You just found out that you won’t be able to work for 6 months due to a sudden disability. It could have been due to an accident, or it could be a serious sickness. It might have come into your life suddenly, or you may have seen it coming for a while beforehand. Either way, you can’t work. You can’t earn income. Think about this for a minute…
If you’re anything like most Canadians, you have a high debt-to-income ratio and likely can’t afford to miss out on a single paycheque, let alone six full months! The good news is that we have a public healthcare system which will cover your basic cost of treatment, and if your disability was caused by your workplace activities our Workers Comp systems will replace your income. The bad news is that there are lots of extra costs that the healthcare system can’t cover, and that most physiological disabilities aren’t covered by WCB because they aren’t workplace-related.
What does this all mean in practical terms? Most Canadians are forced to make significant sacrifices to their lifestyle as a result of a prolonged disability.
Have you ever put thought into which financial sacrifices you are willing to make if your income stopped tomorrow? Alternatively, do you have any creature comforts that you simply can’t live without when you’re feeling down? These are important but uncomfortable questions that we tend to avoid asking ourselves until it’s too late to do anything about it.
Take some time to think about your lifestyle after diagnosis before you need to. Your future self will thank you!
