You can't control if or when disaster strikes, but you can control how devastating the personal damage is by being prepared. While we doubt our child's school will catch fire, we expect the school to have fire drills, and to be prepared if it does happen. Below are steps to take now to minimize the financial and emotional effects should disaster strike. Market crash:Illness (you, parents, spouse, child):Health insurance - A good policy is single-handedly the most important tool to minimize the financial devastation caused by illness. In Handbook to Practical Disaster Preparedness for the Family, author Arthur T. Bradley recommends additional steps toward developing a disaster plan, without applying the scare tactics that some survival books use.

Source: Forbes June 12, 2017 14:15 UTC