Today’s reader question might take a little bit of thinking, but I’m positive that we all have something within us that scares us to pieces.
For the discussion today, I’d like to hear your thoughts on the following question: ‘What is your worst financial nightmare?’
It can be something that’s already happened (in which case, do tell the juicy story), or simply something you fear happening in the future.
Why do we fear certain things more than others – perhaps our childhood memories, experiences of others, or media hype? How can we overcome the fear so that it doesn’t prevent us from being successful in life?
My Own Fears
I’ll start off by sharing a few of my own financial fears:
- Having to Re-Start Working After Retirement. I doubt I will really stop working after retirement – I like freelance work too much. But I do worry that money will run out, and I will be looking for work at age 75.
- A Major, Unforeseen Catastrophe. I don’t know what it could be (hence – unforeseen), but I do worry that something could wipe us out and leave a trail of dust in its wake.
- Opportunity Cost. To be honest, I worry about this all the time. Am I really earning all I can? Is my money better spent on something else? Should I be spending time on this and that? The fear is that I’m not living to my full potential…
So what are your financial fears? Head down to the comments!
Photo by darkpatator
Fiscal Fizzle 
My worst financial nightmares: 1) buying a home in California and having it destroyed by an earthquake -I guess this is related to your unforeseen catastrophe. 2) Being in such need of money that I’m obliged to work long hours in a job that I don’t like, missing out on time with the family.
I’d never thought of the opportunity costs, I think you may just have added a new one to my list!
My worst financial nightmare is to have no income and no way to fix the problem. In the nightmare, something happens to one of us – usually an accident leaving us unable to work, or a disease that costs tons of money – and we have extra bills and expenses and no way to earn any money. We do have excellent health insurance right now, but to be honest I don’t even know if we have disability insurance.
My worst nightmares are losing my current job and not being able to find work – at all! I cant stand for long hours at a time, so most retail/fastfood/service related jobs are out of the running for me.
Another nightmare I have is losing my home due to fire/flood or oher natural disaster.
Losing your home is a big one! I live in a water-exposed part of Florida (not hard to do), so it’s almost an expectation here that your home will flood sometime in the next 100 years (hence, the creation of flood zones and flood insurance). Kind of scary to think about, but I guess for the weather we get, it’s worth the risk.
Losing your job is also a big one! People got used to being able to take on “fall-back” jobs in case they were ever laid off or fired, but even those jobs have mostly been scooped up these days! It’s scary out there.