The mere fact that a sizeable lump-sum payout is often officially referred to as compensation pretty much explains exactly what it should be used for by its recipient. By no means is it an ideal situation one would find themselves in if they were the recipient of some financial compensation as this suggests that a rather unfortunate event befell them.

So as much as the subsequent windfall you may get may even make for a sum of money totalling more than what you’ve ever seen at any one time in your life, there are very specific areas of your life which it’s meant to address. So don’t go out and appease your early onset midlife crisis or quarter life crisis if your bank account has suddenly swelled with a freshly minted stack of compensation money. Rather spend it on what it’s meant to be spent for, which includes a list of things that should rebuild your life and improve the financial situation you find yourself in.

Nursing yourself back to health

First and foremost is your health since you can’t do anything about anything if you’re not healthy enough. So when the judge handling your compensation case reaches a settlement amount that’s far beyond anything you’ve become accustomed to, what they have in mind is how far it’ll go in helping you nurse yourself back to health. In many instances you might never ever be able to nurse yourself back to the health levels you enjoyed prior to the event that led up to you requiring compensation, but it it’s still a matter of trying to get as close as possible to it.

So go for that operation if you need it or get that new robotic arm if that’s what’s required, as semi-morbid as any of these and other considerations may be. It’s all necessary…

Re-establishing your income-generation abilities

Part of nursing yourself back to health levels approaching those which you enjoyed prior to the incident is so that you can resume engaging in your income generation activities. That’s why it’s a lump-sum usually, which means that sometimes a complete change in career might be in order.

Could you perhaps buy property you wish to convert to a guesthouse instead of going back to work, for example?

Setting up preventative measures

Finally, once you’ve taken care of trying to restore things to close to where and how they were prior to the incident, the remainder of the money you receive as your compensation should go towards setting up preventative measures so that you minimise the risk of it happening to you again, and others as well.

So as impressive as the figure tied to the compensation your railroad accident lawyer managed to get for you may be, given the circumstances of course, don’t get tempted to spend it on anything that makes for somewhat of a lifestyle upgrade. First take care of your health and fitness, particularly with regards to your ability to function economically again as someone who can earn an income if needs be.