Construction financing, failure, and setbacks

I find it amazing how many people apparently get along so well that despite (new) house construction they can still stockpile large reserves. Keeping the payment aside for several years? Wow.

In a single post, that always reads a bit exaggerated. You also have to know the situation behind it. Actually, I was a bit taken aback when spoke of five annual installments. That should be an amount of around or over 100K€. Why let it be eaten up by inflation? Or at least use it as a special repayment, but just leave it lying around?! That really irritates me. But I don't know the person's age or the experiences they have had.

Some have to do it! In the worst case, we could rely neither on financial nor on personal help from family (e.g. in caring for our child).

That really was not a criticism. For me as a single woman, there was no way to increase my income beyond topping up to full-time. With difficulty, I was barely able to afford the house. It's nice if there are people who simply don’t have to go to the limit. Every month I feel good is a good month. Should I look back in 10 years and say everything was fine, should I have done this or that? Then it’s too late. Without the emergency support from family (financially but also care/practical help), I wouldn’t have dared. Because otherwise, I have no buffer.

I think the thing with the disability insurance through the employer is good. I have to take care of that sometime. One of my boys has already had back surgery twice at 25. For him, it's only a question of when his work will end.

In the meantime, I have looked into it and there are daily sickness allowance insurance policies that apparently accept without waiting periods and health questions. I think I will still take out something like that. It would be great if that really worked. We'll see.

We have also mainly secured the main earner for now. My coverage with disability insurance and/or life insurance was planned soon as I mentioned... well, just missed it. But you have to get advice in 2-3 years to see if there are still options. If so, certainly with a significant surcharge, but I would feel more comfortable. In case the cancer returns.

There was also a note about human genetics; the test has already been ordered. Quick results will be available in about 2 weeks, the full results at the end of the year.

First of all, best wishes for your recovery from me as well.

Have you all secured your income with disability insurance or similar?

I have not secured my income ("involuntary" sole earner) because my wife and I have the intensive experience of managing well with very little. I very much enjoy being in our house and enjoy the privileges. If (again) a stroke of fate occurs, we will deal with it. If then the house has to be sold, so be it. In the event of my premature death, there is insurance that buys sufficient time to make a life adjustment, but not enough to maintain the status quo for decades. In our early 50s, we have now built up some reserves. I can confirm that this is reassuring as long as you don’t cling to it. If someone does not accept this attitude because of my advanced age and comfortable financial cushion, I can understand that. Still, it is like that.

Fortunately, we now have families who could also support us in case of emergency.

That is a great blessing. It is a societal problem that the emphasis on individual independence often leads to cohesion being thrown overboard at the same time. An accident that left a young man in our extended family circle paraplegic led to anonymous contributions from the family – in this way, at least a disability-adapted apartment could be arranged at the place of study and a disability-adapted vehicle provided – and this without personal gratitude directly arising to individual persons. At that time, I was still in school. The behavior of the family gave not only the affected person but everyone a feeling of strength and support. That has an enduring effect.

Your example clearly shows why we do _not_ have disability insurance. In the case of a one-year absence with a good prognosis, it does not pay out as far as I know.

That is not generally true. For example, my disability insurance states that payments begin after 6 months - also retroactively - even if the prognosis is good. For instance, I personally received a disability pension for a period of 3 years that compensated for my loss of earnings. Due to the limitation, only a very small portion is subject to taxation.

In my opinion, however, it is important to take out this insurance through a qualified and specialized broker.