Climate change is a topic that certainly has gotten our attention this hurricane season.  No doubt most of us are waiting for November when the seasons end to breathe a sigh of relief.  However, one thing is clear to me.  The home and possessions that take so much time to acquire can be swept away by in an instant.

The question is then, from a financial perspective, how can you plan to protect yourself in a region that is increasingly subject to violent hurricans?

Is home owners insurance enough?  What if you rent? What if your place of employment is compromised due to a natural disaster and you no longer have a source of income? And if a Category 5 hurricane came to Jamaica, would you still be liable for loans that have been taken?

So we asked banker, Janice Robinson Longmore to take the long view on how to plan for financial hurricanes and disasters of all sorts.

1. We may know that home owners insurance is important, but it is also expensive. How else can we recover if our home is blown away in a bad hurricane?
2. What about protecting our other assets such as art, furniture, etc?
3. If I am a renter, what strategies can I take to protect my possessions. And let us assume that I cannot afford renter’s insurance.
4. My only source of income is a job. What obligation does my boss have to me if there is a natural disaster and the work place is destroyed? Who will protect my income?
5. Will the bank forgive my loan if a bad storm or hurricane comes through Jamaica and we cannot function like in islands such as Barbuda?
6. What if I am invested in the stock market or bond market, would a storm cause me to lose my investments?
7. What about the money in the bank? Could I lose my money in the event of a distructive hurricane that blows down the bank’s structure?