These events could happen to everyone - why is it required to go "above and beyond" to have some sort of sense of security in life?
On the public side, I look at our (US) government's spending habits and they're clearly unsustainable long term. I know national debt isn't like personal debt, but at some point there has to be a reckoning, or more likely a series of smaller but no less meaningful reckonings. Combined with advances in technology threatening to take away even white collar jobs (although as an engineer mine's probably safe), one way or another we're in for some very turbulent times. I want my family insulated from that. I want to be the rich guy who gets hit by the great depression... and is moderately less rich. :)
I'm already lucky, if I wanted to I could take my foot off the gas at my current job and probably not have to worry about 80% of life's financial problems, but I know eventually one of the 20% is going to come along and wreck my shit. So I work to close that gap.
In short: Figuratively speaking I'm not satisfied with my own emergency shelter, I want my own protective carrier battlegroup. No matter where I live or what I do, that kind of protection takes money.
I don't mind my taxes paying for my friend who's on his 4th month of sick leave because of a sudden and deep depression, it's a very small cost for me so society in general can be healthier.