How to Improve Your Financial Situation After a Natural Disaster?
Mother nature is full of surprises and shocks. Somewhere it is bright and sunny while, on the other side, it’s dark and cold. Most of us have experienced both sides of nature: the best and the worst. Hence we live in a world that is unpredictable. Therefore, we need to prepare ourselves to face any unfortunate happening whether its big or small. Sometimes nature can be extremely dangerous to mankind and your life can turn upside down. Moreover, natural disasters are clear proof of what you can go through without being warned.
If you look in the past few years, it has been proved that there is no way to overpower nature. Hurricane, Earthquake, Tsunami, and Flood are some of the worst natural disasters that had taken too many lives and done a million dollars of property damage.
After any such hit, all of a sudden the home is not safe and you have to evacuate leaving all your belongings behind. Saving your life is the first priority for anyone. However, after surviving a natural disaster and it’s trauma, you are left with a financial break down to manage.
So, if you have been a victim of natural disaster, read on to find tricks for re-building your financial fort:
A natural disaster can damage your property extensively causing you a lot of financial injuries. It can be your car or house. Hence, it is important to ensure that most of your losses are covered by the insurance company. You must contact your insurance company immediately after the disaster. Also, this will help you stay calm in such a difficult time.
Moreover, while speaking to your insurer, insist on getting the physical copy of the insurance document as you might not want to leave any benefit uncovered. Keeping your insurance policy in mind you can verify the coverage. For instance, insurance companies play smart and hide the whole benefits of the insured. In such cases, having a physical copy of your policy handy will help you to get better assistance and get coverage on your all the major insured property. Lastly, do not hurry in signing the final settlement letter or document as the real damage due to any natural disaster occurs only after a few days or weeks. Hence, be patient with the process so that you don’t end up regretting later for the undiscovered damages.
After you have done the damage calculation, it is time to know your financial standing. Make sure you contact your bank to check if your saving is safe so that at least you can relax a bit. Now, the next few months are going to be tight on budget as there is a chance of no income until everything gets sorted. Therefore, go over your bills and installments to find out the payments to be done. If possible, talk to your lender or loan company if they can revise the payment plan or grace period as per your convenience. Mostly, lender or companies agree as everybody is well aware of the condition after any natural disaster.
For regular stuff, stores like Target and Home Depot are always ready to provide their support to the victims of the affected region by providing free supply or cheaper deals for everybody. It is a generous act by such big retailers. The true color of humans shines in needful situations. Also, credit card or banks think a step ahead in such circumstance. They automatically apply the disaster policy for the locals in the affected area so that their credit score is not affected if any delay in the payment occurs for a few months.
In a situation where mass is affected by a natural disaster, the government does its best to support the people living the presidentially declared disaster area. You will be qualified for the federally funded disaster assistance. For a detailed list of benefits and services, you can check its website at Fema.gov. In case you need a case manager, you can contact a nonprofit agency like the American Red Cross for extra assistance. These case manager can help you to recover from the stress and trauma. Also, they keep you updated with the insurance updates and advocate you throughout the recovery process. Make sure to look out for all the help you can get in such circumstance from the government and nonprofit organizations.
It is apparent that all your emergency saving will be used in recovering from the damage caused by disasters. Hence, it is extremely important to work in rebuilding your saving again as soon as possible. Initially, you might find it troublesome but sooner or later with the dedicated and reasonable amount of saving goals you can accomplish your desired target.
Along with the saving goals, it is necessary to watch your expenses cut on every unwanted expenditure until you reach your financial ground back. While choosing the department store make sure that you are shopping from stores like Amazon, Overstock, and Sear for great saving benefits and reasonable cost products. Manage your expense on food and home so that they are not eating up your emergency saving fund. One great way to handle the money crises is following a budget and restricting yourself from any money draining habits.
Life is never meant to be easy. Uncertainty happens and you must stay strong to handle any crises. The most important thing to do in any disastrous situation is safeguarding your family and be there to support each other. The faster you cover your financial fall, the better will be your personal recovery. Money is important to support and provide a better life to your family. Therefore, keep yourself updated with all the government and insurance benefits so that in times of need you can take advantage of it.