How to Make Your Smart Home “Smarter”

With the way technology works these days, owning a smart home has become even more exciting. From your home’s lighting, temperature control and even safety, the devices you can add are almost limitless. These things can easily make you want to keep adding more. If you already own a smart home and are currently thinking of upgrading it, here’s a quick rundown of what you need to do to make your smart home “smarter.”Add Voice-Controlled DevicesFormerly, voice-controlled devices could only play music. Now, there are voice-controlled devices that can act as your assistants. They can set your alarms, control your lights and even give you directions, even without pressing any buttons. Some of these devices can even alert you if anything unusual happens at home.Install Smart LightingAutomating your lights can slash a huge portion of your electricity bill. Pair them with sensors, dimmers and wireless control and you’ll be able to save even more. You can set your lights to turn on and off, depending on your personal schedule or, add motion sensors, so you won’t waste energy. You can even use your smartphone to control the brightness, color as well as the ambiance of your home.If your smart phone isn’t enough, you can install a smart device that can notify you when you have left your lights on. Apart from the alerts, this device can also give you an estimate of how much energy your home has already consumed.Secure Your RouterWhen you’re building a smart home, your concern shouldn’t be limited to the kinds of devices you’ll invest in; you also have to take proper measures on how you’ll secure everything inside it. Your router is one of your home’s weakest spots. Much like your front door, you should strengthen it to keep intruders out.Start by changing your password. As soon as you receive your router, change its default password with something that can’t easily be guessed. Refrain from using your birth year or the last digits of your phone number. As much as possible, create a lengthy password and make sure to use alphanumeric characters to make it even harder to crack.It’s also a good idea to constantly upgrade your security software to decrease your devices’ vulnerability to new threats, like spying tools and viruses. Install a malware protection to prevent suspicious and malicious programs from running on your computer.Upgrade Your Smoke DetectorAn ordinary smoke detector that gets activated can cause confusion, especially if you have several units at home. If it isn’t monitored, there’s no way you’ll get alerted about a possible fire – unless you have some friendly neighbors looking after your home. For your safety and security, it’s best if you can upgrade your smoke detector to something smarter.Most smart smoke detectors today are industrial grade and can last a long time. Some of them even come with dedicated apps to help make monitoring a lot easier. Apart from battery life, they can also tell you exactly which area of the house is showing increased temperature. They can even connect you to your local police and firemen for a quick resolution.These extra features can mean a higher price tag. However, considering that they can augment your home security and initiate a faster response, they can be considered as valuable investments.If you are on a tight budget and investing in new devices doesn’t seem feasible at the moment, your next best option is to invest in a device that can turn ordinary devices into smart ones.Get a Smart DoorbellAs home automation becomes even more sophisticated, you’ll find yourself being able to do the things that seemed impossible before. Take, for example, answering your door, even if you’re not physically at home.You’ll be able to tell the delivery man where to leave your parcel or check on someone who’s been showing interest in your front gate for several days. Burglars favor houses that are unoccupied. By being able to answer the door and show that you can see what’s happening around your property, you’ll be able to make your home a lot less favorable for burglary.Smart doorbells can do so much more than that, especially when they are equipped with the right features. With night vision capabilities, live streaming and a two-way talk feature, you’ll be able to detect intruders and burglars even before they execute their plans. You can even record videos to serve as hard evidence in case someone manages to get inside your property.Also, by monitoring your feed, you can check on your kids and know when they arrive home safely from school. You can also get alerts whenever they leave the house without your permission.Over To YouHow Smart is your Home? Have you upgraded all your security devices and installed new ones available in the market? Have you made your home “safe enough”? I would give this a second thought and re-visit all the points mentioned above to have a stress-free life without having to worry about your home safety.

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Reasons to Avoid Mortgage Life Insurance

Please see below on why you should consider owning an independent life insurance policy (or term life) vs mortgage insurance (creditor insurance) sold from the bank:1. Post-Underwriting – Bank insurance is post underwritten. Companies investigate the eligibility AFTER a claim has been made; ie you may be paying premiums for years and in the event of a tragedy your loved ones may discover you never qualified for the insurance in the first place.2. Cost – Often, mortgage life insurance with less features and flexibility actually costs MORE than an independently owned insurance policy.3. Portability – If you buy the coverage from your lender, it may disappear if you refinance, however in the case of a new lender it will require a new policy based on attained age at that time. Just as you want to avoid depending on your employer’s life insurance coverage, in case you change jobs, you should also make sure your insurance isn’t going to vanish just because you found a better mortgage.4. Named beneficiary – The proceeds if something were to happen will bypass your loved ones. Mortgage insurance plans purchased through the bank automatically pay off your loan no matter what situation your family faces at your death. An individual life insurance policy lets you name your spouse or children as beneficiaries, giving them flexibility to pay off the mortgage when they feel the time is right.5. Declining benefit – As mentioned above the banks creditor policy is a declining benefit ie the benefits may vanish before your eyes. Mortgage insurance benefits gradually decline in an attempt to match the declining balance of your debt (declining benefit). Those plans are like a runaway train, you may move into a bigger house with a bigger mortgage, but the death benefit keeps shrinking anyway. Buying an individual life insurance policy keeps you in the driver’s seat, letting you lower the benefits as you see fit or keeping a level benefit for life.6. Convertibility – An individually owned term insurance policy in most cases will allow the policy to be converted without medical to a permanent (life long) solution. A creditor insurance policy owned through the bank does not provide this benefit, which is especially important if one gets sick and can no longer qualify for coverage.7. Preferred underwriting – an independently pre-underwriten policy allows the insurer to determine if you qualify for “preferred” rates which will lower premiums even further8. Consolidation of benefits – by combining your mortgage insurance, with other insurance needs such as income replacement, child care, education etc you will benefit from fees saved on multiple policies and tiered discounts (typically insurance companies discount in 250K bands of insurance), along with simplicity of understanding how much coverage you have in one place. With a bank you can only insure your mortgage.9. Discussed with a licensed insurance professional – Most bank staff selling creditor mortgage insurance are unqualified and unlicensed in life insurance. Licensed professionals shop the market10. Shop the market – buying an independent life insurance policy from a licensed broker allows the market to be shopped to find the best possible solution from a wide range of insurers. Banks often work with only 1 insurance company to provide a singular solution. Furthermore, licensed professional have a responsbility to sell based on a Needs Based approach and can accurately assess your needs.Lastly, while looking at life insurance, make sure to consider disability and critical illness insurance in case you become unable to pay your mortgage due to serious illness or injury.Please contact your local independent life insurance expert to evaluate your options.

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Health News From Hurricane Beaten Florida

The hurricanes have been beating Florida to a pulp and causing untold property damage in that area of the country.I have two good friends who live in the Tampa area, so I’ve been calling down there frequently to check on things.I’ve already told you much about my friend Matt. And as you know, he and his family were over in China for awhile, so they missed much of the action (which is a good thing)But my other good friend, Chet Rowland lives in Clearwater Beach, and he didn’t miss a thing.In fact, I was watching my local news here in Seattle a couple weeks ago, and here’s this reporter doing a story on the Florida hurricanes.But here’s the catch…She’s standing on Clearwater Beach, with the pier in the background, trying to stay on her feet as the wind is howling through at incredible speeds.I couldn’t believe it!Not just because of the winds, but because I saw the pier in the background.I recognized that pier, because it’s just down the beach from where my friend Chet lives..So what do I do?I immediately pick up the phone and give him a call.Isn’t it funny how we react when we’re concerned about those we care about?As the story unfolded, Chet, and those who live in that area didn’t fair too badly. But there were plenty of others who were seriously hurt by the hurricanes.In fact, Chet even commented, “I’ll bet you’re going to have a lot of people from this area calling you as a result of these hurricanes.”And he was right.You see, in addition to running the Health Articles and News Update site, I’m also an indoor air quality expert, and my specialty is in black mold.I work with people across the country, showing them how to locate, clean-up and prevent mold growth in their homes and workplaces.Anyways, let me get on with the story.I think it was only a couple days after I’d talked with Chet.I get this email from a client in Florida.She starts telling me how she had bought some of my products a few months ago (before the hurricanes). I’ll just go ahead and share it with you.Here it is…Kevin, I’ve been having health problems for months. After watching a news story on black mold, it got me thinking.I then went on the internet and started doing some research and that’s when I found your website at www.getmoldsolutions.com.I was a little skeptical to order anything online, but since you had that 30-day trial offer, I decided to give you a try.I got your package in the mail and was amazed by everything you covered. You took me step by step through the process and made it so easy for me to find the mold problem in my home.It ended up being water leak from the washing machine that was causing all the damage.We got it fixed, and now I’ve never felt better. You have no idea what it’s like to have my health back again, and I want to thank you for that.And now, with all these hurricanes, a lot of our friends will be needing your help too.I’m helping them as much as I can, but I’m no expert, so I’m also telling them how to get in touch with you.I’m so glad there are still people like you in this world who are willing to help others, especially in a time like this.Betty WigginsAnd she wasn’t kidding either.It’s like Chet and Betty both had a vision of the future.We’ve had tons of people calling from the Florida area, and we’ve been making sure they get the help they need.You see, people in Florida are now forced to deal with the water damage that’s been done to their homes because it’s so extensive.But most people don’t realize how important it is to take care of any water damage, and to do so right away!Water problems that aren’t addressed will escalate into a full blown mold problem, and this puts you and everyone in your home at risk.Because the demand has been so high, I’m offering a no-charge teleseminar on October 11th in order to help get this valuable information into your hands.If you (or anyone you know) needs to find out how to wipe out the black mold threat in your home, you won’t want to miss out on this.Here’s just some of the topics we’ll be discussing:
The 5 tell-tale danger signs of black mold… any one of these puts you, your family, and your home at risk

How to find out if black mold is the cause of your health problems — without a visit to the doctor’s office

The 3-step method to locating mold… that anyone can do, without spending a fortune to hire a professional

You can get information and register by going herehttp://www.getmoldsolutions.com/black_mold_teleconference.html

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