In real life, we often witness situations where a perfectly fine family may change its original state due to an accident, either by depleting their wealth or facing the loss of family members. Such tragic events occur around us every day.
Of course, accidents come in various forms, such as car accidents, gambling, or the death of a loved one. Today, we mainly discuss the impact and influence of disabled elderly individuals on family finances.
The Story of Old Li: Happiness and Misfortune Are Just a Wall Apart
Old Li, who lives in our community, is a well-known figure with a story almost everyone in the neighborhood is familiar with.
Old Li is a taxi driver, his wife is a regular worker, and their son is studying at a university in another city. The couple lives with Old Li's mother. Although they are not wealthy, they have a harmonious family life that gets by. Old Li is a hardworking man who starts his day early, as soon as the sky begins to lighten, and doesn't stop until the night is quiet. With this diligence, his income is decent.
However, a turning point came with an accident when Old Li's mother fell and got injured while taking a walk outside. She was taken to the hospital for treatment, and the doctor said that the elderly lady had a broken femur head. The only solution was to perform surgery to replace the femur head. But given that she was already in her eighties and not in the best of health, there were certain risks involved in the surgery. The doctor left the decision to the family.
At that time, Old Li thought it was simple: his mother was already eighty years old, and it wasn't worth it for her to undergo surgery at this age. Moreover, if something unexpected happened during the surgery, wouldn't that risk her life? So, Old Li decided to take his mother home for rest and care.
At first, it was manageable as Old Li and his wife took turns caring for his mother. But as time went on, his wife told him that her employer had spoken to her about her frequent leaves, giving her two options: either focus on her job or look for another one. Old Li realized that it was impractical to keep taking leaves, especially since it wasn't their own family matter. Thus, he took on most of the responsibility for caring for his mother, only going out to drive his taxi for a while after his wife came home from work.
His mother's condition continued to deteriorate. Initially, she could still walk with assistance, but later she became increasingly immobile, eventually losing the ability to move on her own and requiring 24-hour care.On the other hand, Lao Li's income has plummeted. In addition to his elderly mother's medication, his son's school fees are also pressing, and coupled with being constantly confined to a small room, Lao Li's mood has begun to become anxious and irritable. The whole family wears a worried expression all day, and the couple often argue over trivial matters.
It is no exaggeration to say that a disabled elderly person can break a family. What is it like to have a disabled elderly person at home? Those who have not experienced it certainly cannot empathize. If an elderly person becomes disabled, the most direct question is: who will take care of them? If a family member takes care of them, the caregiver will inevitably lose their source of income or reduce it to some extent; if a professional caregiver is hired, then there is also the issue of high nursing fees.
To put it bluntly, the most fundamental problem when having a disabled elderly person at home is still a matter of money. Just like in the story of Lao Li mentioned earlier, his family was originally warm and harmonious, and the economy was also relatively comfortable. However, after his mother became disabled, Lao Li's income was virtually zero. For a family with both elderly and young dependents, the loss of one income source can be unimaginably stressful.
What if a professional caregiver is hired? It is equally challenging. The prices of professional caregivers are rising. Taking the example of hiring a caregiver for a patient's hospitalization and surgery, the daily cost is about 300-350 yuan. If the care lasts for 7 days, the cost would be between 2100-2500 yuan. This is essentially equivalent to the monthly income of a worker in a fourth-tier city.
In the case of a disabled elderly person like Lao Li's mother, it is common to hire a daily worker for care, with working hours from 8 am to 5 pm. The monthly salary for such care would be at least 6000 yuan. In our fourth-tier city, for a taxi driver to earn this much money is extremely difficult.
Therefore, for a family that is not prepared in advance, the emergence of a disabled elderly person means a disaster, which might be the "last straw" that breaks the financial back of a family.
How to cope? The key is to be prepared in advance.Risks and accidents are actually omnipresent in life; it's just that we tend to feel they are far from our lives until we encounter them.
The best approach to dealing with risks and accidents is to avoid risks, mitigate the damage from risks, and transfer risks.
If, for instance, Old Li had taken out an accident insurance policy for his mother, as long as it fell within the insurance claim scope, he could have received a certain amount of financial compensation. Moreover, insurance, as a risk hedging tool, is inherently a "small investment for a big return," meaning a small amount of money can secure a large sum of insurance money.
Take a certain accident insurance policy as an example; the annual premium is only a few hundred yuan, but once the claim conditions are triggered, one can receive up to 300,000 yuan in compensation for accidental injury. This money may not restore a person's health, but for a family that has just experienced an accident, it is definitely a timely rain. Insurance is a very important component within the scope of family financial management. It is very important and necessary, but to avoid any misunderstandings about the editor, I won't elaborate further on insurance.
Apart from insurance, we as individuals and families should also be better prepared. The reason why many families that were relatively financially comfortable can be set back to square one by a single accident is precisely this principle.
It's like many urban white-collar workers today who earn tens of thousands of yuan per month, but they never save and don't plan for the future, always thinking that today's money should be spent today, and tomorrow's money will be earned tomorrow. But once they encounter an accident or get hospitalized due to illness, they not only lose their income but also don't have the money to pay for the hospitalization fees.
However, if one has a bit of savings awareness, it is very easy to save 3,000 yuan per month from a salary of tens of thousands, and it will not affect their quality of life. And this sum of money saved over time can play a significant role when an accident occurs.
Therefore, no matter how much income we have, we should save something. Whether it's for future retirement or to cope with accidents that may come at any time, if you have more savings, you will have more confidence in dealing with them. When faced with choices, you can have more options. What do you think?
