Imagine that, at this very moment, an incident has occurred that prevents you from accessing your home, your office, your bank, your cell phone, and normal life comes to an abrupt “stop”! Hard to imagine? Those of you who lived in the Northeast during the blackout of 2004, remember very well what that was like. That event was unexpected. Other “unexpected” events like fires and earthquakes occur more often than we would expect, especially if you live in areas where such events are part of the local landscape. When hurricanes and storms strike, they are largely “expected.” We have advance warning of their arrival. We now add the big “T” to our list of possible events. Terrorism is both “expected” and “unexpected” in that we are aware that terrorist attacks can happen at any time (expected), but the timing is, for the most part, unknown (unexpected).
So, let us return to “this moment” when an event has occurred that prevents you from operating your normal life. If it is an unexpected event, you probably only have those things with you that you took when you left your home to go to work, school, shopping, etc. That probably includes your wallet, cell phone, PDA or pager, keys, pocket book or attaché case. Now think about who and what you are responsible for over the next few hours, or day, or several days, or week. Who relies on you for the functioning of their lives? Are you responsible for family members, either adults or children? Are you responsible for the well-being of co-workers?
There are many sources of information and advice as to how to prepare for such events. Much of that advice focuses on physical preparedness, such as having a “go kit” and an alternate means of communication. Mike Emmerman addresses these physical preparedness issues in his lectures and on his website “The Red File.com.” The purpose of this site is to look at the issues of financial preparedness.