Insurance

Year-end financial checklist

Year-end Financial Checklist

Posted on by Shield Insurance Agency

US Bank.com | October 11, 2022 | Shield Life Insurance | Financial Checklist

An end-of-the-year financial checklist is a good opportunity to make sure you’re still on track toward your financial goals. 

Sometimes it feels like a year can disappear in the blink of an eye. When you look back over the previous 12 months, you might be surprised at what may have changed for you, whether that’s in terms of the economy at large, your individual finances, or your personal circumstances.

That’s why the end of the year is a good time to review your accounts and investments and make smart adjustments for the new year. Also, with tax season around the corner, reviewing your portfolio and personal finances now could potentially help reduce your tax liability.

Use this year-end financial checklist as a guide.

1. Review your financial plan

Think about what you spent money on this year, and how much. Whether it was home improvements, a vacation, or boosting a loved one’s college savings, did you achieve your family’s financial goals? Or did you put some on hold in favor of other priorities that came up during the year? Do you foresee having to make any large purchases in the next year?

Also, consider what changed in your life this year. Births, deaths, marriage, divorce, and retirement can all have an impact on both your personal finances and your strategic financial plan.

Financial planning tips

  • Be honest with yourself. If money was tight, or if you had a surplus, this is a good time to adjust your spending and priorities.
  • Use a financial professional as a sounding board. An outside perspective is helpful when reviewing short- and long-term family financial goals. A financial professional might be able to make suggestions you haven’t thought about. 

2. Review your employee benefits

It’s tempting to just keep your employee benefits humming along in the background, but reviewing them yearly can make a big difference. Look at your employer-sponsored 401(k) or IRA account contributions for the year. Did you max out your contributions? If not, did you at least contribute as much as the company match?

For the 2022 tax year, the maximum 401(k) contribution is $20,500, plus an additional $6,500 if you’re 50+. The maximum IRA contribution is $6,000, plus $1,000 if you’re 50+. If you’re not maxing out your contribution, consider at least increasing it on an annual basis.

Don’t forget to pay attention to your allocations. Are you happy with the ratio of stocks, bonds and other assets, or do you need to rebalance?

Other employee benefits to review and adjust—with a financial professional, if you like—include corporate stock options and other incentive plans (restricted stock, restricted award units, etc.); health, life and disability insurance coverage; and your flexible spending account (FSA).

And don’t forget your health spending account (HSA), if you have one. For the 2022 tax year, the maximum HSA contributions are $3,650 for individuals, $7,300 for families, and an additional $1,000 for individuals age 55+.

Finally, are your beneficiaries up to date? Can you also designate a successor beneficiary? You work hard for your employees’ benefits, so be sure they end up where you want them.

Employee benefit tips

  • Calculate your remaining health insurance deductible. Can you accelerate or postpone medical treatments?
  • Use up your FSA. There are some qualified products you may not have thought of, from contact lens solution to bandages, that you can purchase with those funds.

3. Conduct a year-end tax review

Tax Day might not be until April 15, but it’s always a good idea to get a head start on preparation. For example, did you experience any life transitions (marriage, births, divorce, deaths, retirement, etc.) in the last year that could affect your tax withholding status?

Based on your anticipated income for next year, would deferring or accelerating any bonuses, property sales, other taxable transactions, deductible expenses, charitable gifts, etc., benefit you from a tax perspective? A financial professional can help you review your options.

Tax review tip

  • Explore tax loss harvesting. If you had investments that lost money, tax loss harvesting can help you reduce your tax liability. There are strict rules around how this is executed, so to avoid potential penalties, consider talking to a financial or tax professional before using this strategy.

4. Assess your investments

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Simple Steps for an Extra Safe Halloween

Simple Steps for an Extra Safe Halloween

Posted on by Shield Insurance Agency

National Safety Council | October 21, 2022 | Safe Halloween

Kids love the magic of Halloween, but costume and traffic safety are essential for trick-or-treaters. These tips can help make a safe and happy holiday for everyone.

Costume Safety for a Safe Halloween

To help ensure adults and children have a safe holiday, fda.gov has compiled a list of Halloween safety tips. Before Halloween arrives, be sure to choose a costume that won’t cause safety hazards.

● All costumes, wigs and accessories should be fire-resistant
● If children are allowed out after dark, fasten reflective tape to their costumes and bags, or give them glow sticks
● Opt for nontoxic Halloween makeup over masks, which can obscure vision; always test makeup in a small area first to see if any irritation develops
● Remove all makeup before children go to bed to prevent skin and eye irritation

When They’re on the Prowl

Here’s a scary statistic: Children are more than twice as likely to be hit by a car and killed on Halloween than on any other day of the year. Lack of visibility because of low lighting at night also plays a factor in these incidents.

Keep these tips in mind when your children are out on Halloween night:

● A responsible adult should accompany young children on the neighborhood rounds
● If your older children are going alone, plan and review a route acceptable to you
● Agree on a specific time children should return home
● Teach your children never to enter a stranger’s home or car
● Instruct children to travel only in familiar, well-lit areas and stick with their friends
● Tell your children not to eat any treats until they return home, and take care to avoid any food allergies

Safe Halloween Tips for Motorists

NSC offers these additional safety tips for parents – and anyone who plans to be on the road during trick-or-treat hours:

● Watch for children walking on roadways, medians and curbs
● Enter and exit driveways and alleys carefully
● At twilight and later in the evening, watch for children in dark clothing
● Discourage new, inexperienced drivers from driving on Halloween

Visit the National Safety Council website for more great safety ideas!

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Not Sure What to Wear on Halloween? Google Just Ranked the Most Popular Costumes of 2022

Not Sure What to Wear on Halloween?

Posted on by Shield Insurance Agency

Not Sure What to Wear on Halloween? Google Just Ranked the Most Popular Costumes of 2022

Expect to see a few familiar scary faces (and some pop culture favorites!) on Halloween, October 31.

MarthaStewart.com | By Nashia Baker | October 18, 2022

If you’re like Martha, dressing up for Halloween is probably one of your favorite parts of the spooky holiday. And on October 31, you certainly won’t be alone: Your neighborhood’s streets will be filled with trick-or-treaters (and their parents!) in costumes fit for the occasion.

When you do step out in character this year, you might notice a few recurring themes. According to Google Trends’ 2022 FrightGeist report, which highlighted the most-searched Halloween costumes across the United States, a few familiar monsters will prowl the streets, candy baskets in hand—but there will likely be some creative pop-culture references and beloved superheroes, too. As for the look you’ll see in droves on Halloween night? Google users searched most for a witch costume.

The runner-up spot was claimed by a famed movie and TV character: Spider-Man was the second most-searched costume. Rounding out the top three is an ancient, extinct creature that, on any other night, exists in fossil form only: Halloween enthusiasts plan to don plenty of dinosaur costumes in 2022.

Related: 15 Last-Minute Costume Ideas for Halloween

Creatures of the past and champions of the present aren’t the only costume themes that have captured trick-or-treaters’ interests this year: Google users are also planning on dressing up as characters from Netflix’s Stranger Things, which clocked in at number four (not Eleven!). And if you were considering being something more fearsome, think again. The fifth most-searched pick, a fairy, proves that ethereal and whimsical options are trending, too.

Want to see how your Halloween costume ranks on Google Trends’ list this year? Discover the 20 most-searched costumes, below—and visit FrightGeist for the full list.

Click here for the full list…

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Why private equity firms should seek political risk insurance in today’s geopolitical environment

Why private equity firms should seek political risk insurance in today’s geopolitical environment

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Liberty Mutual | Published 09/30/2022 | political risk insurance

It’s news to no one that our world is in a state of turbulence, from the political climate to the actual climate. One of the numerous effects of political change is that organizations operating in international emerging markets face potentially significant business risks, from elections and coups to wars and sudden nationalizations.

Global economies are still rebounding from the social unrest and supply-chain issues of the COVID-19 pandemic, a crisis that led investors to consider adding inequality measures (such as the Gini coefficient/index) to country-risk profiles that traditionally relied on political stability measures. More recently, the Russia-Ukraine war has been producing global ripple effects, including reduced agricultural output to regions like Turkey, the Middle East & North Africa, and Bangladesh; a worsening of the continued energy crisis; and sustained and elevated inflation.

In fact, in a recent annual survey of PE and VC practitioners conducted by S&P Global Market Intelligence, 26% of respondents highlighted political upheaval as one of the top five risk factors of most concern.   

There is, however, a solution. Learn more about a well-established but underutilized tool that can help mitigate the risks private equity firms face investing in today’s shifting geopolitical environment: political risk insurance (PRI).

How political risk insurance can reduce the risk of geopolitical turbulence

First, let’s examine some of the specific risks a company funded by a PE firm faces in a volatile political climate. These risks include, but are not limited to:

  • Lost investment without compensation because the government seizes control of company assets. History is rife with examples of newly elected regimes forcibly taking ownership of privately controlled resources.
  • Forced abandonment of projects or equipment because the potential for politically motivated violence escalates to the degree that the business must leave quickly to ensure the safety of its team.
  • Management of breached contracts that occur when a supplier or vendor runs into the above or related problems.

“Foreign direct investment is crucial for developing countries,” says Amy Gross of Liberty Mutual’s Global Private Equity Practice. “For example, many countries where these emerging markets exist have a significant need for clean and sustainable energy sources. This need has driven a number of those initiatives—solar energy, wind projects, etc.—all requiring a capital investment of anywhere from $10 million to $2 billion. However, to attract that kind of capital, investors need to know that their political risk is mitigated.”

Based on the very real risks listed above, it’s no surprise that PE firms have been cautious about expanding their international portfolios. However, avoidance of overseas assets means firms are missing out on substantial business opportunities—investments that could be less risky if more firms leveraged political risk insurance.

Just as traditional insurance is leveraged by PE firms to reduce risk to businesses in a domestic portfolio, political risk insurance helps firms manage the unknown liabilities associated with investing in emerging markets across the globe. A risk management strategy that includes PRI gives private equity companies more dependable access to opportunities in the developing world and more confidence in valuation and pricing when it’s time to exit.

The challenges of PRI for private equity

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How to Use Google Privacy Settings

How to Use Google Privacy Settings

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These controls and techniques will help you limit the personal data Google collects for advertising and other purposes

Consumer Report | By Thomas Germain | Published October 11, 2022

Google is a company that runs on consumer data. It uses details about your activity to target ads, build new services, develop algorithms, and perform other business functions. Completely avoiding the company’s data collection machinery is extremely difficult, but it’s not hard to place some limits on how Google gathers and uses your data.

The first step is to take advantage of Google’s own privacy settings, and you can fine-tune them with a bit more precision thanks to some recent updates. There are also several outside tools you can use to take more control.

Most of the instructions below are for a computer browser, but the steps are similar if you’re working on your phone. And one of these settings is specific to Android, Google’s smartphone platform.

Turn Off the Master Privacy Control

If you’ve been feeling guilty about neglecting your diary, you can rest easy: If a setting called Web & App Activity is turned on, Google keeps one for you.

You can see this data for yourself, with granular details about your activity on Google products such as Search, Chrome, Android, and Google Assistant. This includes your whereabouts, websites you’ve gone to, the apps you’ve used on your phone, and your search history, along with exact time stamps for all this behavior.

The Web & App Activity control is the company’s most powerful privacy setting, and it does a lot more than you might think. Leave it on, and the company considers that consent to harness everything from your YouTube history to credit card purchases in the physical world for advertising and other data-driven business efforts.

But if you switch it off, Google warns that its services may be less “personalized,” and certain features will be disabled in Maps and Google Assistant.

“That makes for a terrible user experience,” says Justin Brookman, director of privacy and technology policy for Consumer Reports. “It’s bad practice for them to lump all these settings together and disincentivize protecting your privacy.”

But Brookman thinks the privacy boost is still worth the trade-off, and you can always switch the setting back on if you need to.

Google has introduced a few new controls for Web & App activity. You can tell it to exclude browsing data and other information from Google Chrome, and exclude any voice data the company collects if you use Google Assistant.

To turn it off: From any Google website,click the icon in the top right (you’ll need to sign in first) > Manage your Google Account > Privacy & personalization > If Web & App Activity is on, click on it > On the next screen, click “Turn off.” If you’d rather leave the global Web & App activity setting on, you can also adjust the settings for Chrome and voice data.

Turn Off Google Location History—for Real This Time

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When the buyer-supplier relationship begins to sour for whatever reason, it may be best for your business to cut ties and move on.

11 Clear Signs It’s Time to Cut Ties with a Vendor

Posted on by Shield Insurance Agency

Maintaining good relationships with your vendors helps ensure that you consistently receive the goods and services you need and achieve mutually beneficial goals. But when the buyer-supplier relationship begins to sour for whatever reason, it may be best for your business to cut ties and move on.

Published: Oct 9, 2022 by The Young Entrepreneur Council In Small Business Operations1

To help you determine whether it’s time to seek out a new vendor partnership, 11 Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) members shared their insights on the following question:

“What’s one warning sign that it might be time to cut ties with a particular vendor, and why?”

Here’s what YEC community members had to say.

1. They Won’t Renegotiate Redlined Clauses. Cut Ties

“Sometimes it’s hard to know which side people are on or if they will even change sides. If you redline a harmful clause in your contract and send it back to a vendor, they will react. There’s no problem if the reaction is a compromise. If it’s not, and things escalate, end the relationship. Compromise strengthens aligned relationships and breaks misalignment.” ~ Sean Adler, GZI

2. They Can’t Deliver Within an Expected Timeline

“Our saying is, ‘You are only as strong as your weakest partner.’ If our vendors can’t deliver consistent products or within the timelines our customers expect, we move on quickly. There is always another great vendor out there who wants to work as hard and as thoughtfully as we do.” ~ Michael Barnhill, Specialist ID

3. They Affect the Quality of Business Operations

“A big red flag is when vendors begin to affect the quality of your business operations and offerings. This might look like failure to deliver supplies on time, quality going down or failure to communicate. Of course, mistakes can happen. But if the situation becomes a pattern, it’s a sign to move on before their lack of discipline disrupts your business operations and dampens quality.” ~ Blair Thomas, eMerchantBroker

4. They Stop Providing Product Support

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What Black Adults Need to Know About Stroke Risk

What Black Adults Need to Know About Stroke Risk

Posted on by Shield Insurance Agency

Preventing and recognizing signs of the medical emergency are key

AARP | By  Joyce Sampson | September 21, 2022 | Black Adults

​Richard Horton, an insurance broker in Pasadena, California, walked around for at least a decade of his middle-aged years with blood pressure hovering around 178/95 millimeters of mercury (mm Hg, the unit of measurement for blood pressure), dangerously close to a hypertensive crisis and a sure candidate for stroke. For comparison, what’s considered a normal level for most adults is less than 120/80 mm Hg.

Diagnosed with high blood pressure during a routine physical exam in the late 1990s, he wasn’t worried. Per his doctor’s orders, he returned for weekly follow-up visits to monitor changes. The numbers didn’t improve. But Horton, who is Black, didn’t receive treatment.

“At that point,” he recalls, “the doctor said that in the medical field, we find that African Americans have a higher blood pressure rate than whites and others. Because of that fact, we’re not going to push medication, but we’ll keep an eye on your pressure. If it gets much higher, then we’ll prescribe medication.” (Research shows Black patients often aren’t offered the full range of appropriate treatments when it comes to blood pressure management.)

In August 2011, while preparing to close a big sale, Horton climbed out of bed and walked into the bedroom wall. He was having a stroke. During a hospital stay that lasted over two months, Horton, who was then 55, had a second stroke. He couldn’t walk, talk or use his left arm. ​

A growing gap | Black Adults

Nearly 800,000 people in the U.S. have stroke each year — this happens when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked or bursts — and Black adults bear a disproportionate burden of those cases.

In fact, the risk of stroke among Black Americans is nearly twice as high as it is for whites, data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) shows; some studies suggest it’s even higher. Black Americans are also much more likely to die from stroke, and those who do survive are more likely to be disabled than stroke survivors in other racial groups.

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Specialty Insurance

Specialty Insurance Policies For Your Recreational Toys

Posted on by Shield Insurance Agency

What specialty insurance?

In simple terms, specialty insurance coverage is exactly what it sounds like: It’s insurance that can be purchased for items that are special or unique. Specialty insurance policies are important for items that are not typically covered under other insurance policies.

From motorcycle insurance to boat insurance, protect your unique items.

We hear it all the time: “Specialty insurance? What’s that and why do I have it or why do I need it?”

In simple terms, specialty insurance coverage is exactly what it sounds like: It’s insurance that can be purchased for items that are special or unique. Specialty insurance policies are important for items that are not typically covered under other insurance policies.

Type of Specialty Insurance Coverage Available

Consider the items you own that are not covered by other insurance policies. For example, what vehicles do you drive that aren’t included on your auto insurance policy? What additional coverage is required to protect your home in the event of a flood? Specialty insurance policies complement your existing auto, home and umbrella policies. Types of specialty insurance offered through CONNECT and its partners include:

Classic car insurance – Whether you’ve spent hours and hours on restoration or bought a one-of-a-kind collector’s item, protect your antique car with classic car insurance.

ATV insurance – Enjoy the ride with coverage for your all-terrain vehicle. This specialty insurance coverage will protect you whether you ride for fun or function.

Flood insurance – Find coverage for your home or car—and yes, there is a difference!

High-value homes and rental insurance – Take the worry out of being a landlord or covering your high-value home.

Motorcycle insurance – In case of storm, accident or other natural disaster, make sure your bike will be still be ready to ride with motorcycle insurance.

RV insurance – Recreational vehicles give you the freedom to adventure anywhere. Whether you travel cross-country or simply use your RV for weekend camping, stay on the road with RV insurance.

Boat insurance – From sailboat to pontoon or even jet ski, stay afloat with boat insurance coverage.

Added Protection from our Agency Partners

Losing a one-of-a-kind item or a unique vehicle to fire, theft or flood damage is painful enough. Finding out your insurance doesn’t cover the replacement of the item, vehicle or your home or auto would make a heart-breaking situation even worse.

That’s why we’ve developed partnerships with industry leaders in specialty insurance. Our goal is to help you find coverage for these unique items. Through our trusted partnerships, you can purchase insurance policies for a wide range of specialty items.

This is a great compilation video of some of the specialty insurance products Shield Insurance can offer our clients from one of our many carriers.

  • Is your RV ready for winter?
  • Do you need umbrella insurance?
  • Safe Boating Checklist
  • Looking for fully loaded Watercraft coverage? Check out Safeco’s Captain’s Package
  • Choose Safeco’s Captain’s Package and get fully loaded watercraft coverage
  • From motorcycles to ATVs: Do you have enough custom parts protection?
  • Safeco’s Classic Car Insurance
  • Safeco’s RV Insurance
  • Safeco Insurance & Liberty Mutual Small Commercial
  • Safeco Boat and Personal Watercraft Insurance

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Financial Exploitation, Scams Have Skyrocketed Since Pandemic Began

Financial Exploitation, Scams Have Skyrocketed Since Pandemic Began

Posted on by Shield Insurance Agency

AARP | October 04, 2022 | By Christina Ianzito | Financial Exploitation

AARP report reveals that criminals are targeting older Americans at record rates. Financial Exploitation.

The financial exploitation of older adults was a serious problem before the pandemic, but it’s ballooned in the years since COVID-19 began its rapid spread in March 2020. A new report from AARP finds that the rate of such exploitation between then and now has more than doubled.

That includes a huge uptick in losses from romance scams, with perpetrators stealing more than $547 million in 2021, five times greater than the amount stolen in 2019.

And these figures probably understate the number of financial fraud incidents, which are woefully underreported: Only 1 in 44 older adult victims tell the authorities when they’ve been financially exploited, according to the report. And they’re least likely to notify authorities when they’ve been victimized by someone they know and trust — something that happens more commonly than many people may realize.

“We need more consumers to report these crimes so we can better quantify how large and impactful they are, but equally important is that we help the industry spot and stop financial exploitation before the money leaves the account,” says Jilenne Gunther, national director of AARP’s BankSafe Initiative™ and lead author on the report.

Some data suggests that family members and trusted others steal more money than strangers do, with the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau estimating that family members steal more than twice as much money as strangers.

Victims are often too embarrassed to come forward, blaming themselves for the financial loss. Yet “they need to understand that these crimes can happen to anyone,” notes Kathy Stokes, AARP director of fraud prevention programs.“It’s not their fault.”

The report, which AARP developed in collaboration with NORC (an independent research and data analysis organization) at the University of Chicago, examines how criminals’ tactics have evolved over the past few years, and urges the financial industry to work even harder to thwart them.

Other increasingly common crimes include

  • Thefts from users of peer-to-peer (P2P) payment apps — the increasingly popular electronic money transfer apps such as Zelle and Venmo. P2P fraud complaints doubled during the pandemic. Your funds in these accounts are not insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, and if you transmit money to the wrong person (easy to do if they have an @username handle similar to that of a legitimate person or entity) you have no way to get it back. A criminal might pose as someone’s bank, for instance, and request payment through a P2P app.
  • Smishing — phishing by text where criminals pretend to be legitimate businesses, such as banks, in order to find out personal information to perpetrate fraud or extract money directly. Smishing attempts increased 58 percent in the U.S. in 2021 (meanwhile, in the United Kingdom they increased a stunning 700 percent in the first six months of 2021 compared with the previous six months).

Why financial exploitation has flourished

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How to save for a family vacation

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BankRate.com | Shield Agency Blog | Family Vacation | Travel Insurance

Family Vacation Time?

Financial literacy is an essential life skill necessary to make informed decisions about budgeting, borrowing and more. Equipped with this knowledge, kids grow up prepared for financial independence.

Teaching kids and teenagers financial literacy often falls on parents’ shoulders — and it isn’t always easy. You need to both keep your youngster involved and interested and make the process fun. One way is to use exciting opportunities, like family vacations, to teach your kids good saving habits.

Set goals for you and your kids

So, you’re going on a family vacation. It’s time to set some goals.

  • Decide where you’re going

First, decide on where you’re going. Use selecting a destination as an opportunity to get your kids talking about where they want to go and to create excitement. Pick a place together and let your kids know that the trip can only happen if they chip in financially.

  • Determine the costs

Whether your family is planning a Disneyland trip or a vacation to your kids’ favorite spot, it’s time to determine the costs.

Involve your kids in the process. Break down the numbers for transportation, lodging, entertainment and other expenses. Show your kids the total and discuss how they’ll help you save that amount.

Typically, the farther in advance you plan your vacation and start booking, the more time you have to save and get better deals. But your exact timeline will vary depending on the destination, estimated cost, season and how many people you’re traveling with.

For domestic travel, it’s best to start planning at least three or four months ahead. This will give you enough time to research and book flights and accommodations. You might want to give yourself more time, however, if you’re planning a trip during peak season or a holiday weekend, in which case booking at least six months in advance can help ensure you secure the best deals.

International destinations often require planning six to nine months in advance. In addition to flights, accommodations and activities, you also need enough time to research visas, vaccinations and passports.

Set A Timeline

  • Typically, the farther in advance you plan your vacation and start booking, the more time you have to save and get better deals. But your exact timeline will vary depending on the destination, estimated cost, season and how many people you’re traveling with.
  • For domestic travel, it’s best to start planning at least three or four months ahead. This will give you enough time to research and book flights and accommodations. You might want to give yourself more time, however, if you’re planning a trip during peak season or a holiday weekend, in which case booking at least six months in advance can help ensure you secure the best deals.
  • International destinations often require planning six to nine months in advance. In addition to flights, accommodations and activities, you also need enough time to research visas, vaccinations and passports.

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