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On January 11, 2005 Nichelle Medina of Channel 8 News
interviewed Gloria Foote. The topic of their discussion was planning for a
natural disaster. The following is the text of this interview.
Nichelle
– Well some San Diegians have seen some damage to their homes because of
this huge storm. Gloria Foote from Financial Focus has some advice on how
to be financially prepared if it happens to you. Gloria good morning to
you.
Gloria –
Good morning.
Nichelle
– You know a lot of people have that mentality as we saw with the
devastating wildfires that it just can't happen to me. Mother nature just
does not discriminate sometimes.
Gloria –
Well obviously it does not. And as we've known by our Cedar fires, the
flooding that is happening now, some of the other natural disasters we have
to have a financial disaster plan.
Nichelle
– Where do we begin?
Gloria –
The best place to begin is with your insurances. You want to look at your
home owner's insurance and make sure that you have a replacement cost
policy. So that you replace the things that you are losing at today's cost.
If you're a renter it is an absolute necessity that you have renter's
insurance to protect those things that make your life run.
Nichelle
– And also you have to think about money. You need to have some kind of
financial plan in place
Gloria –
Absolutely, you do. A financial plan and cash reserves. We say three to six
months of cash reserves. If you don't have it you need to figure out a way
to get it.
Nichelle
– And we're not just talking about keeping it in your checking account or
savings - maybe money market accounts?
Gloria –
Money market accounts for probably three months and the other three months
can role in a CD every three months so you get a little bit higher
rate.
Nichelle
– And you also say it's so - it's obvious to something like this but you
really don't do something about it but you say to stash some cash in your
car or in your home because those ATMs might not be available in case of an
emergency.
Gloria –
They may not be and the banks may be closed if it is a large financial disaster
or natural disaster. So you do want to keep a little bit of money at home -
maybe that's some traveler checks or some rolled coin but very important to
have money available.
Nichelle
– And you say that it is key to have an emergency box. Talk about that and
what should go in there.
Gloria –
Well, we call it an evacuation box. And it is so that the moment you have a
disaster you can pick that up and walk out. What should be in it are copies
of your homeowner's insurance, auto insurance, the numbers for your
insurance agent, financial advisors. Copies of your prescriptions - very
important, and the numbers of doctors. Just those kinds of things that make
your life run and your financial records so that when you have a disaster
and you don't know where to start you have those things you can carry out
with you in one place.
Nichelle
– Would you say that's the most common mistake people make is that they
don't have everything easily accessible to them?
Gloria –
It is and this is not something you can start thinking about when the
creek's starting to rise.
Nichelle
– A very good way to put it especially on a day like today. Thanks so much
for coming with such wonderful advice.
Gloria –
You're very welcome.
Nichelle
– And of course, for more tips on how to prepare for a disaster, just log
onto kfmb.com.
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