What To Know Before Your Next Vacation
VACATION SAFETY TIPS TO HELP PREVENT HOME BURGLARY
According to the FBI, a home is burglarized every 15 seconds in the United States – resulting in an average valued loss of $2,188.Follow these vacation safety tips to keep your home and family secure while you’re away – and you can even use some of these tips when you’re home.
DETERRING BURGLARS ALL YEAR LONG
To secure your home all year long, install the following:
- Home security system
- Strong exterior doors made of solid wood or steel
- Deadbolt locks
- Motion-activated sensors on outdoor floodlights
- Block windows or locked window well covers for the basement
- Locks for your pet doors
For more tips on deterring break-ins year-round, check out the home burglary prevention page.
VACATION SAFETY TIPS FOR WHEN YOU’RE ABOUT TO TRAVEL
- Resist the urge to mention your trip on social media or in public. You can always post the pictures (and re-live the vacation) once you’re back home.
- Make an inventory of your valuables, including serial numbers and photos.
- Stop the newspaper and mail, or ask a trusted neighbor to pick them up.
- Park your car inside the garage – and ask a neighbor to park in your driveway occasionally.
- Put at least one light on a timer.
- Arrange for your lawn to stay trimmed.
AND JUST IN CASE SOMEONE DOES BREAK-IN
Even if the best vacation safety precautions fail to keep burglars out of your house, you don’t have to make it easy for them if they get in. Some ways to make their “job” harder and protect yourself:
- Don’t keep expensive jewelry on your bedroom dresser.
- Don’t store your expensive flatware in the dining room hutch or china cabinet.
- Keep important documents, financial information & small valuables in a fireproof safe, discreetly hidden in your house.
MAKE SURE YOU HAVE THE RIGHT HOME INSURANCE POLICY
No matter the precautions taken to prevent theft, sometimes the unexpected still happens. In the event thieves break into your house, steal your personal items or damage your home, home insurance may be able to help you.
Thank you Nationwide for this informative article!
Sources:
www.nationwide.com/home-burglary.jsp
Staying Healthy In Every Season
When the seasons change and temperatures shift, you may be more likely to encounter certain viruses, including the flu and the common cold. And if you have seasonal allergies, pollen and mold from plants can aggravate your immune system.
The good news is there are steps you can take to stay well, so you can welcome the new season instead of sniffling through it.
TAKE TIME FOR YOURSELF.
The start of a new season can bring about schedule changes that might leave you overwhelmed — and more susceptible to sickness. Shuffling kids to spring sports practice or attending lots of seasonal events can leave you with less time to relax, exercise or eat right. The added stress can also slash your body’s production of infection-fighting white blood cells, putting you at greater risk for catching something.
That’s why it’s worth finding ways to unwind every day, like meditating or reading quietly before bed. Even a few minutes can make you feel more relaxed.
ADD MORE MOVEMENT TO YOUR DAY.
Being active helps flush illness-causing bacteria out of the airways and strengthens infection-fighting white blood cells. Plus, it can help keep stress in check.
The American Heart Association recommends 150 minutes of moderate exercise or 75 minutes of brisk exercise per week, along with resistance training twice a week. It can be difficult to fit regular exercise into an already busy day, so look for ways to be active in shorter bursts — plan a power walk after lunch, or have an impromptu dance party with your kids after dinner.
Also, if you usually work out outdoors, think about hitting the gym or taking indoor classes during seasonal shifts. Higher pollen levels or mold from leaves on the ground can trigger an allergic response and cause congestion.
FIGHT YOUR EXPOSURE TO GERMS.
Even if you wash your hands regularly, there’s no guarantee others are doing the same. Wipe down surfaces at home and at work with a disinfectant, paying special attention to germ-prone areas like doorknobs, phones, keyboards and remotes.
And if a bug is going around, see if you can take advantage of any work-from-home or flexible work policies to avoid being in contact with others who may be sick around the office or on public transportation.
FILL UP ON PROTECTIVE FOODS.
Eating more of these power picks can help you feel your best.
- Brightly colored fruits and vegetables. They serve up vitamins C, A, and folate, which all help fortify your immune system. Try to buy local produce when possible, since foods picked and consumed when they are fresh tend to pack more nutrients.
- Fatty fish and eggs. Both are rich in vitamin D, which activates the immune system when germs invade.
- Nuts and seeds. Snack on them for a healthy dose of vitamin E, an antioxidant that also works to keep infections at bay.
- Plain yogurt. The good bacteria in foods like yogurt can boost your gut health.
MAKE A SERIOUS EFFORT TO SLEEP BETTER.
Aim for 7 to 8 hours of sleep per night. Even falling short for a few days lowers your defenses against germs and makes you more susceptible to getting sick. If you have trouble sticking to a bedtime, set an alarm on your phone to remind you it’s time to start winding down for the evening.
Try to keep a consistent sleep routine even if the seasonal shift changes your schedule. When things get hectic, streamline other tasks so you can still get to bed on time. Prep healthy meals on the weekend or hire a cleaning service, so you don’t have to tackle cooking or chores on weeknights.
Looking for ways to improve your sleep habits? Find helpful tips for better sleep here.
With a little more focus on self-care, you can stay a step ahead of illness-causing germs and be healthy year-round.
Thank you MetLife for the great information in this article!
Why Should I Conduct A Home Inventory?
For business owners – retailers, in particular – it can be a daily ritual: the inventory process. Companies have to be aware of the specific items that sold over a given period so that more can be ordered, replenishing their store shelves to keep patrons happy. For the sake of customer satisfaction alone, this makes creating an inventory a must-do component to keeping things up and running.
If only everyday Americans had the same motivation.
Conducting a home inventory can seem like one more thing to do when you’re already busy enough as it is. But, devoting some of your time to the process really is worth it – in every sense of the word. The following are several reasons why it pays to take stock of your stuff:
Expedites the claims process
After sustaining a loss in a fire, weather-related disaster or theft, filing a homeowners insurance or renters insurance claim can help replace the belongings that were damaged or destroyed. By knowing what specific items were spoiled or wrecked, you make the claims process easier for you and the insurer, helping expedite the claims process.
Helps determine the proper amount of coverage
When you own or rent a residence, insurance is crucial. But, how do you know the proper amount of content coverage you need? Conducting an inventory can help determine this. A thorough review of the things that you own – and the establishment of a value for each – will give you a better assessment of how much coverage is adequate, so you’re fully protected.
Keeps track of what’s what
The average American accumulates an enormous amount of junk over a given year, so you can only imagine how much stuff is compiled over a lifetime. Creating an inventory is a tangible way of assessing your most valuable possessions and what it would take to replace them should an unfortunate event occur.
There are a wide variety of ways to complete a home inventory, almost as diverse as the things you own. The Insurance Information Institute offers a free example in the form of an app that you can download to a mobile device. If you’re a visual person, the app allows you to take pictures of your items and document them with written details of when each was purchased and the cost.
You can also keep an inventory by maintaining a notebook, along with a brief description of each item. You may want to categorize the items listed by the room in which they’re situated or classified, like kitchen items, electronics and jewelry.
For more information on creating an inventory that works for you, speak with your independent agent.
Thank you Selective for this helpful article!
Sources:
Insurance Information Institute – Brochure: Home Inventory
Insurance Information Institute – Know Your Stuff® Home Inventory
Audit Data Analytics: Why Auditors Should Care
Perhaps you are a new entrepreneur about to launch a business or innovation you have been dreaming about for years. Or maybe you have an established business and things are going well, or maybe even too well. In both instances, you are going to need capital – the “oxygen” that every business needs to grow and prosper
.
HOW DO YOU DECIDE?
So now you are writing your first business plan or touching up the old one in anticipation of raising capital. Capital can only come into a business in one of two ways. Capital that is generated internally through positive cash flow from business operations (e.g., selling stuff), or from external funding sources. The new entrepreneur is limited to only one option – external funding sources. The established business is hopefully generating positive cash flow but may require additional capital. Which funding option is best? Is it best that the capital come from only one source, or does it make more sense for the capital to come from multiple sources? How do you decide?
How you decide to capitalize the business is called your capital formation strategy. There are undoubtedly a number of other factors to consider depending on your company’s current circumstances, and, quite importantly, where you want your company to go in the next few years. If you are still hesitating what development strategy to pick for your company.
Top 3 Concerns When Choosing A Cloud Vendor
Perhaps you are a new entrepreneur about to launch a business or innovation you have been dreaming about for years. Or maybe you have an established business and things are going well, or maybe even too well. In both instances, you are going to need capital – the “oxygen” that every business needs to grow and prosper.
HOW DO YOU DECIDE?
So now you are writing your first business plan or touching up the old one in anticipation of raising capital. Capital can only come into a business in one of two ways. Capital that is generated internally through positive cash flow from business operations (e.g., selling stuff), or from external funding sources. The new entrepreneur is limited to only one option – external funding sources. The established business is hopefully generating positive cash flow but may require additional capital. Which funding option is best? Is it best that the capital comes from only one source, or does it make more sense for the capital to come from multiple sources? How do you decide?
How you decide to capitalize the business is called your capital formation strategy. There are undoubtedly a number of other factors to consider depending on your company’s current circumstances, and, quite importantly, where you want your company to go in the next few years. If you are still hesitating what development strategy to pick for your company.