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88,000 Working Age Adult Deaths Each Year in US Due to Alcohol

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Study: CDC says 1 in 10 deaths can be attributed to excessive alcohol consumption
When people think about alcohol and death, the immediate thought is usually about drinking and driving, but that’s just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the different ways people die when alcohol is involved. According to a report published in in Preventing Chronic Disease from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), almost 1 in every 10 deaths of working age adults in the US is caused by alcohol. As Dr. Robert Brewer, lead author of the report notes, “One of the issues with alcohol that is particularly tragic is the extent to which it gets people in the prime of their lives.”

Even worse, these numbers are likely underestimating the number of people dying due to alcohol being a factor. The CDC numbers don’t include deaths from such diseases as HIV/AIDS, pneumonia and tuberculosis, where alcohol is often a major contributing factor in those deaths. The CDC wasn’t able to get good estimates on how many of those deaths came about from excessive drinking, so were excluded.

What makes these numbers tragic is these deaths are preventable. In fact, alcohol is now the fourth leading cause of preventable death in the US, coming in behind smoking, poor nutrition habits and sedentary behavior. These deaths also have a huge financial impact. It’s estimated the premature deaths caused by alcohol cost the US $224 billion a year, or the equivalent of $1.90 for every drink sold.

While researchers did include car accident deaths which could be attributed to alcohol (they only included deaths where a medical examiner had found a .10% or more blood-alcohol level in one of the drivers of the accident, above the .08% legal limit when drivers are considered impaired), they also looked at a wide variety of other causes. These included such things as accidental falls, drug overdoses, homicides, suicides and accidental poisonings where alcohol was also involved. They also looked into alcohol and diseases such as breast cancer, stroke and high blood pressure.

The researchers concluded that an average of 87,798 deaths each year could be attributed to alcohol from 2006 to 2010. The deaths happened far more often in men, with nearly three-fourths (71%) of these deaths happening to them. This is probably due to the fact men tend to drink more than women, and they are also much more likely to be involved in homicides than women.

The report also found the chances of dying from alcohol varies quite a bit depending on where in the US you live. Those living in New Mexico had the greatest chance with more than 15% (16.4%) of those between the ages of 20 and 64 dying from alcohol. In contrast, less than half the number (7.5%) of the deaths in Maryland could be attributed to alcohol.

(Photo courtesy of Mario Antonio Pena Zapateria)

Is There Such A Thing As An Emergency?

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emergency
Financial writers (myself included) often talk about the “emergency fund.” This is money you set aside so that you can pay for things like medical expenses, car repairs, home repairs, or some other sudden, necessary expense. Having extra money set aside means (ideally) that you don’t have to pull out the credit card to pay for these expenses.

But is there really such a thing as an “emergency” when it comes to financial matters? I’m not so sure there is. My dictionary defines “Emergency” as: “A serious, unexpected, and often dangerous situation requiring immediate action.” “Unexpected” is the word that hangs me up. Most of the things that we encourage people to save up for are not unexpected. They may happen at an inconvenient time or on a day you wish they wouldn’t, but most, if not all, financial emergencies are expected and can be prepared for.

I think that when we call them “emergencies” we’re letting people off the hook. It’s like saying, “It’s okay that you had to go into debt for that because it was an emergency. How could you have known?” The thing is, you can know and you can prepare. You may not know the exact date or time that the problem will occur, but you can be sure that a car will break down or wear out, that a storm may damage your house, that you might get sick, or you might die. You can know these things because they happen in life. You hope they don’t, but they do. Sooner or later these problems happen to everyone because it’s just the nature of life. Here are some examples:

Car Problems / New Car

Cars, by their very nature, are breakable. They either wear out or get into accidents. You know that at some point you’re going to need a car repair or a new one, so you should always be saving for the repair/replacement. The death of a car should never be considered “unexpected.”

Medical Expenses

You may not know exactly what will go wrong with your body, but human bodies are breakable and prone to illness. Something is likely to happen to all of us at one point or another. We may get into an accident, fall down the stairs, catch a disease, or get cancer. At the very least (and if we’re lucky) we will get old and there will be health problems that come along with that. You should always be putting money aside to cover the health issues that you will surely face.

Death

It happens to everyone. You may not think that you, your spouse, or your kids will die tomorrow, but it’s possible. You should have life insurance, a will, and be prepared to deal with the financial aspects of death. No want wants to think about death, but it’s a fact of life and not “unexpected.” As they say, no one gets out alive.

Appliance Breakdown

Like cars, appliances will break and need repair or replacement. And you can be pretty sure that it will happen at the last convenient time. You should always be saving for replacements and repairs.

Natural Disaster

If your house is leveled by a tornado or a hurricane and you live in areas prone to those events, it’s not unexpected. You have to know what sort of weather your area receives and prepare for natural disasters accordingly with insurance and savings.

What you have to do is stop thinking of everything as an emergency and instead start thinking of it as something that you can prepare for. That puts the control back on your side. You can save money, get good insurance, keep your disaster kit handy, and take what steps you can to protect your health and property. If something unfortunate happens you’ll be prepared, not running around in a stressed, emergency state of mind.

What you’re really setting money aside for in your “emergency fund” are expenses that come up at unknown times. You know you’re going to need a new car, but you don’t know if you’ll need it tomorrow (because of an accident) or three years from now (because it wears out). You know your home will need a new roof, but you don’t know if it will be because of the storm that hits next week or because it wears out after twenty years of use. You know you’ll probably have some sort of medical issue but you don’t know if it will be because you fall down the stairs next week and break your arm or because you get into a car accident two years from now. Or, because you simply get old and need care.

The point is that, while you cannot know the exact date and time that financial events will occur, you can know that they may happen at any time and you can prepare and save accordingly. You can set money aside, insure yourself properly, keep disaster kits on hand, and have a plan in place to deal with these things. Instead of feeling out of control and at the mercy of emergencies, you can plan, prepare, and face life confidently.

(Photo courtesy of davidsonscott15)

You Only Live Once, So Don’t Blow It

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you only live once

A woman that I know casually from church recently lost her husband. He died after a long illness at the young age of forty-two. Any way you look at it, it’s a tragedy. However, there is one bright spot. The husband had a large life insurance policy in place and, since the couple was frugal during their marriage, the wife is not left with a ton of debt to pay off. Once everything is settled, she’ll end up well prepared financially for the future and, with careful planning, may not need to work unless she chooses to.

She recently returned to Sunday school and in the midst of the condolences and well wishes, some insensitive lout says, “I guess when you take your trips now, you’ll have to take them in memory of Keith,” in reference to the fact that the couple had always planned to take lots of great trips when they retired. They were always full of plans for how they would travel and the things they would do when they retired and had plenty of free time. They talked incessantly about the places they wanted to see.

While the woman sort of dodged the comment made by Mr. Insensitive, another jerk says, “This is why I always say, ‘You only live once so you’d better make today count. I’m doing what I want to do today before I die.'” This time, the woman spoke up. “Yes, and if we’d traveled and done all those things we wanted to do, I’d be broke right now.” She went on to say how they had deliberately chosen to limit their travels and other indulgences so that they could build a strong future. They wanted to make certain that their immediate future would be secure while they also plowed money into their retirement and “future fun” accounts. To that end, they lived frugally and kept their indulgences small — things like camping trips, vacations to visit family, etc. The big stuff would wait.

Of course, no one could know that things wouldn’t turn out like they planned. Now those trips will never happen. This is where conventional thought says that you should live for today because you’re not guaranteed a tomorrow. You should take those trips and do all the things you want to do today and damn the financial consequences because you don’t want to die with a lot of regrets. This woman, however, missed out on her trips with her husband but still has no regrets. Why? Is she just odd?

A couple of weeks after the Sunday school incident, I saw the woman at a charity event. I sort of attempted to apologize for the insensitive people in the class saying that they just didn’t know what to say. She said that it was okay, she wasn’t upset. She said that she understood why they would think they way they did. Most people think, she said, that the things you don’t do leave you with regrets. For her and her husband that wasn’t the case. They had no regrets and the things they didn’t do ended up giving them peace, instead.

She shared this with me: Not long after her husband was diagnosed, she commented how sorry she was that they’d missed out on their plans and how she wished that maybe they’d gone ahead and done some of the things that they talked about. The husband said that he didn’t wish that. He was glad that they’d been careful with their money and that they had enough saved for her to live comfortably. He was glad they hadn’t traveled when they couldn’t really afford it, because with his diagnosis he’d be regretting every trip and expenditure, not looking back on them with fondness. Knowing that his wife would be taken care of and comfortable gave him more peace than any trip or travel memory ever could. He went to his grave at peace, knowing that his wife would be okay, at least financially.

The point of this sad story is that this belief that you have to do what you want to do now, because you only live once even if you can’t afford it, is often wrong. Doing that can lead to great memories but if the worst happens, it can also saddle you with a boatload of regrets. Those memories can become sour when you start thinking, “If we just had that $5,000 from that cruise, we could pay the mortgage.” There is a fine line to walk between enjoying your life and living in such a way that if the worst should happen, those left behind won’t be left with a lot of souvenirs and memories but no resources.

Whenever I hear someone trot out the “I could die tomorrow,” excuse for overspending, I’m going to remember this story. It’s not a question of, “Will I die tomorrow so should I go ahead and blow this money?” but, “If I die tomorrow will my loved ones be all right financially, or will my overspending leave them vulnerable?” Having fun is fine and certainly needs to be part of everyone’s life. However, fun (expensive fun, that is, there’s plenty of free fun) needs to come after other things are in place such as security for your loved ones. Otherwise the regrets won’t be about the things you didn’t do, but the things you did.

(Photo courtesy of doeth)

Turning Awful Events to Your Advantage

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No one (at least not anyone sane) wishes for awful things to happen in life. Death, illness, fire, floods and disasters are things no one likes to think about. We dread the day when we get that phone call telling us someone we love has died, or that our house is on fire. As bad as these moments are, however, they do have at least one useful purpose and that is to blast us out of our ruts and our complacency and force us to take a good long look at our lives and where we’re headed, financially and otherwise. (Granted, it often takes quite a while to get to the point where you can recognize this. You certainly don’t say, on the day of the funeral, “Oh, I’m so happy that my relative died unexpectedly at a young age so I can now take stock of my own life.” It’s a process.)

My latest awful moment came when a relative died unexpectedly at the young age of forty-two. I’m not that much younger than him. Once the grieving passed, I started to think about how I’m not really as young as I think I am and how I need to get moving on certain things in my own life. My relative left a lot unfinished and a lot of loose ends for his heirs to deal with and I don’t want that in my case. I want my heirs to have an easy time of tying up my estate and I don’t want to die not having done certain things.

My neighbor had a similar awful moment a few years ago when her house burned down. She lost everything. After the initial shock, however, the loss enabled her to see that she’d had too much stuff in her life and too much house. They rebuilt a much smaller home and now are more conscious about how much stuff they have. Knowing it can all be gone in an instant makes them much more conscious about what they really need and want.

While it’s hard to think about these awful moments, here are some thoughts on how you can turn them to your advantage:

If the awful has already happened

1. If you’ve lost someone you love, think about what they might have done differently with their life and then avoid the same mistakes. Did they live very day to the fullest, or did they wait for “someday” that never came? Did they fail to take care of themselves properly? Did they die with a lot of regrets? The deceased can teach us how to avoid mistakes, but we have to be open to the lesson.

2. If the deceased left a mess for the heirs to clean up, clean up your own mess. I’ve had to clean up more messy estates than I care to think about. People die with no will, or an incomplete/outdated will. They have no life insurance, leaving the heirs struggling financially. They leave no indication of what accounts they have, or where they are. There’s no idea what bills need to be paid. There’s jewelry hidden in the walls of a house about to be sold. There’s no instruction about organ donation, or life support, or burial wishes. If you’ve had to do this kind of work, look at your own estate plans and see where you can improve.

3. If disaster has struck, what can you salvage? If you’ve had a fire or a flood and inadequate insurance it’s too late for that now, but what lesson can you learn for next time? Maybe, like my neighbors, you learn that you don’t need as much stuff. Maybe you learn that you have really great neighbors who help you salvage what you can. Maybe you learn that you’d rather not own a home at all and instead you want to rent or travel more. At the very least you’ll likely get much more educated about insurance and make certain you’re covered going forward.

If the awful hasn’t happened yet

1. Play “What if.” Imagine if you (or your partner) were to die today. What would your spouse/heirs have to deal with, financially and otherwise? Is there some way you can make that easier on them? Can you get a will, or set up a trust for your kids? Does your spouse know how to access all of the accounts? Are your last wishes clear? Figure out what needs to be done and then do it.

2. Think about protection. Fires, floods, and other disasters can happen. Do you have plans in place to deal with them? Do you have the proper insurance and in the proper amounts? Do you have evacuation plans or plans for how you would survive in an emergency? Have you taken proper precautions to prevent damage, if you can? Think about what might happen and then make plans to deal with it and protect yourself as best you can before the awful happens.

3. What is left unfinished? Ask yourself what is it that you don’t want to leave unfinished. Maybe it’s a long term project like a novel, or maybe it’s saying, “I love you,” to a forgotten relative. Maybe you need to forgive someone, so make some other types of amends. Whatever you need to do, go ahead and do it. A bucket list might help.

Awful events are never fun. However, they can be the catalyst we need to get off our butts and do the things we know we need to do. It’s all well and good to know you need life insurance, for example, but it’s quite another to see a close friend die leaving behind a wife and two kids and no insurance. Use the awful moments in your life as teaching moments. Learning those lessons can save you and your family a world of hurt later on.

At The End of Your Life, You Aren’t Going To Want To Spend Money

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One of the biggest excuses that I hear for spending money you don’t have is that you might die tomorrow. “What if I’m hit by a bus tomorrow and I didn’t go on that vacation, or have that car, or own that bag?” The thinking is that it would be a shame to die without having had certain experiences or possessions and so overspending is justified in the face of mortality.

But I’ll tell you this: When you’re facing the real end of your life and not just looking for an excuse to justify your spending, the last thing you’re going to want to do is spend money. Too much else becomes far more important than “stuff.” I’ve spent six years volunteering in a nursing home and a hospital and the most common thing people near the end of life wish for is more time with their family. The only money involved in that wish is perhaps some travel expenses. What else do those who are dying wish for? Here’s the top ten list from my own, unscientific observations over the years.

More time with family: Even sick children ask for this one. And it almost never appears in the context of “more time with family on a big vacation.” People just want to spend time together talking or playing a game. They just want to be together and to feel that closeness.

To mend a family relationship: Be it mending a relationship with an estranged child or sibling, or getting to know distant relatives better, the desire to fix what’s broken is strong.

To see another season: Whether it’s spring, Christmas, or one more snow, people have a strong desire to see their favorite time of year just one more time.

One more healthy day: While this one is almost impossible to grant even with all the money in the world, a lot of dying people just want one more day when they could run, jump, and play without pain.

To finish something Whether it’s a book series, a quilting project, or a woodworking project, the desire to complete something and leave nothing unfinished is strong.

To straighten up affairs: I’ve seen people go to all kinds of lengths to make sure they don’t leave a mess behind when they die. They frantically rush to get wills and papers together, to transfer assets and to make certain that those left behind will have no trouble sorting everything out.

To see someone or something one more time: Maybe they want to see a long lost friend or a grandchild who lives far away one more time, or see their childhood home. Just once more they want to look at the people and things that mattered to them.

To be at home: No one wants to die in a sterile hospital or nursing home. Many people just want to go home and be in a comfortable and familiar environment at the end.

To go outside: Along with going home, many people have a strong desire to be outside at the end. They want to watch the sun rise and set, to see the birds, to smell the grass or watch the leaves fall.

Sex: I know it sounds strange, but you’d be surprised how many people want to make love to their partners just once more. It’s not even about the act itself as much as it is about the connection, the closeness, and the caring involved. It’s about the knowledge that they love and are loved.

Now, I’m not opposed to “bucket lists” – lists of things you want to do before you die – because they are not generally the same as overspending in the name of death. As long as your bucket list serves as a set of goals to strive and save for, it can be a positive thing that gives you great experiences throughout your life. A bucket list can be motivating and rewarding as long as you’re not spending irresponsibly in the pursuit of completing your bucket list. But I am opposed to spending money you don’t have on trips, clothes, toys, electronics, etc. on the theory that you or your children might die tomorrow. It likely isn’t true and you’re simply looking for an excuse to justify your purchases.

If you really believed you were going to die tomorrow, would you want that purse or would you want more time with your family? If you really believed that your life was almost over, would you really want to trek around the world, or would you want to mend a relationship with an estranged brother or sister? If you knew you were going to die in two days, would you really want to blow all your money on a plasma TV, or would you want to make sure the money was passed to your grandchildren?

What matters at the end of a life is very rarely anything material. It makes me angry when people justify overspending in the name of mortality because very few of these people have ever come close to death or even really contemplated their own mortality. They just parrot the “death excuse” as a way to justify themselves. When you’ve spent time amongst the sick and dying and you’ve really looked at your own mortality, you’ll likely have a very different, simpler wish list. And there’s probably not a big screen TV or a cruise on it.

Death At WalMart

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The Circle of Life is almost complete at Walmart. I just discovered that Walmart now offers a large selection of caskets for those of us who are planning for the great hereafter. I suppose that it can’t be too long before Walmart also offers a mid-wife service, and after that, dormitories for its workers. People will be born, live and die without ever having to go anywhere else.

Thinking about death is not fun, but it is something that we all do. Planning for death is perhaps even less pleasant, if that is possible, and it is something that not enough of us take the time to consider. Plenty of people before me have written about planning for funerals and post-final illness expenses. I will not add much to that discussion here other than to consider our final resting places — our caskets.
Why does a dead person need a 100% bronze casket with hand-crafted, high-gloss, brushed-finished highlights and a lush velvet interior? Admittedly, the Siena Bronze Casket is quite attractive and it looks quite comfortable. It even includes an adjustable mattress and a — get this — memory tube. And since it is being sold at Walmart, I can only assume that it is quite a bargain at $2,899!

Three thousand dollars for a box in which I might be placed after I am deceased which will then be buried in the ground and never seen again. Doesn’t that seem like an awful lot of money to spend on box in which my mortal remains will merely decay beyond all recognition? What’s the point, really, of spending money like that on something that can serve no real purpose until its owner is past benefitting from it? Wouldn’t it be better to spend the money on a comfortable bed and mattress on which to sleep while alive?

I understand that the casket is not really used to benefit the decedent. It is there to comfort the bereaved. After all, when someone dies, it is not easy to pay one’s final respects and it is certainly a lot easier to do it if the decedent appears to be merely sleeping rather than stone cold dead.

That said, I really cannot see myself ever spending that kind of money on a casket, even a casket with pin stripes or a high gloss black finish that will make me feel as cool as Dracula. Rather, I will always maintain that a pine box should be more than satisfactory, as it was in the Old West.

By comparison, I will want a durable headstone over my grave. The box will be underground but the headstone will be visible to all for decades and even centuries to come. I like the idea of someone in 2525 wandering by my grave and wondering who I might have been. For reasons perhaps unique to me, I find that comforting.

In every culture and in every part of the world, each person has to wrestle with the costs of mortality and we each bring a slightly different perspective to the process. To the extent that you can plan how you are remembered after you are gone, how do you want money spent? Do you want a raucous Irish Wake or a quiet service for just a close circle of friends and family? Do you want to be buried in a casket and, if so, how much do you think should be spent on it? Do you prefer cremation? Would you rather just not think about it?