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Eh, four kids, a breakup, work that was already seasonal in nature, cancer and laid off in a recession tho. Also, authors generally don't rake it in and certai
by phillmv 12y ago
Eh, four kids, a breakup, work that was already seasonal in nature, cancer and laid off in a recession tho.
Also, authors generally don't rake it in and certainly not at the magnitude of "a few years' expenses".
Maybe she could've would've should've but fixed costs are sticky and you don't have to look around very hard to find people who can't absorb that many shocks in such a short period of time.
- zo1 12y agoThen, why not income-protection insurance? That would have solved all her unfortunate-circumstance problems, including the health insurance one. Especially so for someone with some sort of seasonal income. They're the type of individuals who should know better than to not have a reasonable buffer (in case work doesn't come in that season).
- TylerE 12y agoLOL. You think such a social safety net is available in the land of FREEDOM(tm)?
- phillmv 12y agoYou say that as if it were that easy. I hadn't heard of income-protection insurance and after some googling it's no wonder: as far as I can it's a kind of disability insurance - it doesn't kick in if you're merely unemployed. At that point, you're at the mercy of your state's unemployment insurance - which you might not be eligible for if you've been working as a contractor or self employed. Not to mention that seasonal work makes it harder to plan, since you don't have reliable income to plan around. There just aren't that many "no-brainer" options for absorbing this many shocks, at a scale most individuals can cope with.
- phonon 12y agoSee https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8599991 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8599991 Pure private unemployment insurance.