I’m sure you’ve all read in the news recently that whooping cough is alive and well. Whooping cough, or Pertussis, is making a strong come-back (sort of like the bed bugs). And like bed bugs, whooping cough is a nasty annoyance that is hard to get rid of. I have a personal knowledge of just how whooping cough works, and how bad it really is. I know this because I am just getting over a round of it.
I had heard of whooping cough and assumed it was no fun, but I had no idea. It’s a severe cough that they used to call the “Hundred Day Cough”. They called it that because it takes at least that long to get over it…really. It got it’s new name, “whooping cough”, from the sound you make when you’re trying desparately to get a breath in between the coughs. Whooping cough has many other great qualities that I won’t share in this article. 🙂 I went to see different doctors several times to try and find a way to end it sooner. They tried me on 3 rounds of heavy duty antibiotics, steroids, antihistimines, and cough suppressants which all did nothing. All you can really do it just tough it out. You can still function with whooping cough, but it’s not fun. Trust me, you don’t want this.
To make things worse, I recently found out that my tetanus shot had expired about 1 year ago. You only get the tetanus shot every 10 years. Since I don’t play around a lot of rusty metal, I don’t really worry about tetanus too much. But the tetanus shot, also known as the DPT shot, includes the vaccines for Diptheria and yes, Pertussis (Whooping Cough). While I am now fully recovered, had I gotten my tetanus (DPT) shot last year, I probably wouldn’t have gotten whooping cough at all. I could kick myself for that! So what does whooping cough have to do with financial planning? It’s just another example of how something seemingly insignificant and small can wreck havoc on your life. In personal financial planning, there are a lot of “little” things that can be lurking around without you knowing about it. Many of these “little” things can severely mess up your financial life. Some examples would be:
- Beneficiary info that is not up to date
- Estate planning documents out of date
- Estate planning documents don’t exist
- Not having all financial information compiled and backed up
- Not enough life insurance to protect your family
- Paying too much in taxes
- Paying too much in investment fees
- Not having an identity theft protection strategy
Any one of these things (and there are many more) could end up being a financial form of whooping cough for you and your family, and end in disaster. Getting a financial check-up with your financial planner is the same as making sure your immunization shots are current. A competent financial planner, or CERTIFIED FINANCIAL PLANNER (R) Professional will ensure that you don’t have any terrible surprises down the road. Call us today to schedule an appointment at 1-866-983-4222. Ignoring it or not thinking about it is not a solution. I should also mention for the sake of young children, whooping cough is very often fatal to infants (they can’t get a breath and they suffocate). In fact, as of July 2010, the state of California had already lost 17 infants to whooping cough for the year. They think the reason that whooping cough is coming back is because many parents are choosing to not immunize their kids. Viruses like whooping cough and diptheria can easily be spread around the world with people traveling like we do. If you haven’t already, please get vaccinated for this terrible virus. It is potentially deadly, especially to babies. And during the first few weeks, it’s very contagious. Check out this link for more info on Pertussis.
