The Garrulous Jay – Remorse

On Monday our gorgeous little cockerpoo, Flo, broke her leg. She is still in the local veterinary hospital, and we are hoping she’ll be coming home today.

We don’t know what happened. My daughter was out for a walk with her when she went missing. By the time she found Flo 20 minutes later she had a shattered front left elbow.

There were no obvious external signs of stress or injury, so we think that perhaps she sustained a very accurate full-force kick while chasing a deer or muntjac.

It became apparent after the x-rays were taken that evening that it was going to take a lot to put Flozy back together again. In fact, the estimate from The Grove Veterinary Hospital in Fakenham was around £6,000.

We English are sometimes mocked for the love we have for our pets and the money we will spend on them, but it probably goes without saying that price is no object when it comes to getting Flo back up and running. A choice that was made easier on Tuesday when confronted by the alternative which was a complete amputation of the leg.

Some readers may remember the difficulties I had in the summer with my insurance company telling me that they no longer wished to offer me cover for my house (see Garrulous Jay – Insult And Injury, 27th June). This ultimately led me to take my business elsewhere using the services of a broker.

What that broker couldn’t offer me, however, was pet insurance. He recommended instead that I used an online aggregator site to source the cover for Dudley, Flo and our cat, Lucozade.

I didn’t… Instead, I decided to ‘self-insure’.

Strictly speaking I suppose self-insurance would involve putting aside an amount every month specifically to cover the potential future costs of vets’ bills. I didn’t do that either, and I suspect that like me many people who say they self-insure really mean they just plan to pay the bills as and when they arise.

You will not be surprised to hear my immediate feelings of remorse and exasperation were pretty powerful… How could I have been so stupid? Why didn’t I fully appreciate the risk? What was I thinking?

As I thought more about this I was struck by the parallels with the buyer’s remorse investors sometimes experience.

However much one tells oneself about long-term planning, focusing on the end-game, not being distracted by the noise etc., there is something a little humiliating about buying before a significant fall in markets or the price of a specific stock.

In investing it nevertheless holds true that one shouldn’t judge performance six days, weeks or even months after making an investment. Six years maybe, but perhaps the time horizon is even longer than that.

So, as we wait for Flo to come home along with the bill for her six-hour operation, I will draw comfort from the fact that the real time to judge whether my decision to self-insure was right or wrong is still years away. We just hope she makes a speedy recovery.