How to transform your backyard into a restaurant - Shield Agency Insurance Blog

How to Transform Your Backyard Into a Restaurant-Worthy Oasis with Outdoor Lighting

Posted on July 20, 2021August 21, 2023 by Shield Insurance Agency

We asked the pros how to install magical, twinkling outdoor lights — on a budget.

This year’s hottest venue? Your own backyard. Maybe you’ve got the plants and furniture down, but you want to take the space truly over the top, so it looks just as incredible as your favorite restaurant’s outdoor dining setup. Short of splurging on a fancy firepit area building outdoor awnings, there’s a functional, budget-friendly move you can make that’ll totally set the mood. And that’s installing outdoor lighting like a pro.

Many restaurants hire lighting companies to put up their twinkly string lights, but that can set you back thousands. With the right tips and tricks, you can totally DIY. That’s why we turned to event and experience production company Cloth and Flame. Their team is so adept at installing lighting, they can rig it up in the even the most remote places (think: the top of the Grand Canyon or the middle of a dessert). Here is their creative, resourceful advice.

Choose the Right Type of String Lights

Google “string lights” or “café lights” and hundreds of different varieties will pop up. Nathan Lesueur, the lead designer at Cloth and Flame gives us guidance.

Avoid interior lights. Stay away from Christmas lights or anything that’s labeled as an interior light, because these won’t be weather-proof.

Read buyer reviews. Amazon and Costco are great sources for inexpensive string lights, but terms on sellers’ pages like “industrial” or “commercial” don’t mean much. “My only reliable source, no matter what I’m buying is doing the research and reading verified reviews of what other people have experienced that item,” Lesueur says.

Make sure the bulbs are generic and replaceable. Bulbs might break when you install the lights, and they’ll burn out over time. You want to make sure that you can buy generic replacements that screw in. Proprietary bulbs will be more expensive and harder to source down the line.

Click here for the rest of the story… and some great photos too!

7 Tips For Finding Flight Deals Now That Everything Is So Expensive

Posted on July 13, 2021August 21, 2023 by Shield Insurance Agency

By Caroline Bologna | 07/01/2021 07:00am EDT | Updated July 2, 2021 | Huffpost.com | Flight Deals

It feels impossible to book cheap flights at the moment, but experts say there are still deals to be found.

If you’ve tried to book a flight lately, you might have noticed a couple of things: The prices are looking high, and the options are looking limited.

This isn’t particularly surprising. On Sunday, the Transportation Security Administration says, it screened 2,167,380 passengers at airport security checkpoints, the highest volume since the beginning of the pandemic.

Meanwhile, airlines have not yet resumed offering as many flights as they did pre-pandemic, after making schedule reductions over the past 15 months. The result is higher demand and lower supply ― ergo, expensive tickets.

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Property losses to anticipate after a severe weather event

Posted on July 13, 2021August 26, 2021 by Shield Insurance Agency

Recovering your business after a storm: 5 property losses to anticipate after a severe weather event

As natural disasters become increasingly costly, property damage claims are on the rise. Since 2011, the U.S. has seen at least $20 billion a year in estimated insured property losses. Alarmingly, that number has risen annually, culminating in a 2020 insured property loss of more than $74 billion, according to the Insurance Information Institute.

Property claims are often a given in the aftermath of a severe weather event, meaning that business leaders need to have a plan to prepare for potential property loss or damage. Follow along to learn about five common property losses businesses can expect after an extreme weather event.

1. Property damage

After the storm has passed, evaluating and addressing the damage done to your business’ infrastructure is a pressing concern. Extreme weather events like hail, tornadoes, flooding, and even strong winds can cause extensive property damage, and you’ll need to work with your insurance provider to determine the extent of the damage and the estimated funds required for repair. If property damage has destroyed your building or rendered it temporarily uninhabitable, you should have a contingency plan in place to resume normal business operations, store equipment, and protect existing inventory.

2. Equipment breakdown

Weather events, particularly those that involve flooding or heavy rainfall, can damage equipment needed to maintain business operations. Servers, electrical systems, heavy machinery, and other equipment might be damaged or destroyed entirely. Before reopening, ensure your equipment is functional and safe for use. You should also talk to your insurance provider about how to account for unexpected wear and tear, which may shorten the life of your equipment and lead to financial losses down the road.

3. Theft and vandalism

During and after natural disasters, many business owners worry about theft and vandalism, although sometimes it can be hard to determine whether looting has occurred, given the existing property damage. Regardless, vacant buildings can be susceptible to vandalism and theft without proper security and oversight. If your property requires post-event construction, you should work with your insurance provider and contractor to discuss potential liabilities during rebuilding. You can also take precautions, like hiring security, to help reduce your risk.

4. Business interruption and continuity plans

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Best Podcasts For When You Are On Vacation - Shield Insurance Agency Blog

Best podcasts for when you’re on vacation, traveling or taking a road trip

Posted on July 13, 2021November 17, 2021 by Shield Insurance Agency

Mashable.com

Let these podcasts take you away from it all.

Entertainment > Podcasts

After over a year of isolation, wanderlust is swirling in the air, as many seek safe ways to re-emerge into the world with much-needed vacation or reunion trips. Whatever that re-emergence looks like for you, there’s definitely a podcast that can help heighten the experience.

But make no mistake: mid 2021 is certainly not the wholesale Back To Normal we might’ve hoped for, especially in countries and communities with low vaccination rates. The delta variant of COVID-19 is a real threat for the unvaccinated. The only way to move toward a true return to life before the pandemic is to increase vaccination rates around the globe.

With the right safety measures, though, vaccinated folks are now being given the green light to travel and reconnect with each other in person again. That also means you’re going to need travel-friendly entertainment to keep you company along the way.

As an audio-only medium that doesn’t require eyeballs or even WiFi to enjoy, podcasts make for ideal travel companions. Whether you’re getting to your destination via road trip, train, or airplane ride, a great podcast can make the boring parts of going on vacation more exciting. Even if you’re just taking time off to go on a local stay-cation or far-off hiking trail, you’ll have some free time to kill.

Whatever your travel plans may be, these podcasts can help you kick back, relax, and explore the big wide world. Just be sure to remember to pack your AirPods.

1. Atlas Obscura

What it is: This 15-minute daily travel podcast is home to all the world’s strangest, most unbelievable wonders. Host Dylan Thuras and other Atlas Obscura field reporters transport you to a variety of incredible places around the globe, be it a museum or ancient monument. Listen to the people, stories, and histories that make these amazing destinations ideal spots for the curious traveler.

Why it’s great for vacation or travel: Regain that sense of wanderlust that reminds us why every corner of the globe has a unique adventure worth exploring.

2. Stuff You Should Know

What it is: A favorite of many podcast listeners, the long-running Stuff You Should Know was so popular it spawned its own dedicated network (including other daily podcasts in a similar vein, like Stuff You Missed in History Class.) Since it covers everything under the sun, it’s important to note that hosts Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant admit to not being experts on all these topics. Some with deep knowledge of certain subjects might even find their summaries frustratingly surface level. But they do a great job of at least sparking interest in a lot of important things we should all know about, which hopefully inspires listeners to research beyond what can be tackled in only an hour. [From our Best Daily Podcasts roundup]

Why it’s great for vacation or travel: Regain that sense of wanderlust that reminds us why every corner of the globe has a unique adventure worth exploring.

3. The Experiment

The American experiment, often repackaged as the American dream, is one of the biggest sources of miseducation in our country. In this WNYC Studios and Atlantic collaboration, host Julia Longoria applies the ideals of America’s past that were held to be self-evident, then measures them up against our current reality. Bringing the high ideals of this country’s founding to everyday experiences, The Experiment can even find lessons in trash reality TV shows like 90 Day Fiancé. [From our Best Educational Podcasts roundup]

Why it’s great for vacation or travel: Even if you’re a resident of the country you’re traveling through, there’s still so much to learn about the place we call home.

4. Blood Ties

What it is: Fiction podcasts are going through something of a renaissance lately, with Blood Ties as a great example of the genre’s evolution in the mainstream. While it isn’t “true” crime, the wildly popular mini-series scratches that same itch for an engrossing story. Follow Eleanore Richland (voiced by Community’s Gillian Jacobs) as her annual family vacation turns to catastrophe after her parents’ plane crashes under mysterious circumstances. While the story itself may not be real, the themes certainly apply to the real world, as Eleanore uncovers family secrets that test her ability to stay true to her morals even when it hurts her loved ones.

Be sure to check out the other 18 podcasts in this great article!

Click here for the rest of the story…

Retail banking, bonds, and Bitcoin: 3 financial institution trends to watch in 2021

Posted on July 12, 2021August 21, 2023 by Shield Insurance Agency

Liberty Mutual | financial institution | Business Insurance |

“The banking industry can uniquely act as a primary source of stability,” McKinsey journalists wrote in an article on U.S. banking and the pandemic in May 2020. Despite the fluctuating economy, financial institutions rose to meet the challenges posed by the pandemic. They stayed strong for the last year and a half, acting as a stabilizing force for both national and local economies—and that stability makes them an attractive market for sureties in 2021 and beyond. But stability isn’t permanent. In this piece, we’re investigating three trends that will likely shape financial institutions and their relationships with surety agents this year.

3 surety trends for financial institution in 2021

1. Banks expand in underserved communities

In the surety underwriting space, larger financial institutions remain strong, particularly in major metro areas like New York City. While the pandemic has shifted the need for retail space across the industry, many banks continue to grow their retail footprint in select growth markets and underserved communities. According to a recent article from S&P, many large consumer banks experienced a net growth in retail space—particularly ATM locations—in select urban areas, despite a net decline in retail space for financial institutions nationwide. JP Morgan’s 2020 Annual Report reflects that trend. The report states that the bank will open “16 new community branches in traditionally underserved neighborhoods and hire 150 community managers by 2022… Another 100 new branches are being opened in low- to moderate-income communities across the United States as part of the firm’s market expansion initiative.”

For surety underwriters, this trend offers the opportunity to provide major consumer banks with several types of bonds:

Mechanic’s lien bonds, which protect contractors that have filed a lien by guaranteeing that any payment that is due to them (including interest) will be paid should they win the case.
Site improvement bonds, which protect the local government by guaranteeing that the improvements will be done in accordance with the applicable regulations.
Utility bonds, which protect utility companies by ensuring the banks pay for their utilities on time

3. The rise in court bonds

In the aftermath of Covid, many industries—not just financial institutions—will likely experience a greater need for appeal bonds. A type of court bond, surety firms offer these bonds to guarantee payment of monetary damages from civil lawsuits during and after the appeals process.

The need for additional appeal bonds across industries is due primarily to pandemic-related litigation. One study by an analytics company tracking the rise in Covid-related court filings found more than 1,500 cases in just four months, from March 1 to July 4, 2020. By May 2021, that number had increased to 6,900 Covid-related cases, with pandemic-related filings likely to continue for months, or even years. For some companies, audits and investigations prompted by pandemic-related suits may uncover other areas for potential scrutiny—for example, if a company is not following a proper procedure.

Surety companies should anticipate a rise in appeal bond demand for years to come, both from pandemic-related filings and cases brought to light by Covid-era investigations.

3. Accelerated interest in cryptocurrency

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Should You Buy a Refurbished Phone?

Posted on July 9, 2021August 21, 2023 by Shield Insurance Agency

Consumer Reports | Refurbished Phone |

A pre-owned model can be a great deal, according to CR members, as long as you know what to look for.

Refurbished phones account for a small fraction of industry sales. But they can be a great option for anyone looking for significant savings—especially these days, when the price of a new model can easily exceed $1,000.

On Apple’s website, for example, you can purchase a refurbished iPhone XR with 128 gigabytes of storage for $470. A new XR with that much space costs $550.

Samsung offers a refurbished Galaxy S20 for $650, and that’s pretty much the only way to get one of those. All three of the S20 models scored well in Consumer Reports’ labs, but they were discontinued earlier this year. Buying the latest version, the Galaxy S21, will cost you $800.

And according to a spring 2018 survey, CR members have been generally satisfied with purchases like those, not to mention their overall shopping experience.

Among the 3,211 people who reported buying a refurbished phone since Jan. 1, 2016, 82 percent said they were highly satisfied with the product.

In fact, in our survey 67 percent of the owners of refurbished phones said they had no complaints. That’s just a hair less than the 69 percent of new smartphone owners who said the same thing.

“People are way more satisfied with refurbished phones than I would have thought,” says Karen Jaffe, who oversaw the refurbished phone survey

Know What You’re Buying

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Off-road ATVs: Coverage for your off-road ATV

Posted on July 5, 2021August 21, 2023 by Shield Insurance Agency

Safeco® Off-road ATVs: Coverage for your off-road ATV

Do you have an off road vehicle? Safeco will insure all-terrain vehicles with four or six wheels, a wide variety of utility-terrain vehicles (UTV), side-by-sides, dirt bikes, snowmobiles, golf carts, and other select off-road vehicles. Talk with a Safeco agent to get details about all the vehicles types we cover. Connect with your Safeco independent agent today to get the details and determine the best coverage options for your off-road vehicle: http://spr.ly/6053yTUUv Disclaimer: Subject to policy terms, conditions, and limitations. Discounts and savings available where state laws and regulations allow and may vary by state. State insurance requirements apply. Insurance offered by Safeco Insurance Company of America and affiliates, Boston, MA.

Set sail with peace of mind

Posted on July 5, 2021August 29, 2021 by Shield Insurance Agency

Safeco® Captain’s Package Coverage: Set sail with peace of mind

Four reasons you can set sail with peace of mind when you enroll in the Safeco Captain’s Package. One New Boat Price Protection: in the event of a total loss, replaces boats/watercrafts less than two years old with a new boat/watercraft. Two Roadside Assistance: covers the boat/watercraft, trailer, and the car or truck you tow it with. Three Personal Effects Protection: increased protection limits to your base coverage. Four Emergency Assistance: Increases this coverage to $1,000. Connect with your Safeco independent agent today to find out more: http://spr.ly/6051yTUv3 Disclaimer: Subject to policy terms, conditions, and limitations. Discounts and savings available where state laws and regulations allow and may vary by state. State insurance requirements apply. Insurance offered by Safeco Insurance Company of America and affiliates, Boston, MA.

How To Assess When An Older Adult Requires Caregiving Assistance - Shield Insurance Agency Blog

Caregiving Assistance: How to Assess When an Older Adult Requires Caregiving Assistance

Posted on July 5, 2021August 21, 2023 by Shield Insurance Agency

by Barbara Stepko, AARP, June 28, 2021 | Caregiving Assistance

Sometimes an older adult’s need for additional help is obvious. It could be that he or she is having a hard time getting to appointments, seems confused by instructions or perhaps isn’t paying bills on time. More often, though, the change happens gradually. That’s where a professional assessment comes in. This comprehensive review of all aspects of person’s mental, physical and environmental condition is one way to determine if your loved one needs assistance. This helps to evaluate his or her ability to remain safely independent and identify risks and ways to reduce them.

A family member or caregiver also has an opportunity to evaluate how a loved one is doing in terms of health, safety and quality of life. “The goal,” says Ardeshir Hashmi, M.D., section chief of the Center for Geriatric Medicine at Cleveland Clinic, “is to pick up clues early, before they start to impact day-to-day life a significant way, so we can do something about them.” Here are red flags to look for, which may signal a loved one needs further evaluation — and possibly more support.

Mobility

Changes in appearance

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Mold: a silent but rapidly growing environmental exposure

Posted on July 5, 2021August 26, 2021 by Shield Insurance Agency

At first glance, mold may seem unassuming but for commercial property owners, mold can be a highly problematic hazard that presents significant environmental risk.

Although frequently associated with the aftermath of natural disasters, mold is much more likely to result from routine maintenance issues such as leaky pipes or HVAC malfunctions. Taking a proactive approach to address mold is critical to help reduce the risk of property damage, guard against personal health effects, and avoid potentially costly future claims.

The health risks of mold

Concern about indoor exposure to mold has been increasing as the general public becomes aware of health risks and symptoms. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, potential adverse health risks can include a stuffy nose, sore throat, coughing or wheezing, burning eyes, or skin rash–with increased concerns for those with asthma or immuno-compromised individuals. Given these potential issues, commercial owners should prioritize mold as part of risk-management planning.

Industry-specific factors driving mold claims

While any business can be at risk for mold, certain sectors have experienced a significant uptick in the frequency and severity of costly environmental claims due to mold and indoor air quality issues. Here’s a look at the factors driving this trend in these sectors.

Heat and humidity create fertile breeding grounds for mold in schools.

Elementary and high schools (K-12) are vulnerable to mold growth for several reasons, including:

increased moisture due to painting or carpet cleaning
high humidity with reduced air conditioning or outdated heating systems
Especially during the summer, a lack of ventilation combined with heat and humidity creates a perfect mold incubator.

Without regular maintenance, a school can rapidly experience significant mold growth. To mitigate the risk of mold outbreaks, schools should perform regularly scheduled inspections for signs of mold, moisture, and leaks, including during long breaks. The Environmental Protection Agency’s Mold in Schools fact sheet provides additional guidance on how schools can mitigate this risk.

Renovations can lead to contamination surprises for hospitals and hotels.

Deferred maintenance can lead to delayed problems for healthcare and hospitality sectors, especially when it comes to larger projects such as roof or room renovations:

As a roof comes closer to the end of its useful life, the likelihood of leaking increases exponentially, as does the risk of mold growth.
Mold thrives where there is plenty of organic material, such as wood, paper, paint, drywall, and insulation—frequently uncovered behind walls, under carpet and ceiling tiles, and surrounding corroded pipes during routine maintenance or renovation projects.

Not having a plan to address this risk can be very costly. In addition to the costs to address structural damage, hospitals and hotels may also experience lost revenue if facilities need to cease operations or are held liable for mold-related exposures of individuals.