When disaster strikes, your finances will probably be impacted. How badly depends on exactly what happens to you and your property. But you can prepare and try to cope as best as possible when it happens.

I got thinking on this topic while watching the California wildfires from my mother’s house. Yes, I had to evacuate due to one of them. Fortunately, I got to come home to a home that is still here. Feeling pretty lucky.

Of course, when you lose your home and/or job due to a disaster the financial impact is huge, often overwhelming. Just how bad it is can depend on things like whether or not you have sufficient insurance to rebuild, and how possible it is to find work if your place of employment burned. These are real things people have to deal with.

Buying homeowners insurance is one of the things you should do if you own a home, so that you can rebuild after a disaster. It’s harder to get in some places than in others, but if it’s in the budget, potentially very much worth the money. You won’t know until you need it desperately.

But even just having to evacuate and come home a few days later can have a huge impact. Just think about all the people who are paid hourly. I know a lot of businesses closed for the duration, or employees chose not to come in due to the stresses of evacuating. Kind of makes childcare hard to obtain, after all. But that can be a huge financial hit.

These are the times where having something of a savings account comes in handy. If not that, then emergency credit cards, so that a lack of money coming in doesn’t instantly ruin you. Whenever possible you need some sort of backup plan for these difficult times.

Let me tell you, even my mother felt something of a financial impact, albeit at her choice. She was feeding 11 people at her home, 9 of which had been evacuated from their homes. Those groceries weren’t cheap, although various people did contribute financially to them. Mom still took the brunt of it, deliberately. You can be impacted by a disaster even if it doesn’t come directly to your home or work.

The bottom line is to always think about what might happen, and be prepared for that which it is reasonable to prepare for. Think about how you and your family will get by during an emergency. Take the time to plan for it and you will have a better chance of coping well financially, so you can recover sooner.

Technorati Tags: , , ,