This is week 13 of the 14-week Bermuda financial review to dramatically improve your finances

The risk of living

If you asked anyone, your friends, your family, the person on the street “what did they fear or worry about the most” besides Halloween ghosts, the most common answers would probably fall into just a few categories: fear of losing a job, losing money and a relationship, losing good health, and losing one’s life.

We live with fear, worry, and risk everyday. We don’t think we do, but risk of losing some component of our being is there as either a completely random event or something within our control to manage and prevent.

Risk of job loss

You cannot control whether the company you work for changes direction to another jurisdiction, or undergoes belt-tightening. You can, however, continually prepare yourself for changes in working environment with continuing education, while monitoring your current status. Never allow yourself to become complacent.

Risk of losing money

We all make choices in life. We can choose to do nothing; then, inevitably spend just as much if not more time and money reacting to problem situations. Or we can choose to be proactive by staying on top of our financial situation (and the reason we wrote this series) so that we will always know where we stand — and can weigh the risks before we invest in future opportunities.

Risk of losing a relationship.

Fact: Money is the biggest factor in relationship disasters: That includes how you handle it; how you manages it; how your parents dealt with money issues; how you can change money dynamics for the betterment of the family.

Risk of severe illness

Everyone worries about health events, retirees most of all. A physical health review is no different than a financial review. We can control how we improve our physical wellbeing with discipline, work, commitment and consistency. The end result — we increase the odds of staying healthy, creative and happy. How healthy are you? Take the Dr Oz Quiz. http://www.doctoroz.com/quiz/quiz-how-healthy-are-you

Risk of death

Some consider this a needless concern. Inevitably, we came into this world with nothing, and we will leave the same way. No matter how much we worry, every single one of us will take the final journey, hopefully after a full successful life.

But what about those left to mourn us? From the onset of birth — for most people — our lives become enhanced with broad, purposeful, contacts and community, while surrounded by people we care about.

These are the relationships we want to protect against risk of loss. This is why we insure ourselves, our health, and our property — to protect them.

Reviewing your insurance policies

Life insurance is often vilified — we think those salespeople just sit around collecting recurring commissions, because nothing ever happens. The better question — is are you adequately insured?

The thing is, we buy insurance against the day that something disastrous does happen. I can easily bet that if you added all the premiums you currently pay to an insurance company against the cost of self-financing the repairs on your hurricane damaged residence, paying off the mortgage, or saving every quarter for a college fund, and additional financial safety for your spouse at retirement, you could not do it.

Insurance gives you at a minimum the financial resources to rebuild your life after losing a spouse partner, to rebuild your home, and to cover catastrophic illness medical fees.

You and your family need life insurance. If you are single, perhaps, not so much. Your employer may provide a basic term life policy in addition to your mandatory health insurance. Be grateful. It is great benefit that you don’t have to incur cost.

Life policies

Are they enough to get your family through losing you? General reckoning is that your current salary times five to ten times is adequate to see your family along, but what if your family is young when you depart unexpectedly.

Buy cheap term life insurance if you can’t afford anything else. Any amount is better than none. When you are more successful financially, and generally, a bit older, then consider a whole life policy structure with a cash value included.

Try the Foresters Life Insurance Need calculator. This insurance company chosen to eliminate any bias toward local providers. http://www.lifehappens.org/insurance-overview/life-insurance/calculate-your-needs/

Property insurance

Year after year of payments can be quite expensive for any budget, but trust me, my family has experienced hurricane strikes: no one wants (or can afford) to pay for the damage alone.

Be very sure that your policy premiums are enough to cover the replacement value of your real estate(s). Otherwise, you will not receive full reimbursement for repairs. Check with your local provider, to be certain.

Health insurance

What to say? It is expensive. Do what you can to control this cost. Work on staying healthy by setting up guidelines in the same manner as your financial review. You can do it.

Go through your policy very carefully, line by line. Know clearly what you are responsible for and what the insurance company will pay. Check with your employer regarding less expensive alternatives.

Poor health, poor relationships, poor financial decisions, poor working habits all cost you (and your family) more money in the end.

Use this financial review to turn your life around.

Next week we wrap up this series. It has been so rewarding for me and exciting to receive reader requests for the budget chart and other self-help ideas. I wish that I was able to provide much greater detail for the topics that we reviewed on this 14-week journey, but dear readers, an overview is an overview.

If you only take away one idea from the 14-week series, let it be this. With some simple consistent monitoring of your finances, you can put yourself in a better position to become financially successful.

Currently, I am contemplating issuing the 14-week series in much more detail and resources in an e-book format. Readers, could you please provide me with your feedback as to what type of book appeals to you? Thank you so much.

PS: Those readers focused on paying down debt may enjoy a blog devoted to becoming debt-free, called Queen of Free. Keep in mind some ideas are US-centric. http://www.queenoffree.net/

Martha Harris Myron CPA PFS JSM, Masters of Law: International Tax and Financial Services. Appointed to the Professional Tax Advisory Council, American Citizens Abroad, https://americansabroad.org/. The Pondstraddler* Life™ Consultancy providing financial planning, publications, presentations for Bermuda residents, their multinational families and connections. Contact: martha@pondstraddler.com