Cancer survivor Lisa Ashton is a working mother of three teenagers. She experienced first-hand the value of having a financial adviser when she was diagnosed with stage-two breast cancer just 17 days before turning 35.
“After my diagnosis, one of the first people I called after speaking to my family was my financial adviser, Jaco. I wanted to know if I was covered. He informed me that not only did I have the right medical cover in place, I also had a dread disease policy with Liberty.”
Two years earlier, Lisa had decided that it was time for her and her husband to update their finances. The couple was raising a young family – two children and a foster child – in a new home. “I was 34, with two children under the age of three. I’d always had some policies in place, but it was time to consolidate, to think about life insurance and securing my assets.”
Her adviser completed a comprehensive plan, which included updating the Ashton’s wills, starting an education plan for the children, retirement planning, and, most crucially, he insisted she take out dread disease cover and upgrade her medical scheme option.
“When I called him about my diagnosis, he reminded me that it was a year to the day that the policy had come into effect. I was completely covered,” says Lisa.
While her medical bills were covered by her medical scheme, the money from the dread disease cover helped to ease the financial stress. “I had to take time off work with the chemotherapy, radiation and a hysterectomy – it was a long year. It was such a relief to have the money to hire people to transport the children, and to be able to afford ready-made meals, rather than cooking from scratch. What I didn’t use, I put into the mortgage on the advice of Jaco as he said that given the uncertainty, it was better to focus on paying off debt.”
Lisa’s fight against cancer has been tough, and included a recurrence five years later, when she was diagnosed with stage 4 cancer. “Because I had the right level of dread disease cover in place when I was first diagnosed, Liberty paid out 50% of my cover. When I was diagnosed the second time, the rest of the policy was paid out to me.”
Today, nearly 13 years after starting her battle with cancer, Lisa is cancer-free and is a strenuous advocator of women taking control of their own finances.
“To be honest, I speak more to my adviser about money than my husband. My husband tends to procrastinate and we come from different value systems. I think that for a woman, it’s easier to work with a financial adviser.”
As a cancer survivor and a mom Lisa has learnt the importance of putting herself first. “Women find it harder to say no to their kids and other family members when it comes to money. When we plan for our financial future, it’s important to be able to say no, to prioritise our needs.”
As a trained industrial psychologist, Lisa believes that women need to start changing their mindset. “Many women I meet say they just don’t have enough money to invest or to justify having an adviser, but it’s about a mindset. Women tend to have ‘negative self-talk’ – subconscious thoughts that govern the way they think about money and, consequently, how they behave when it comes to their money.”
The reality is that many women choose to leave financial planning to others, such as their husbands, brokers or children. Lisa encourages women to get involved in mapping-out and securing their own financial futures.
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