Anticipating the worst might sound like a rather dull way to live your life, but it when it comes to your finances it’s an essential strategy. We don’t know when life is going to throw us a curveball and many of us aren’t going to have the strategies in place to deal with it well enough. If you expect a trip down the proverbial creek, then it pays to make sure you have a paddle to get yourself back out.

Build yourself some insulation

Before you embark on any journeys to start bringing in untold new riches, you should first look at how you protect what you have. The best way to do that is to make a few savings goals based around the idea of adding some insulation between your real finances and anything that threatens to touch them. Those savings goals should be aimed at building contingency funds, packages like insuring your income and even assets that could be liquidized so that you don’t have to touch any of the other investments that have more to offer in terms of long-term returns.

Know who to call in an emergency

It’s good to have the aforementioned insulation padding out your finances but you should be hoping that you don’t have to touch it to begin with. When it’s not poor financial choices or a lack of preparation that gets you in trouble, it’s because of some kind of disaster or an accident. A personal injury, a car accident, a medical mistake that keeps you pumping out to pay for medical bills. Of course, in many of these situations, you shouldn’t have to pay at all. Two ways to ensure you don’t is to know your rights, to know someone who can stand up for them and know how to properly handle a situation. For instance, if you get injured on business premises, getting promptly medical attention and taking pictures and the details of anyone who can attest to the conditions that led to the accident is important.

Have a pre-made debt busting plan

As important as it is to try and stay out of debt, it’s a good idea to also have an idea of how you’re going to deal with it when you’re in it. For one, taking good care of your credit while you have the freedom to do so is important. If you’re maxed out on credit cards and you need a loan after an accident takes you out of work then you might still be able to rely on debt consolidation, but it won’t have the same kind of value if you had thoroughly healthy credit. To make it easier to get out of debt, you should also get a good look at how you use your money right now while the situation is still calm enough. Spot any expenses that could be a potential problem and replacements you can make if you can’t cut them out entirely.

There’s no way to thoroughly protect yourself from the financial impact from some of the worst twists of life. However, the means of getting the help you need and the protections you can put up to stop yourself from getting pulled away by the current can help you at least make them manageable.