specific risks in my area? So we searched the Internet to find out what to do in case of a volcano eruption. Well, the first idea is to get out of the way. If we do happen to be stuck in the house, we should close the doors, windows, and block the chimneys to keep ash out. If we go outside to watch, we should hold a damp cloth over our mouths to help us breathe. Also, we learned that hot lava and ash are heavy and should be brushed off of our roof if much lands on it. On the other hand, sometimes volcanoes blow out chunks of lava the size of a house, so sweeping it off may be difficult. Dang.
Nevertheless, we're not planning to spend a whole lot of time on preparing for this eventuality, nor do we figure on worrying a lot about it. But after writing this chapter, we did realize it wouldn't be a bad idea to check on the state of our fire extinguisher in case any of that lava lands on our backyard or house.
No matter how well you prepare, you can't prevent all calamities. Make reasonable efforts and get on with your life. You can never eliminate all uncertainty from life.
Nonetheless, if you find yourself still worrying after having done all you realistically should to plan for disasters, read the next section.
Finding the silver lining in adversity
Unexpected things happen even if you take precautions. The following account of a couple on a honeymoon illustrates an unexpected encounter with a natural disaster.
Sandy and Brice leave for their tropical honeymoon in November, carefully avoiding the peak of hurricane season. The newlyweds are exhausted from the wedding and look forward to a relaxing beach vacation. As promised, the resort is beautiful and the beaches pristine. After the first day of lounging on the beach, they return to their room. They're surprised to see a note lying on their bed.
"The management regrets to inform you that there will be a severe tropical storm in the area. Please be advised that you will be required to evacuate by bus to a safe area. Please bring your belongings, a blanket, and a pillow. We will be leaving from the lobby of the hotel in two hours."
The buses take about 50 guests and hotel staff to a shabby school about 30 minutes away. The humidity is high and the school smells like mold. The staff tells the guests that the air conditioning in the school doesn't work very well, but they will try to keep everyone comfortable. Cots are set up in a large room that serves as a cafeteria and gymnasium.
Sandy and Brice try to keep a positive attitude, and the hotel staff seems very well organized. The first meal consists of a cold chicken salad, salsa, and chips. The hotel provides cans of beer and soda. A few of the quests start singing campfire songs, and the group remains festive. However, after a few hours, the rain picks up. Then the electricity goes off. The mood of the refugees grows darker with the darkening sky. Hours pass and the sounds of wind, rain, and thunder are interrupted by loud crashes. People huddle together; some cry; others pray. A few exhausted children sleep.
By morning, the intensity of the storm lessens. But the people are told that it's not yet safe to return to the beach area and that the airports are closed. Brice tells a staff member that he must get in touch with his family. The staff member tells him that communication is impossible. They serve cold hard rolls and canned juice for breakfast. Staff inform them that water is getting scarce and that they must ration it. As the day wears on, anger and irritability rise. Some people get sick. The smell gets worse and worse. The third and fourth days pose almost unbearable challenges from the lack of electricity, food, water, and sanitary conditions.
Finally, the buses come back and the tourists are returned to a devastated hotel. Windows are shattered and the halls are flooded. Sandy and Brice can barely walk, having suffered from food poisoning. Yet they feel lucky to be alive.
Sandy and Brice realize that even when you try your best to avoid risks, bad things happen. In looking back, they believe they
gained maturity and closeness from the adversity. Their new marriage flourishes. And they face the coming years with greater acceptance of uncertainty and appreciation for every day of their lives.
Imagining and Dealing with the Worst
Hopefully, you've looked at how realistic your worries about natural disasters are, and you've done what you can do to plan. Nevertheless, you may find yourself worrying more than you'd like to.
Overcoming Anxiety For Dummies, 2nd Edtion Page 29
