This post is brought to you by a reader– and his spouse– who choose to stay anonymous about their experiences with their local Intensive Care Unit during the pandemic.  

It’s a timely reminder of everyone’s “why” of financial independence– and your estate planning for disability, not only for death.  Who’s going to take over your family’s care & finances if you’re suddenly in the hospital’s Emergency Room and the ICU?

During the early stages of the COVID Pandemic, I started feeling poorly while on active duty.  I didn’t have the “normal” symptoms of COVID that were being announced on the news. I ended up going to the medical clinic on base where I was stationed, and they gave me two bags of IV fluid. They also told me to go to the Emergency Room (ER) if I didn’t feel better the next day.

So the next day, I took myself to the ER where I was diagnosed with pneumonia but not tested for COVID. It was so early in the pandemic that only admitted patients were getting tested for COVID. I was sent home with a Z-pak. After 24 hours my wife told me that I should go back to ER because I was not feeling any better. When I went back, the ER screener told me I should come back when the Z-pak was finished.

Because I felt something was still off with me and my concerned wife was being extra vigilant about my health, I went back to the ER after finishing the prescribed medication. Fortunately, this time there was a military Reservist in healthcare acting as the ER screener, and he told me that I would be taken care of. The ER staff ran some tests and my oxygen level was below 90% which was abnormal. Then they ran a test called the Arterial Blood Gas Test revealing my blood oxygen was at 40% which is life threatening. I tested positive for COVID and was sedated and intubated quickly after. I was at death’s door according to my doctor and yet I felt a peace. I had time to quickly call my wife but not much time to think about the gravity of the situation until I woke up in the Intensive Care Unit on a ventilator.

Death was a very real possibility, but at the time, I was comforted by a few facts.  I believed in a God, I lived a full life seeing and doing the majority of my bucket list and then some, and I had reached a financial peace. We are taught in the military to prepare, to be ready at a moment’s notice, and that incudes preparing for death. Over my 20 plus year military career, I improved my personal financial savviness that gave me an inner confidence my family could survive on SGLI and the nest egg that we had built allowing my spouse the choice of continuing to be a stay at home mom or returning to the workforce. I started in my mid-twenties living on less than I make and saving at a high rate to include retirement savings. We began our debt free journey by not having a car payment since 2011, and paid off student loans in 2016. When we started having children, I established a legacy drawer so my spouse knew where all the important information was to include: last will and testament, life insurance, letters to kids, passwords to accounts, etc.

I write all this not to brag about what we have done, but to emphasize the importance of planning for unexpected life events. I knew if I passed, my wife and family could survive without struggling financially.  This was important to me as it was a goal I had set for myself at a young age after seeing my parents struggling with personal finances.  I knew my wife could find everything she needed with ease and not have to go look in the backyard for some safety deposit box or in some cookie jar hidden in the freezer.  Death and mortality is a hard subject to discuss especially in your twenties and thirties, but it’s much harder on those left behind if there was no plan in place. I strongly recommend having a will for yourself– and your spouse, if applicable. Financial planning is not just about freedom in living but also financial freedom (for those left behind) in death.

Initially, I didn’t think my experience was that big of a deal, honestly.  I was glad that I listened to my wife, and that we had planned for this situation financially. Obviously, I survived with a long road to recovery. I thank my mentors for all the great financial guidance I’ve received over many years. Much of what I have learned about personal finance in the last 10 years came from Dave Ramsey. I know he isn’t for everyone, but in most areas, he provides great common sense advice to include the legacy drawer mentioned above. I am grateful to be here with my family, to watch my girls grow up, to continue to check off items on my bucket list, and to enjoy retirement at a relatively early age.

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