I was not saying she is less likely to get hurt as a teacher just that she can continue on more easily than construction (like in a wheelchair for example)
Seems like cancer/ heart attack etc. are so much more likely in your 50's but that's probably my naive invincible 34 year old self talking.
Probably going to go with the cheaper $26 option. We don't have a true emergency fund but I could go back to work pretty easily (SAHD working part time right now) and we have a ton of family close by that could help out. I'm sure we could survive 6 months if need be.
My husband is 29 and was told by multiple specialists this past summer that he should never drive a car again because he's a danger to himself and others. He was diagnosed with a neurological sleep disorder (narcolepsy), and he could literally fall asleep at any moment, behind the wheel or not. The basis of this disease isn't fully known but it's essentially a complex interaction between having a predisposing gene, an autoimmune reaction to a certain strain of influenza, and possibly repetitive sleep disturbance or head trauma. He was trained as an avionics electronics tech in the Marines, and this disability also has the lovely symptom of random loss of muscle control and/or sensation in random parts of your body, usually in response to triggers like stress or laughter....so, at work, when he's stressed about finishing a project, he could start randomly dropping a soldering iron every five minutes with no way to prevent it. There's no medicine that treats this effectively and no cure so far. This condition, at best, is going to stay the same for the rest of his life -- unfortunately, there's a huge chance it'll get worse as he ages, because that seems to be the statistical trend in people with this diagnosis.
My point is, if he wasn't a veteran, and hadn't been diagnosed while he was serving in the Marines, and we didn't have VA disability to fall back on, we'd be well and truly fucked. SSDI has denied him, after around 8 months of waiting for the initial decision. We appealed it a month or so ago and I haven't heard anything back yet even confirming that they've received the appeal and we're on the list or whatever. Based on my experiences fighting with the VA (took 2+ years to get proper recognition of and compensation for his disability), I'm not confident in any governmental organization.
I'm just trying to say to you, and anyone else who might be reading this, that you
REALLY do not want to rely on your physical health to the point of blindness (that is, to the point of not being aware that you could lose it at any moment and planning for such). My husband is, and has always been, the outward picture of perfect health. I don't think the man has ever carried an extra pound of weight on his body and he still has significant muscle definition despite being out of the Marines and not working out for like 5 years. Trust me, under no circumstances did I expect to be 23 years old and dealing with a disabled husband who might never work again. But, shit happens and if you don't cover your ass, you could find yourself in a situation way worse than paying out $800/year.