Managing disasters one step at a time

A: Take it step by step.

"When you’ve experienced a disaster, you’ll likely be overwhelmed with everything you’ll have to deal with in rebuilding your life," said Lynn Lawrance, a certified financial planner at Financial Network Investment Group in Dallas. "As much as possible, deal with the most important items immediately."

The most important issue is to make sure you have cash to provide yourself and your family the basic necessities.

• Allow yourself to accept help from others to help you get back on your feet. Help can come from many places, such as governmental and nonprofit agencies, friends, family, neighbours, churches, your employer and co-workers, even strangers.

• Second, don’t make any major financial decisions until you’ve had time to think things through. Don’t succumb to scamsters who offer "deals" on rebuilding your home or credit.

• Allow yourself time to decompress and process what has happened. Then start to reconstruct your financial records.

• Work with any family members who are near you to begin to reconstruct your financial life on paper. It can provide a little sense of order. What you’re trying to do on paper is to reconstruct your financial life that is tied to papers, that is tied to computers.

Q: I’ve often heard of the myth that money solves problems. How true is this ?

A: Author Marilyn August, in her book Journey to Wealth & Wisdom, says what you believe about money is often a result of what your parents taught you.

Here are some common money myths:

• I can’t make a living doing what I love: The hidden message is that money is separate from real life. But studies show that most millionaires love what they do.

• Having money automatically solves problems: Throwing money at problems often doesn’t even begin to solve them and may mask the real trouble.

• Money buys love and happiness: The reality is that money gives us more choices, nothing more and nothing less.

• Money is the root of all evil: The actual quote, according to many Bibles, is "the love of money is the root of all evil." Money is neither good nor evil, and has, in fact, no character traits at all. Believing that money is evil can limit your ability to generate wealth and can prevent you from giving back to the world.