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~Alex Hastings~
Hastings Insurance Solutions LLC
~Guide One~
2435 Kimberly Road
Suite #100N
Bettendorf IA 52722
563-355-0262 Office
641-494-9494 Cell
855-355-0262 Fax
ExpertInsuranceSolutions@gmail.com
www.HastingsInsuranceSolutions.com
Are You Making Any of These Top 10 Insurance Blunders?
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The sun is how old?
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Recipe: Citrusy Quinoa with Grilled Asparagus
Serves 5
- 1 cup quinoa, rinsed and drained
- 2 oranges and 1 lime
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 2 cups water
- 1-2 tablespoons finely chopped parsley
- 1 tablespoon finely chopped mint
- 2 pounds green asparagus, woody ends snapped off
- 2 tablespoons olive oil
- Salt to taste
Directions
Zest 1 orange and 1 lime; reserve lime. In a medium saucepan, combine quinoa, zest, cinnamon, salt and water.
Bring to a boil, cover and reduce heat to low. Cook for 20 minutes. Remove from heat, leaving the lid on. Steam for 10 minutes. Fluff with a fork. Squeeze lime and add juice, chopped parsley and mint. Slice orange into half-moons.
Preheat the grill or broiler; brush asparagus with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt. Broil or grill, turning occasionally, until the asparagus can be pierced easily with a knife and is bright green, about 5 to 10 minutes.
Serve asparagus spears with the quinoa and orange slices.
Worth Quoting
This month, some famous quotes on the subject of the generations:
If I were given the opportunity to present a gift to the next generation, it would be the ability for each individual to learn to laugh at himself.
Charles M. Schulz
Each generation imagines itself to be more intelligent than the one that went before it and wiser than the one that comes after it.
George Orwell
Whoever teaches his son teaches not alone his son but also his son's son, and so on to the end of generations.
Hebrew Proverb
If you want happiness for a lifetime, help the next generation.
Chinese Proverb
I care about our young people, and I wish them great success, because they are our hope for the future, and some day, when my generation retires, they will have to pay us trillions of dollars in Social Security.
Dave Barry
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Here's One Way to Insure Your Retirement
An insured retirement is one that guarantees you income and protection during your golden years.
But how do you achieve that?
The U.S. is facing a potential retirement crisis as 79 million baby boomers enter or near retirement; in the future, this number is likely to increase.
Retirement is expensive
At the same time, retirement is becoming more expensive due to an increase in life expectancy as well as inflation and rising health care costs.
A number of insured retirement solutions exist to help: annuities, long-term care insurance, reverse mortgages, and of course, life insurance. These solutions can help ensure guaranteed lifetime income and protect your wealth during your retirement.
Life insurance has important benefits
Often investors will focus on the first three of these insured retirement solutions, but life insurance can also play an important role in a retirement portfolio.
It can provide a stream of income for a family to live on for a period of time. That stream of income can pay off debts and loans, providing surviving family members with the chance to move on comfortably. It can keep families in their homes. It can even fund a child's college education or keep a family business in the family.
But there's one catch: You need to own life insurance to obtain these benefits. According to the industry research group LIMRA, too many Americans do not have adequate life insurance protection. In fact, 30% of U.S. households have no life insurance at all.
Life insurance isn't right for everyone, of course, but that's why it's a good idea to consult an expert before jumping into it.
Your advisor ( Alex :) can help you decide whether life insurance is an appropriate investment for you based on your individual financial circumstances and goals and, if it is, help you choose whom to purchase from and how much to purchase.
Capturing Daily Life in 2,000 Images
 Usually when it comes to cameras, the photographer is the one controlling what is photographed and when. Not the case with a recent invention by a former Microsoft employee.
The Autographer camera is the world's first wearable smart camera. It's hands-free and uses sensors informed by algorithms to determine the right moments to take photos. It can capture the wearer's day in 2,000 unique images, which can then be replayed in about five minutes.
The camera's predecessor - the SenseCam - was developed for use in the medical field, mainly for people suffering from Alzheimer's disease as a way of showing their physicians the progress of their daily lives.
For people such as law enforcement workers and parking officers, the Autographer's images could settle disputes in which one person's memory is pitted against another's.
But most important for the rest of us, the Autographer could be a lot of fun in everyday life, capturing photos of our world without our even noticing.
Home-Based Business Owners Face Unique Risks
More and more people are running businesses out of their homes. Here are some of the potential issues home-based business owners face both in the start-up phase and as the company grows.
Personal property coverage
Most homeowner's policies limit coverage for personal property used in business. Why take chances? If they're stolen or damaged, the cost of replacing your computers, printers, scanners and fax machines can add up. Coverage for business property on the premises is limited to a few thousand dollars, and off premises it's more like a few hundred.
Injuries on the premises
If your Aunt Edna falls at your house or your dog bites your child's best friend, your homeowner's policy is there for you. However, if a client is injured in your home while on business, your homeowner's policy may not cover his or her injury.
Vehicle use
If you use your vehicle for business, you face additional exposures. As your business grows, you may need a separate auto policy. In the meantime, covering your vehicle for infrequent business use may be as simple as notifying your auto carrier, who will charge a small additional premium to protect you when you drive on business.
And more ...
These are just a few of the problems you can face when you have a home-based business. There are many more.
For example,
If you offer professional services such as tax preparation, you probably need errors and omissions coverage.
If you groom pets, you may need risk coverage for a client's animal who bites your neighbor.
If you resell products online, you may need coverage for liability arising from the performance of these products.
Never assume your current homeowner's policy will provide coverage for all the risks your business generates. If you have a home-based business or are considering starting one, discuss insurance options with your advisor ( me again, Alex ;)
Are You Lying? Researchers Say the Nose Knows
 We've heard about the "telltale" signs of lying: eyes darting to the left, sweaty palms, no eye contact, the ever-lengthening nose belonging to storybook character Pinocchio.
But is there some scientific way to find out when someone is lying?
According to researchers at the University of Granada in Spain, there is.
The scientists combined psychology and thermography to discover that when people lie they experience a slight increase in temperature in the area around the nose and near the orbital muscle located at the corner of the eye.
This may be hard to test without sophisticated instruments, so experts who use lie-detecting techniques in their jobs offer some simpler tips on how to spot the frequent fibber:
- Assess their tone. If someone's tone changes from the way they normally speak (for example, their pitch rises), it could be a sign that they're lying.
- Watch to see if the subject avoids the word "I." When people lie about themselves, they tend to use the words "I" and "me" less frequently. This helps keep them at a psychological distance from the lie.
- Is the individual quick with an answer? When someone responds with no hesitation, the answer may have been rehearsed and the person lying.
- Is the person fidgeting? Random physical actions could mean someone is lying, especially when the lie is directed toward someone he or she loves.
Wellness Counters Lifestyle-Related Illnesses
Fact: More than 30% of American adults are now obese. By 2030, unless something changes, this will rise to almost 45%.
Fact: Right now obesity is responsible for more than 25% of health care costs in America.
Fact: Approximately 58.5 million U.S. adults now smoke and are at increased risk of developing any of 30 different diseases.
Fact: Smoking-related deaths total 424,000 annually, and more than $172 billion has been spent on healthcare costs related to smoking.
No wonder more and more employers are establishing employee wellness programs and preventive care is incorporated into the mandate of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA).
The assumption is that an emphasis on wellness is likely the only way to stop the epidemic of lifestyle-related illnesses that are killing us. According to an October 2012 article in U.S. News, wellness is going mainstream.
"How Healthcare Is Changing - For the Better" makes the point that both the health insurance industry and Medicare now are "paying doctors and hospitals based on how successfully they treat patients and keep them out of the hospital."
Already there are community health teams in Vermont that are transforming healthcare delivery, initiatives such as the Cleveland Clinic's Heart Care at Home program, and hospitals that are focused on educating and listening to patients.
Medicare also has imposed financial penalties on hospitals when some patients are readmitted within 30 days, hoping to reverse trends like those of heart failure patients, one in four of whom is readmitted within 30 days of discharge.
You may find that your healthcare providers are faster in responding to your inquiries, and someday you may even have a personal health coach to keep you on the path to wellness.
It's all part of a wellness revolution, which, if it succeeds, may make obesity and smoking deaths things of the past.
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