Does anyone know what it is like to be lost at 40? I mean those of you with a really great job that have a 401k, health insurance or whatever other benefits you get and just have no idea what’s in it because you just have money come out of your check and it was like you didn’t know it really even exists????? I’m here to tell you that you will appreciate its importance. If you ever get sick, or, something really bad happens where you weren’t smart enough to have a savings account building up every day like Suze Orman says to do and pay off all those damn credit cards that are actually maxed out, then you will feel the hurt that many of us are feeling these days!! Any financial questions send them to her!! I’m not particularly fond of her but I think she knows her shit when it comes to money!! Check her out if you want at: http://www.suzeorman.com/
I was one of those people once upon a time. I had several jobs that I absolutely loved over the past 23 years and the last one (well the totally official one I had that I now have a long term disability claim with) was a job working for the State of Arizona in the Juvenile Court. Law jobs are my kind of thing. I’ve had a little professional schooling but not enough or I would be an attorney!! I have a lot of people tell me it’s not too late but for me, it is. Anyway, I paid into the disability funds and all the other benefits thinking I should…JUST because I just should never realize I may actually need them someday. Well let me tell you how fucking hard it is to collect them if something happens to you!! My problem is they still have “no real diagnosis” (that’s a whole other blog for another day) so my current diagnosis are “Fibromyalgia” (http://www.webmd.com/fibromyalgia/guide/arthritis-fibromyalgia). With Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, Fifth’s Disease and a couple other minor stupid things that nobody has ever heard of. My Vitamin D is horribly low so I take a supplement for that but nobody knows why.
I also have lesions on my brain so back in January I was told I had Demyelinating Disease (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/demyelinating-disease/AN00564)

So in other words with DD (Demyelinating Disease) after an MRI which showed lesions on my brain, my neurologist (which I saw as a just a precaution to make sure I didn’t have MS) began to tell me that I had the beginning stages of DD, after she said DD about three times while giving me an EMG test and sticking huge needles in my arms (this was a test for the numbness I was having and the possibility of carpal tunnel) I finally said to her “What the hell is DD???. She said “Multiple Sclerosis”. I thought I was gonna faint when she said it, I got light headed, I thought to myself “I knew I was sick and now after a year and a half they finally figure this shit out”. I didn’t know whether to be pissed, happy, sad, mad and I immediately thought I had to take on the attitude that I was gonna beat this shit! It was not gonna get me!! I would fight fight fight! Had I not started homeopathic treatments and realized that doctors really don’t know shit sometimes I would still be laying there in bed every day where I managed to gain 60 pounds and get so depressed I was suicidal. Several weeks later after a couple of other tests, called Evoked Potential Tests, she finally told my GP that she did not think I had MS but that I would need another MRI in 6 months (which means I need to have one ASAP—it’s been over 6 months). This was a huge relief but I am still reading everything I can. I read everything I can on Fibro, MS, and several other Auto Immune Diseases which mimic each other very closely which makes them really hard to diagnose.
SO……my point is…don’t get lost at 40 like I did….pay into that shit!!! My best advice is this..pay into that short term disability!! My husband and I now have Aflac. I love the duck and as a matter of fact I was gonna sell it at one time. I would put their web link up like everybody else but they have enough advertisement on their own and if you need to find them….you can and will. If you think you have cancer (but don’t have a real diagnosis yet) guess what, you can get the duck and they will cover everything 100%! Seriously! I love the duck and you should love whatever they offer you at work!
The point is….don’t get lost at 40 and don’t take those benefits for granted….if they offer them….TAKE EM!!
There you have it….stay tuned!