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5 Personal Safety Apps that Could Save Your Life
No one likes to think about the possibility of dying too young. But knowing that potential exists, you take the smart step of protecting those you love by carrying term life insurance. But what about preventing the worst? Did you know your iPhone or Android device can call for help or record vital information if you ever find yourself in a life-threatening situation? Here are five personal safety apps that could save your life.
1) myGuardianAngel
Once this app allows you to reach all of your emergency contacts with the push of one button. You enter the contact information for anyone you would want to get in touch with if you were in any sort of emergency as soon as you download it. If you are in an emergency, the app will call your contacts, send them an e-mail with your GPS location and immediately begin recording audio and video from your phone.
2) StaySafe
This app is good for anyone who works or travels alone. You can schedule the app to automatically notify friends or family after a certain period of time when your phone is inactive. For example, you can estimate how long you expect to drive from one location to another on your own and then the phone will contact someone automatically if you are out of contact longer than expected. That way your friends will know to send help because something is wrong, even if you aren’t in a position to contact them yourself. StaySafe sends your contacts a detailed GPS location for you so that they can easily find you and bring help.
3) RESCUE
This full-service app can help you on the scene as well as notify your emergency contacts for you. If you are in trouble, you can trigger the app to sound a loud alarm that might frighten off anyone who might be planning to do you harm. The alarm can also help someone find you if you are lost or unable to move from your current location. When the alarm is triggered, the app will also send immediate notifications to your emergency contact list so that they can begin to send help right away. Emergency services such as the police and fire department can also be set for notification through the RESCUE app.
4) Night Recorder
This is a good app to have when you need to make a quick recording of your surroundings for any reason. The app can be set to begin recording at a touch. If you are stranded, you could create a recording by speaking about the landmarks you can see and explaining how you got to your current location. The recorder can then send an email of your recording to anyone on your contact list.
5) iWitness
With this app, you can instantly make video or audio recordings of your situation so that there is a permanent first-hand record of everything that happens. It is a handy tool for anyone who has been in a car accident or involved in a medical emergency because you can go back and look at the video to see exactly what happened if there is any question about it later. The app will also contact emergency services or your personal emergency contacts if you are in trouble. The built-in GPS locator will transmit your exact location so that people can find you quickly and easily.
Post by Term Life Insurance News
Money Hacks Carnival #105: The All Government, All the Time Edition
Welcome to the 105th edition of the Money Hacks Carnival: The All Government, All the Time Edition. Deep in the bowels of tax season, it’s not surprising that tax- and government-related articles are popular.
Editor’s Picks
LeanLifeCoach presents What Is Your Learning Style? This is an important lesson for anyone trying to teach. My main side hustle involves teaching. We try to address each learning style to engage all of our students. I’m a visual learner. In school, I always read ahead and I’ve never been able to focus while someone reads to me.
Consumer Boomer presents The Best IRA for You. Holy Educational Post, Batman! Be careful, you’ll learn something if you read this post.
PT presents How to Find Free Stuff Online Without Getting Spammed. I like free things. I hate spam. I’m a part of the target audience of this post. I use an active Gmail account for getting freebies. The spam filter can’t be beat.
Fanny Seto presents 5 Tips on How to Get a Job in this Economy. I’m glad I haven’t had to deal with this recently. If you’re unemployed, take the opportunity to develop a hobby or explore other opportunities. You may be out of work, but that means you have the one thing you can’t replace: time. Use it wisely.
Taxes or Feeding the Monster
Jeff Rose presents How to File Taxes with Your 1099s. All you’ve ever wanted to know (and more!) about the 1099.
Paul Williams presents Deduct Haiti Earthquake Relief Donations on Your 2009 Tax Return. If you itemize, make sure you include any donations to Haiti relief.
freefrombroke presents TurboTax Online 2009 Overview. I love TurboTax. I use it every year and have done so since I discovered I wasn’t capable of figuring out the Earned Income Credit.
Four Pillars presents What Happens If You Lose Your W2 Form?. Keeping track of your tax documents is always important, but what do you do if that doesn’t work?
Matthew Paulson presents Troublesome Tax Myths. Taxes aren’t optional. Ask Wesley Snipes.
Working for a Living or Earning the Monster’s Feed
Darwin presents 10 Highest Paying Degrees 2010 – Best Majors in Demand Now. The part that doesn’t surprise me is that the hard sciences pay well. Art-as-science comes with a smaller paycheck. Hmm….
J. Money presents Life in Grad School Doesn’t Have to Suck…All Your Money. I’ve didn’t make it to grad school, but I did work my way through college with a small baby. It’s good to have a support network.
The Financial Blogger presents Getting Ready for Another Purchase!. I’ve never given any thought to buying a blog. It’s a fascinating read. Make sure you read the related posts to get the full value.
Banking, Credit, and Investing or He Who Pays the Piper Calls the Tune
GLBL presents What to Expect From Mortgage Rate Trends for 2010. I learn something every day. Define “intraday”.
pkamp3 presents Cutting Up the Card. It may be caused by a down economy, but less consumer debt isn’t a bad thing.
D4L presents 20 Dividend Stocks Riding The Tsunami Of Dividend Increases. My first dividend-paying stock paid me 16 cents once. Stocks kind of scare me. In my mind, they’re not much different than a slot machine, so I don’t buy much. I think I had 20 shares of that first stock.
Personal Finance or The Government Doesn’t Have to Be Involved
Matt_SF presents Personal Finance Equations You Should Know: the Cash Flow Equation. If equations make you smile, this is the post for you.
Craig Ford presents 101 Ways To Improve Your Marriage Money Relationship. This goes beyond finance and dips firmly into happy relationship territory.
Hedy presents My Better Business Bureau experience. I’ve found that the sincere threat of a Better Business Bureau complaint can be effective, too.
2 Cents presents Economics: Your Personal Finance Weather Forecast. As a sci-fi junkie, I love the quote at the beginning of the article.
Dodging Taxes and Anarchism
Nope. No submissions in this category.
That’s all. While you’re here, don’t forget to subscribe to my rss feed and follow me on twitter.
Budget Lesson, Part 2
Today, I am continuing the detailed examination of my budget. Please see part one to catch up.
This time, I’m going to look at my monthly bills. These are predictable and recurring expenses, though not all of them are entirely out-going.
Let’s dig in: [Read more…] about Budget Lesson, Part 2
Budget Lesson, Part 4
Part 4 of the Budget Lesson series. Please see Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3 to catch up. The Google Doc of this example is here.
The final category in my budget is “Set-aside funds”. These are the categories that don’t have specific payout amounts and happen at irregular intervals. When my car is paid off, there will be a car fund added to the list, instead of a new car payment.
- Parties – We throw two parties each year; a Halloween party and a summer barbecue. We also have three children who have varying expectations and needs for their birthday parties.
- Gifts – I don’t buy presents for my friends, and the number of relatives I buy gifts for has decreased dramatically over the years. I do, however, buy birthday and Christmas presents for my wife and kids and I participate in some form of gift exchange with my brothers and their wives. Combined, we set aside about $100 per month for parties and presents.
- Pet Care – We have four cats and a dog. This is to cover cat litter and food the bunch. We have too many pets, but we can’t give them away. They are family. However, there is a moratorium on new animals for a few years. Two cats and a dog are our hard limit.
- Car Repair – Cars break. Tires wear out. This isn’t a surprise, and it certainly isn’t an emergency.
- Warranty Fund – We are building up our own “Warranty Fund“, to replace appliances when they break. I’d rather have the interest accruing than see this as a line-item fee on any of my bills.
- Medicine/Medical – Kids get sick and prescriptions need to be filled. We figure our monthly prescriptions plus one office visit per month, but the money accrues in this fund. On low months, we have more, so we can cover the visits during flu season.
- In The Hole – This isn’t actually a fund we set aside. If, for some reason, we go over budget one month, it gets entered here to immediately pay ourselves back for the over-spend. This month, this number is $170, which is how high we went over for Christmas. Since we have all of the “Set asides” and non-monthly bills stored in the same account, there was no actual debt, just this “paper” debt to ourselves. This serves the combined purposes of a mild punishment for overspending and a method to get back on track.
That is my entire budget laid out. As the series continues, I’ll be examining how I have lowered the bills, how I could lower them more, and how I’ve screwed them up.
Budget Lesson, Part 5
I’ve explained my budget in some detail already. See these posts for the history of this series.
Now, I’m going to go through each section, reviewing ways that I can reduce, or have reduced, my spending. I’ll be starting with my monthly payments.
- House Payment – I’ve mentioned that we have a small house payment. A few years ago, when the interest rates dropped to almost the lowest point they reached in that particular cycle, we refinanced and got in under 5%. There is nothing to cut. We won’t refinance again, and the loan will be paid within 7 years, according to the lender’s schedule. I’m aiming for 4 years.
- Netflix – We’re on the 2 DVD/unlimited plan for $13.99. We could drop down to the single DVD plan, but I’m worried that will trigger a rash of movie-buying. 2-at-a-time scratches that itch well. I don’t think we’ll be reducing this plan in the foreseeable future. [Read more…] about Budget Lesson, Part 5
