{sharethis}The last few days, the media has been alive with warnings and updates about the large and dangerous hurricane clawing its way up the East Coast of the United States.

Evacuation orders have been given, and all sorts of preparations have been and are being made for the substantial wind and water damage that Irene is creating.

There’s been an urgency for sure. If you’re in the projected path of a large storm and you don’t prepare and/or evacuate, you are in grave danger. And most people heeded the warnings.

But what about your preparedness for other potential dangers? What about your preparations for retirement, major health challenges, potential investment losses and catastrophic damage to your home and property?

It’s great to be positive and have high expectations that all will continue to go well. But if you don’t have a back-up plan, you really don’t have a plan.

Considering what may go wrong and planning accordingly isn’t negative, it’s smart. And it should be part of any good plan.

What are your protection plans for natural disasters? What do you have for security for your home and business? What kind of reserves do you have on hand? Is your property, health and life insurance adequate? Do you have cash on hand if the power goes out and the ATMs don’t work? Do you have an emergency radio, plenty of food and water, a back-up generator for your home? What the weather forecasters are saying this weekend is good advice for any time: “Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst”.

Homeland Security and our first responders are always running what-if scenarios and doing drills to prepare for things that could go wrong. But we can’t rely just on them. We have to do our own thinking. We should be doing our part to make sure we and our loved ones are as safe and as well-protected as possible.

My recommendation is to invest some time in reviewing and/or creating your own disaster plan. Think about what you might need for a survival kit for the kinds of things that can happen in your area.

In doing so, you’ll know that you’ve done your best and have adequately prepared for most contingencies.

There’s no such thing as total safety and security. But when you do a good job with your back-up plans, you’ll do an even better job with your success plans.

Good luck and stay safe.

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