Four Tips to Prepare for Natural Disaster
In the fall of 2024, Hurricane Helene moved inland from the Gulf of Mexico as a tropical storm from Georgia to the mountains of North Carolina. In western North Carolina, the thousand-year storm caused immense damage from flooding. Even as Floridians were catching their breath, Hurricane Milton swept through shortly after. People living in areas thousands of feet in elevation and hundreds of miles from the coast were hit hard—so much heartache for so many people.
If you or your loved ones have been impacted, our hearts go out to you. Patterns of extreme weather may or may not be the new norm. It’s hard to say. Either way, life on planet Earth has long been fraught with dangers. If not hurricanes, other disasters such as tornadoes, floods or earthquakes could hit depending on where you live in the world. In the future, there may be new, formidable risks to manage. But, the truth is, risk itself is nothing new.
Some investors are interested in trying to align their portfolios with their values to achieve goals—such as lower carbon emissions—that could potentially reduce the risk of extreme weather in the future. NASA says “as carbon dioxide, methane, and other gases increase, they act as a blanket, trapping heat and warming the planet. In response, Earth’s air and ocean temperatures warm. This warming affects the water cycle, shifts weather patterns, and melts land ice — all impacts that can make extreme weather worse (https://science.nasa.gov/climate-change/extreme-weather/).”
However, to mitigate the risks, all investors should prepare their financial affairs for disaster. A few ounces of these preventive measures may forestall pounds of future strife.
1. Organize Your Financial Information
Access to financial information can be critical after a disaster, helping you work with your insurance companies, apply for disaster relief or even just keep up with your everyday bills.
Store important documents in a waterproof safe, a safety deposit box, or in the cloud for easy access during a disaster. Incidentally, make sure you aren’t the only person who knows where the information is.
I had the pleasure of attending this year’s Berkshire Hathaway Annual Meeting in Omaha during the first weekend in May. Dave Bromelkamp invited his older brother Mike, Saul Baumann, and me to join him on the trip to eastern Nebraska.