Most people tie their life enjoyment to their finances. It would be nice if it weren’t that way, but how happy you are is probably going to have a lot to do with your financial stability. If you don’t have enough money, and you’re constantly scrimping and saving to make ends meet, you might often feel anxious about the present and future.
Sometimes, though, events take place that can completely turn your financial situation around. Let’s talk about a few of those right now, and we’ll also talk about how likely each one is to happen to you.
Car Accidents
The chances of you getting in a vehicular accident are relatively high when you look at crash statistics. Fender benders happen every day, but more severe wrecks are also not too unlikely.
You never want to get in a car accident. You might severely injure yourself, and if another driver hits you hard enough, they might total your car.
Still, if you can walk away from the accident without any long-term injuries, you might find that your life is completely different from this point forward. You may be able to pursue a car accident claim for not just economic damages but also non-economic and punitive ones.
Non-economic damages might include reputation loss, life enjoyment loss, scarring, or mental anguish. You might collect punitive damages if you can prove the other driver acted maliciously.
If you collect a large settlement, you might be able to get a better car. You may be able to move from an apartment to a house.
You might use that money to send your kids to college or open a trust fund for a grandchild. You’ll have to consider how best to use the windfall and apply it where it will make the most difference.
A Relative Dying
You also might have a situation where a relative dies, and they leave you a significant inheritance. How likely this is, depends on what kind of a family you come from and what kind of relationships you’ve cultivated.
Maybe you have a wealthy relative, but you don’t get along with them. If so, when they die, it’s not likely they’ll leave you anything. It’s also possible that you might have a more distant relative who you don’t know well, but you might cash in when they die, and it’s time to read their will.
Realistically, a more distant relative is probably not going to leave you much because they never got to know you. That is the sort of thing that occurs in movies, but seldom in real life.
You probably know which of your relatives have money, if any of them do. It’s perhaps not the best position morally to try and cultivate a relationship with a wealthy relative only because you hope they’ll leave you something.
Still, there’s no denying that’s one of the more realistic ways you might ever get life-changing money. You may decide to make choices about who you want to be nice to and spend time with based on that.
A Stock Market Bonanza
You might decide to take some money and invest it in the stock market. If you’re buying one or two particular stocks, you might try to identify the next Apple or Amazon.
Maybe you get in on the ground floor when a company offers an IPO. Perhaps you buy right before the stock shoots through the roof because the company is offering a new technology, service, or product.
You can make a bundle of money this way. The market is all about buying cheap and selling when the stock rises.
People do make their fortunes using this method, but the odds are long against you. You need to be highly intelligent to predict which stock will shoot up suddenly, or you need to have insider information.
Even if someone gives you what feels like a hot tip, you’re just as likely to lose every cent you put in versus walking away with life-changing money. Still, if you feel like you’re ready to accept the risk, the right market venture can transform your life like few other avenues can.
Winning the Lottery
If the stock market is a bit like gambling, you always have the option of literal gambling as well. There are many ways of doing it, but playing the lottery to try and collect a big jackpot is as enticing as any.
The odds of you making your fortune this way are about as long as it’s possible to be. You might be facing several-million-to-one-odds if you play the Powerball or whatever your state’s equivalent is.
If you drop a couple of bucks every week on a lottery ticket, that’s at least better than spending every dollar of your paycheck on scratch-offs. There’s no telling when fortune is going to smile upon you, but you’d better not plan your whole life around striking it rich this way.
Getting a High-Paying Job
Getting a better-paying job than what you have now can profoundly impact your life. You might not be able to suddenly afford filet mignon and lobster three meals a day, but you can probably improve your life considerably as the years pass.
Usually, education is the key to getting a higher-paying job. Many studies show that, on average, the more formal education you have, the higher of a salary you can expect.
You might need to take out student loans to pursue higher learning, but if you’re working at a minimum wage job, or you’re not making much more than that, you should at least consider it. Without formal education, it’s not likely you can ever get a considerably higher-paying job, or at least not one of those that most appeal to you.
You never know when an event will occur that will turn your financial situation around. However, making smart choices rather than reckless ones will position the odds so they are more in your favor.
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