Having a stroke is expensive

By Letisha

Stroke can impact every part of your life. It can seep into relationships, family, daily activities, your employment, every little part of your life is impacted.

And just when you're trying to piece yourself and your life back together, ‘POW’ you realise that you can't afford your bills, house repayments, school fees, car repayments – or even the rehab, that you need to get back to your life.

It is a vicious cycle, and it stinks.

I was a single mum when I had a stroke in 2012, and I learned some important financial lessons, which I hope others may benefit from.

Prior to my stroke I was employed full-time, and I had a good income which supported myself and my children. After my stroke I was unemployed, and dependent on Centrelink.

I found that financial stress after stroke was three pronged. It came down to the economics of dollars and cents and how much I had available, my employability (or lack of) and finally my feelings of failure, would I be able to give my family the life that I wanted to?

I was forced to look at my savings and assets and try to balance my outgoings - finding savings where I could.

With no job, and three kids, it was a challenge.

The first thing to go was any spending on luxuries, we had to learn to live within our means. That meant no Foxtel, takeaway dinners, coffees or going out - anything that was an unnecessary expense had to go.

My older kids were nearly teenagers, so when they were old enough, they found jobs to support their social life and buy their own things.

I looked at the assets that I already had accumulated to see if there were pools of money that I could access.

The first asset I looked at was my superannuation (super). I was able to take some money out for financial hardship. I also had TPD (Total Permanent Disability) insurance as part of my super, so I was able to withdraw that amount too.

I had full insurance coverage on my car, so the insurance company paid out my car repayments - one less thing to worry about.

Then I went on payment plans for all our bills. That protected me from any large surprise bills which I wouldn’t have the money to pay.

The next port of call was Centrelink. There was no NDIS support in 2012. I was able to get a disability support pension and to take an advance payment for Christmas’ and ‘back to school’ times and then pay it back interest free.

We found a way to struggle through, and I even expanded my beautiful family with another baby. It hasn’t been the life that I thought I would have, or give my children, but the lessons that we have learned will last a lifetime.

These are my top financial tips:

1. Check what you currently have i.e. your superannuation, insurances, mortgage insurance. You may have access to money that you were not aware of.
2. It is okay to downsize and remove certain luxuries out of your life. Our job is to take care of ourselves and provide for our children, not impress our neighbors or our communities with ‘things’.
3. If you can pay a little more in your bills each week or month, do so. It feels better to be in front than behind, and you never know when you might need it.