One of my best investments

4-minute read

This one saved my ASS, literally saved my life.

A parachute accident, reset the game for me.

It was October 2015….. My fiancé at that time (now my wife) and I got a well-deserved break and decided we would do a trip to South Africa.

We started in Johannesburg, made our way down the garden route on the east coast of South Africa, and eventually ended up in Cape Town.

What an amazing experience this was. Tranquility, and bonding

• We did elephant rides

• Bungy jumped Bloukraans bridge

• Went to some of the oldest caves in the world (The Congo Caves)

• Climbed Table Mountain with friends, and watched them BASE jump off

• Did some skydives with my wife

• And a lot, a lot more

BUT….. This story is not just about the things that went well.

I decided to buy a new speed wing parachute and test it out to see if it was a good fit. We arranged with a friend to go to Hermanus, about 120 kilometers from Cape Town, and do a few jumps off the mountain.

The day was gloomy….clouds got darker, and the wind picked up as we left Cape Town.

When we got there, the conditions looked okay but still overcast. We set up the wings and did our first jump. Flying, soaring…. What a great feeling.

The first jump I landed on a field, but overshot a bit and thought the next jump would be better.

The next jump I took the new wing… Jumped off and a perfect launch… So easy. Flying for a bit and then going to land was a thing I have done many times. Yes, I was super inexperienced, however, I had 195 skydives, and more than 40 speed wing jumps at that time. Just enough to be cocky!!

Unlike a car, a parachute needs air to stay afloat, so I cut the air out by holding the brakes too long, and the wing started to collapse above me and there I was falling and turning to the rock, called Earth!

Watch this video from a friend on the ground, if you want to see what happened… It cuts out at the end…

VIDEO of SPEED WING ACCIDENT

The Fun Began

OUT! Lights out, on the ground. When I woke up, the pain was unbearable. So much that I passed out again.

Luckily, the hospital was a 5 to 10-minute ride away. From the fall to the next day, I remember 1 or 2 glimpses. The next morning, when I woke up in the ICU, the journey started…

A broken hip, my bladder burst, left leg damaged that it was hard to move, ribs all smashed and a blue back and a blue bum…

But alive!

They could not move me out of the bed to get an X-ray done, so no one knew how much damage there was for 6 days. They could just hear me complaining all the time 😄

Long story short…. After 11 days they operated and after a month I was out of the hospital.

The bill came in at $25 000 or R350 000 (Rand). Not a small amount for me at that time.

I could also not go back to work for about 5 months (a great wife and savings put aside also was a massive help, and a lesson to remember).

What’s the lesson?

Luckily for me, I only had to pay roughly $1400 or R25 000, because I had an emergency medical plan at the time. It only cost me less than $100 or, R1100 a month to have it, and I am so grateful I had it!

If I can help anyone to realize that they should have a plan like this, then my job is done.

Life happens…. Yes, maybe less than 0.01% of people will get the accident I had, but there are so many ways a person might need the emergency room.

And if you don’t have the medical coverage, you might end up in a big dark hole of debt.

And don't forget to have money put aside for an emergency. Another great lesson.

Thank you for taking the time to read this, and till next week,

Keep buying assets,

-Stefan