Insurance Insights: The Cleary Insurance Blog
The Cleary Insurance blog covers insurance, risk management, and financial planning for New England businesses and individuals. Our team of licensed advisors and specialists publishes regular articles on commercial and personal coverage, employee benefits, life and financial planning, and insurance compliance. Browse recent articles below, or use the category filters to find topics relevant to your business or personal situation.
Simple Ways to Improve Your Health
Get Active:
- Get at least 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic activity (e.g., briskly walking) or 75 minutes of vigorous-intensity aerobic activity (e.g., running) every week.
- Incorporate muscle-strengthening exercises at least two days a week.
- Avoid injuries by doing the following three steps each workout:
- Warm up: Warming up allows your body time to adjust from rest to activity. Always remember to gradually increase the intensity of your warmup to reduce stress to your bones, muscles and heart.
- Cool down: As with warming up, cooling down should include movements similar to those in your workout, but at a gradually decreasing level of intensity.
- Stretch: After cooling down, stretching helps to build flexibility and range of motion. When stretching, remember to use gentle, fluid movements and to breathe normally.
After an active and aggressive workout, however, it is equally necessary to take shower in order to feel fresh again. You can also elevate your bathing experience and the relaxation it gives by including CBD based bath salt or soap (click here to by some) in your shower routine.
Getting a Good Night’s Sleep
- Maintain healthy habits, such as eating nutritiously, exercising regularly, managing your stress levels and not smoking-all of which will help you sleep better at night and give you more energy throughout the day.
- Create and stick to a sleep routine. Go to bed and wake up around the same time each day, including on weekends. Make sure your bedroom is at a comfortable temperature and is quiet. Engage in a relaxing activity prior to bedtime such as listening to soft music or smoking cannabis (head to mmj express or like websites to find some premium strains).
- Limit caffeine, alcohol, nicotine, large meals and rigorous exercise within a few hours of bedtime.
Eating 101
- Get a personalized eating plan. Speak with your doctor to develop a plan that will give you the amounts of each food group you need daily. Your doctor may recommend you seek out a registered dietician or nutritionist to create the best plan for you.
- Set realistic goals. You are more likely to succeed in reaching realistic goals when you make changes gradually. Start with small changes.
- Balance your plate with a variety of foods. Fifty percent of your plate should be filled with fruits and vegetables, 25 percent with lean meat, poultry or fish, and 25 percent with grains.
- Eat slowly. It takes between 15-20 minutes for your brain to get the message that your body is getting food. When your brain gets this message, you may stop feeling hungry.
- Practice portion control. A portion is the amount of food you choose to eat. Talk with your doctor or visit the United States Department of Agriculture’s website to learn more about proper portion sizes and daily food intake customized to your age, gender and activity level.
Financial Moves to Consider During the COVID-19 Pandemic
The COVID-19 outbreak has spurred an economic crisis as well as a health-related one. Millions of Americans are now unemployed, frightened, and wondering how they’ll pay their bills in the coming weeks or months. And while it’s a scary time to be living through, there are a few moves you can make to protect yourself financially.
- Boost Your Emergency Fund (if possible) – Having emergency savings is crucial at all times, but it’s especially important during periods like this, when unemployment is rampant and economic uncertainty abounds. A solid emergency fund is one with enough money to cover three to six months of essential living expenses, and right now, it certainly wouldn’t hurt to hit the higher end of that range. If you’re still working, use your paycheck to pad your savings — especially if you don’t have three months of expenses in the bank.
- Leave Your Stock Portfolio Alone – The stock market has been swinging lately, and while it may be tempting to cash out investments to avoid further losses, doing so will only lock in any losses you’re already looking at. Rather than go that route, remind yourself that if you sit back and ride things out, the stock market is likely to recover in time. That said, you don’t have to leave your stock portfolio alone if what you’re doing is buying more stocks. Now’s a great time to invest in quality companies whose stock is on sale, so if you’re good on the emergency savings front, you can use your spare cash to add to or diversify your portfolio.
- Keep Putting Money Away For Retirement – When the prospect of unemployment looms over you, you may not give a hoot about what your finances will look like 20, 30, or 40 years from now. But just as now’s a good time to add to your stock portfolio, so too is it a good time to keep funding your 401(k) or IRA, provided you’re financially able to do so. The money you invest in that account now can be used to score discounted investments that could grow exponentially over time.
- Apply For a Home Equity Line of Credit – Even if you’re still working today, you never know whether the ongoing crisis will force you out of a job. And if you’re already unemployed, it could take quite a long time to secure a paycheck again. As such, having access to extra money is crucial, so if you’re low on emergency savings but own a home, it could pay to apply for a home equity line of credit. That way, you’re not borrowing money you immediately accrue interest on, as would be the case with a home equity loan. Rather, you’re giving yourself the option to borrow as you need to.
A final thought: The most important thing to do now is take a deep breath and resist the urge to panic. Panic leads to irrational thinking, which leads to poor financial decisions. The COVID-19 pandemic is a terrible and frightening situation. There’s uncertainty surrounding how long the outbreak will last, how bad it will get, and many other variables. But we will get through it. So make some smart and rational financial decisions and focus on what’s really important — your health and the health of the people you care about.
Works Cited
Backman, Maurie. “5 Smart Financial Moves to Make During the COVID-19 Outbreak.” The Motley Fool, 7 Apr. 2020, www.fool.com/retirement/2020/04/07/5-smart-financial-moves-to-make-during-the-covid-1.aspx. Accessed 7 May 2020.
“Coronavirus and Your Finances: Here’s How to React.” The Ascent, 13 Mar. 2020, www.fool.com/the-ascent/banks/articles/coronavirus-finances-how-to-react/.
HR Compliance Bulletin: IRS Issues Guidance on Tax Credits for Coronavirus Paid Leave
Small and midsize employers may begin using two new refundable payroll tax credits to obtain reimbursement for the costs of providing coronavirus-related leave to their employees, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and Internal Revenue Service (IRS) announced on March 20, 2020.
This relief is provided under the Families First Coronavirus Response Act (the Act), which was enacted on March 18, 2020. The Act provides funds for employers with fewer than 500 employees to provide paid leave, either for their employees’ own health needs or to care for their family members. The Act aims to help employers keep workers on their payrolls while ensuring that workers are not forced to choose between their paychecks and the public health measures needed to combat the coronavirus (COVID-19).
This Compliance Bulletin provides the DOL and IRS’ guidance.
HR Compliance Bulletin: Guidance on Tax Credits for Coronavirus Paid Leave
If you have any questions or would like additional information please contact our office at 617-723-0700.