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What makes WordPress the perfect choice for web development?

Do you know WordPress CMS rules in web development? How? Approximately 43% of the websites present on the internet are developed using the WordPress platform.

Ranging from small blogging websites to big business websites, WordPress is suitable for catering to all your needs. Major companies such as NBC, New York times, and Sony, to name a few, trust WordPress.

And what’s the reason behind that? Its unmatched features and benefits that the platform offers to businesses. Its open-source nature and free-to-use option make it an even more considerable CMS. Creating a website with WordPress is not a tricky affair, but to make it highly competitive, you need experts. You can create a robust website on time with a WordPress development company.

Let’s understand the reason behind its wide popularity and usage.

6 Reasons for the Massive Popularity of WordPress

1. Open-source

WordPress is open-source meaning its code is publicly available without restrictions and you can use it for free. It is a versatile platform that can be utilized for developing various kinds of websites.

So, whether you want to build a simple blogging site or a highly complex business website, WordPress is suitable for developing both types. It’s an easy-to-use and cost-effective platform to create websites. Additionally, with WordPress, you can build an affordable website as you do not have to pay any license fees.

To completely take advantage of its functionalities, you need expertise and skills. Hence, the best solution is to hire WordPress developers who can make a quality-packed website for your business.

2. No Limitations On Customization

WordPress allows you full access to its codes, making it easy to customize the website as per business requirements. Many pre-built themes are available from its official repository and third-party vendors. Both free and paid versions of these themes are available. You can also create a unique custom theme using a method like PSD to WordPress conversion.

Utilizing this wide range of themes, you can build an appealing and unique website for your business. Moreover, it offers plugin integration through which you can add any feature to your site to make it market-ready.

Apart from thousands of WordPress plugins, you have the option to create your own. If you want to integrate any specific functionality, you can build a custom WordPress plugin with the help of a custom WordPress development company.

3. Better Visibility With SEO tools

SEO is crucial to enhance your online presence and gain more customers. A website developed on WordPress ranks high in search engines, and it’s not just a coincidence. WordPress provides a solid SEO foundation that allows you to create search engine-friendly websites. Due to the various plugins and themes, it offers to build fast-loading and high-performing websites.

With WordPress plugins and themes, businesses can not only develop appealing, feature-rich, and intuitive websites, but they also offer SEO benefits. It results in a better user experience and good search engine ranking.

You can develop an SEO-friendly website for your business by integrating built-in tools and SEO plugins such as SEO Yoast.

4. Top-Notch Security

Using WordPress as the platform, you can develop a secure website for your business. It offers a wide range of enhanced security features that help brands build a secure website. It provides site security features such as password protection for folder contents, WordPress security plugins, etc.

Additionally, it releases version updates timely, minimizes the chances of bugs, and fights potential security threats. You can also enable an SSL certificate from your web hosting service provider on your site.

Moreover, by installing the WordPress backup plugin, you can always have a copy of your data. Your data is essential for your business; therefore, if something goes wrong, you also have a backup ready for your business’s smooth functioning.

5. Integration of Third-party Tools

Every business has a different vision behind developing a website. No matter what kind of website you want to build, with WordPress, you can conveniently integrate requisite functionalities.

For example, if you want to develop an eCommerce website, then by integrating the WooCommerce plugin, you can transform your existing website into an eCommerce website. Moreover, you can add features such as payment gateways, inventory management, shopping carts, etc., as it offers access to third-party tools.

By partnering with the right WordPress web development services provider, you enhance the functionality of the WordPress website. You can add whatever functionality you want via APIs and third-party tools. Whether it is CRM, email marketing services, Google analytics, and so forth.

6. Responsive websites

As technology is advancing, customers are looking for more convenient options. They not only visit your website via desktops but also use hand-held devices such as mobile, tablets, etc.

Now you can imagine if your website is not optimized according to these devices, then how many potential customers can you lose? If you are considering WordPress website development, you don’t have to worry about this. WordPress offers you to develop responsive and market-ready websites with ease.

WordPress provides a plethora of responsive themes using which you can have a responsive website with lots of features and functionalities.

How to Hire the Right WordPress Development Company?

To develop a competitive WordPress website and leverage the benefits of this CMS, you need a technical partner. As a renowned CMS, there are a plethora of companies that offer WordPress development services making it challenging to find the best service provider. Let’s find out how to hire a WordPress development company for your project.

1. Determine the Specifications

The first thing you need to consider for successful completion of your project is to clarify your project requirements. Before hunting for a WordPress development company, ensure you know your project objectives, target audience, competitors, etc.

It will assist you in finding a reliable WordPress development company that can understand your project requirements and offer you excellent services. Additionally, if you have any references or website ideas, you can share those ideas with the developers. Thus, developers will be better able to understand your project requirements.

2. Experience

When developing a WordPress website, you should check the years of experience that a WordPress website development firm has. Based on their previous project abilities and knowledge, they will be able to offer you more competitive solutions. In addition, their prior expertise will help them deal with difficult situations as well.

When you hire WordPress developers with excellent experience, you will receive new ideas from them. They will have prior experience in your industry, which will help them understand your project more comprehensively.

3. Look for the right level of expertise.

Creating a website with average functionality will not require much time or effort. On the other hand, a professional-looking WordPress website necessitates technical knowledge and expertise. So, you can rely on WordPress developers to build you a market-ready and competitive WordPress website. Because of their extensive knowledge of the WordPress platform, they will be able to focus on even little aspects from the start of the project.

Professionals will work with the latest WordPress development trends and technologies such as AR/VR, chatbots, artificial intelligence, etc. Hence, you will receive a website embedded with the latest functionalities.

4. Examine their portfolio.

Reviewing the WordPress development company’s portfolio is essential since it will help you analyze their prior efforts. You can look at the types of jobs they’ve done in the past. WordPress development companies also provide links to their official website or company page along with screenshots and project information. Consequently, you’ll be able to see if their skills and experiences are aligned with your project. Further, this approach will assist you to make an informed selection.

5. Prioritize what’s important.

When looking for custom WordPress development services, the cost is a significant factor to consider. However, this is not the appropriate way to choose a business. A low-cost company is unlikely to be able to give high-quality services. Don’t decide solely based on pricing. Inspect their expertise and industry knowledge to determine if they can provide value to your project.

Don’t be fooled by the companies ready to offer services at a low cost. Remember, an experienced and reliable company will always charge for their expertise and knowledge. Therefore, select the company based on their past successful projects rather than low development cost.

6. Take a look at their prior projects

Find out how much work and projects the WordPress development firm has done in the past. By looking at their previous projects, you can verify their development techniques, capabilities, delivery time, and other related aspects. You can also check past customers’ reviews and ratings. You can also receive additional information about the development work by contacting past clients.

Companies also show their client testimonials or the live links of the websites they have built so far on their official site. You can check them out to learn how to understand their WordPress developers’ competency.

7. Communication Capabilities

Effective and timely communication are necessary for projects to be successful. Mistakes and flaws can create project delays if they are not appropriately addressed through regular communication. The team must continuously keep you up to date on the project’s development. Slack, Skype, Webex, and other comparable platforms can be used to hold meetings and share pertinent information.

You know what you should look for while hiring WordPress developers or a company for your project. Below we have listed five trusted and experienced WordPress development companies. Simply choose a company that fits your project requirements best.

Top 5 Reliable WordPress Development Companies

1. CSSChopper

CSSChopper is a WordPress development company founded in 2009. It employs a WordPress development team capable of producing high-quality plugins, themes, and websites. Its services include third-party WordPress integration, bespoke web portal development, and theme and module creation.

Founded	2009
Country	United States
Employees	250-999
Review	4.9
Website	https://www.csschopper.com/
Rates	<25/hr

2. Cemtrex Labs

Cemtrex Labs focuses on providing digital transformation services to enterprises. AR/VR solutions from the world’s most well-known and inventive businesses and software, design, and hardware push the frontiers of experimental, consumer, commerce, and industrial applications. Endeavor, IWC, LiveNation, AARP, and Bose are among the companies represented.

Founded	2009
Country	Brooklyn, NY
Employees	50-249
Review	4.7
Website	https://cemtrexlabs.com/
Rates	$100-$149/ hr

3. HTMLPanda

HTMLPanda specializes in WordPress development and creates high-performing, secure, and customized websites. The following are some of HTMLPanda’s WordPress development services:

WordPress development for businesses.
WordPress upgrade.
WordPress development on a custom basis.
Theme development for WordPress.
WordPress migration and eCommerce development.

Founded	2014
Country	Boston, MA
Employees	10-49
Review	5.0
Website	https://www.htmlpanda.com/
Rates	$25 – $49 / hr

4. Devrix

DevriX is a WordPress development company specializing in technical and growth services for small and medium-sized businesses and startups.

Their team has migrated hundreds of proprietary and open-source frameworks and systems to WordPress. They’ve made 9 SaaS applications and over 500 plugins thus far. They have 9 core WordPress contributors on staff (the folks who have directly contributed to the core WordPress platform used by 70 million websites).

Founded	2010
Country	Sofia, Bulgaria
Employees	50-249
Review (Clutch)	4.8
Website	https://devrix.com/
Rates	$100 – $149 / hr

5. Fooz

They are industry leaders in developing simple themes and large, sophisticated projects for WordPress. Their technologies allow for dedicated graphics to be created. Their clients appreciate their flexible and straightforward approach to building WordPress panels and the high technical quality they deliver.

Founded	2013
Country	Poland
Employees	10-49
Review (Clutch)	4.8
Website	https://foozagency.com/
Rates	$25-$49/ hr

Concluding Note!!

There is no disagreement that WordPress is a highly preferred CMS for developing various websites. Since its advent, it has been getting better and releases timely updates to make it suitable for serving modern-day customers. With better dashboard functionalities, UI updates, and SEO features, coming in the future, the platform is getting better with time.

We have discussed the six reasons above that make it highly popular. You can develop a secure, SEO-friendly, feature-rich website for your business using this content management system. Additionally, you will have complete control over your website, excellent community support, and access to thousands of themes and plugins. Hence, you can build a highly customized website for your business as per your requirements.

You also have the option to build custom themes and plugins that suit your business requirements. You can hire a WordPress development company to build a top-notch WordPress website for your business.

Nursing Home Budgets in California Are Being Cut By $280 Million

The State of California has laid out a proposal that includes cutting nursing home budgets by $280 million. This has sent shockwaves throughout the state and skilled nursing providers are calling on Governor Gavin Newson to reconsider.

While this is stemming into something that can concern residents with elderly loved ones, they might be feeling like they don’t have any other options.

If you are a parent that is concerned about what could happen to your loved ones if they are in a nursing home, you want to have all your legal options available. With that said, let’s take a look at why the possibility of nursing home budgets are being cut.

“It’s stunning”

According to Craig Cornett of the California Association of Health Facilities, he says that it’s stunning that Governor Newsom and the state are considering the idea of cutting nursing home budgets. Cornett states that skilled nursing for the most vulnerable residents are needed.

And it is true. Those who are in nursing homes are there because they need the care provided because they may no longer take care of themselves. They may also be dealing with health issues that will require regular care from medical personnel.

When you get your parents into a nursing home, they will need it for around the clock care because of the health issues they may have. You may have the resources to consider other options such as taking care of them in your home or placing them in an assisted living facility.

Making The Decision Whether Or Not To Encourage Your Parent To Enter A Nursing Home

If you reside in California and have a parent that needs extensive nursing care, this policy will make the decision difficult. If cuts affect nearby nursing facilities, this may cause your options for nursing care to dwindle. With that said, it’s important to consider other options.

This can include hiring in-home nursing care to visit your parents. They may be there for hours at a time to take care of them. It may be something you’ll have to consider, even though you feel apprehensive about other people coming into your home.

Given their health condition, it may seem like a far reach to place them in an assisted living facility. While this will give them independence and space for living, they can get the medical care they need via the on-site staff. But this might be out of the question assuming they are not in the best possible shape.

You may also need to consider a lawyer if your parent is already in a nursing home and their facility is facing cuts. You don’t want to be saddled with a decision where your loved one may be left out in the dark. While the nursing home budgets may be funded by the state, it can put many residents in a world of hurt.

If you are a family member of affected residents, it’s time to make your voice heard. And you’ll need a lawyer to represent you as part of this fight.

Final Thoughts

WIth nursing homes in California staring down the barrel of a budget cut, it’s angering skilled nursing workers, parents of the vulnerable residents, and people in general. It’s never a good idea to consider making budget cuts to something that may affect our most vulnerable citizens.

If you are dealing with nursing home related issues, a legal expert can help. Whether it’s for nursing home abuse or being displaced, contact a lawyer that will be with you every step of the way.

Key Employee Engagement Survey Questions and Why to Ask Them

Satisfied employees are engaged employees. That’s just a fact. And engaged employees are easier to retain, more productive, and deliver better-quality work, all of which benefits the organization.

In this new and still evolving business milieu, employee engagement must be a top priority. And a chief way to boost engagement is through engagement surveys. But what should go into them? Keep reading for key employee engagement survey questions and why you should ask them – and more.

Employee Engagement

Employee engagement can generally be described as the emotional connection a person feels toward their employer. Such connection, or lack thereof, tends to inform their performance and level of on-the-job effort.

The Importance of Employee Engagement

As we say, you do want employees who are engaged. Let’s list a few benefits of such engagement.

More production. A Gallup study indicates that workplace teams that feel connected are 21 percent more productive. Engaged employees tend to work harder, quickly, and with heightened enthusiasm.
Better retention. Employees who are engaged tend to be more loyal to the organization. Moreover, reduced turnover costs come along with improved retention.
More revenue. An Aon report shows that each five-point hike in workforce engagement results in a 3 percent revenue increase.
Satisfied customers. Engaged employees are happier, and such happiness tends to spill over to customer service. Engaged employees tend to go the extra mile when interacting with customers. This, of course, leads to better organizational performance.
Less absenteeism. If absenteeism is increasing at your organization, it may be due to creeping disengagement and dissatisfaction. This is something for you to work on.
Improved work quality. Engaged employees care more about the work they produce. They’re more dedicated and efficient and seek ways to improve even more.
Employees work harder. Because they’re engaged, these employees feel more connected to their workplace, and thus work harder. Check this out: a Dale Carnegie study found that engaged employees outperform others by a whopping 202 percent.
A better culture. Engaged employees bring verve and good cheer to their workplace, and such good vibes are infectious.
More innovation. Engaged employees are more creative and are always coming up with ideas about doing something better.

Employee Engagement Surveys

Evaluating employee engagement is important because doing so helps you gauge employees’ motivation, commitment, passion, and sense of purpose for their work and organization.

But such surveys must be crafted deliberately, and with the inclusion of certain questions, including:

How are you feeling about work today? With a focus on the present, this question provides a snapshot of an employee’s current attitude.
Would you recommend this company to a friend? Word of mouth is everything, in terms of an organization’s rep and ability to recruit.
Are you excited when coming to work? Excitement is infectious. So, whether an employee feels such emotion – or not – is important for you to know.
Are you proud to be employed here? Employees represent your brand, so you want to know if they take pride in doing so.
Are you happy with your pay and benefits? While a paycheck isn’t everything, employees who feel they’re underpaid are more apt to express unhappiness in the workplace.
Do you like working with your team? If employees are happy, they’ll ultimately express that to team members. Team engagement tends to be infectious.
Do you consider your work here meaningful? You want affirmative answers since those employees work harder and are happier.
Are you inspired by our vision and values? You want to know whether employees connect with your goals and mission.
Do you feel recognized? Recognition happens to be the No. 1 driver of employee engagement.
Do you feel like your supervisor is dedicated to your success? Showing an interest in each employee’s work and objectives is key to building a supportive culture.

There you have it: key employee engagement questions and why to ask them. One thing for certain is that employee engagement is critical to your success. Don’t be left behind.

New natural and clean scents

The fact that we live in a mainly visual culture can make us underestimate our sense of smell. However, the truth is that how we smell is as much important as how we look.

Our sense of smell plays a fundamental role in our everyday life. Not only is vital to our survival, it also can make us feel attracted or repelled to someone, it can trigger very deep memories and create instant emotions.

Furthermore, the way we smell sends a message to our entourage about who we are and how we feel. Even though, parfum are industrial items, the way each one smells in every skin is completely different and unique.

Thus, finding the right fragrance is very important in order to send the right message to the people we interact with; feel comfortable and relaxed in our own skin.

However, the prices of most of the popular parfum brands are so high that more and more customers are left behind every day, since they find that most of the fragrances are completely unaffordable.

A 100 ml bottle of Gucci Bloom Dupe can cost around of $138 US dollars. It is estimated that 100 ml are equal to 1000 sprays and each time we wear parfum we use around four sprays, which means a bottle of 100 ml lasts for 200 days if we use it every day. Therefore, if we want to use on a daily basis, we will need more than one bottle for year, which means that we need to invest 276 in just buying perfume.

Fortunately, there is a new trend of natural, clean and affordable fragrances that allow us to smell just as Gucci Bloom Dupe but without compromising our economy.

Smell good on a budget

Most of the times, the high cost of the popular fragrances can be explained for marketing expenses, celebrity endorsement fees or lavish packaging and are not related to the quality of the scent at all.

There is a raising public awareness about this fact and many scent lovers are opting for new affordable and clean fragrances that are sustainable, vegan and eco-friendly produced.

These new scents are premium quality, allowing us to smell just as sophisticated as with a commercial product, but in a better way, with a strong commitment with the environment and the development of alternative products.

Women catalogue

There are many options among the dossier of natural scents for women and finding the right one for you can be a little bit overwhelming, especially when we are in front of fragrances we do not know much about.

Fortunately, most of the scents in the catalogue are inspired by very well knownperfumes, so you can easily identify them. Anyway, our advice is taking some time to explore them by oneself, beyond what the labels says.

Ambery Vainilla, Ambery Saffron, Woody Oakmoss, Woody Sandalwood, Gourmand White Flowers, Fruity Almond, Floral Marshmallow, Fruity Brown Sugar, Woody Raspberry, Ambery Orange Blossom, Musky Gaiac, Floral Honeysuckle, Woody Sage, Floral Lavander, Ambery Cherry, Ambery Cedarwood, Citrus Green Apple, Fruity Jasmine and Floral violet are among the many options available for women. Each one of these are inspired in commercial fragrances.

Men catalogue

The men catalogue is also made up of natural and affordable scents inspired in some of the most popular parfums in the market, such as Hermes’ Terre d’Hermes, Dolce & Gabbana’s The1 or Maison Margiela’s Replica Jazz Club.

Woody scents are predominant, highlighting the masculine character with sometimes dry and intense scents created combining floral, herbal and fruityingredients to create different unique and sophisticated parfums.

Ambery Lavander, Woody Geranium, Powdery Coconut, Woody Rum, Green Verbena, Woody Ginger, Citrus Marine, Powdery Tobacco, Ambery Vetiver, Woody Basil, Woody Coriander and Spicy Vetiver are some of the existing fragrances for men.

To conclude, there is a new trend of clean, natural fragrances produced by scent enthusiasts, which are premium quality, ethically sourced and sustainable. Among the catalog of these parfums, there are many options available for women, men and unisex that smell just like the most popular brands parfums but are available at much affordable prices, making it possible for almost everyone to smell good on a budget.

CRAVEBOX Owner – John Accardi – On how Most Startups should be Funded

In 2014, I started cravebox.com with no business experience, no connections, and very little money. I decided to fund CRAVEBOX with my own money as opposed to raising money from others or taking a loan. Now, in 2022, I’m happy I decided to fund it myself and I believe most startups and small businesses should be bootstrapped. Below I’ll discuss the 3 main ways to fund your startup – Sell Equity, Take a Loan, and Your Money – and some pros and cons of each. Overall, you will see that I think using your own money to fund your startup is the best decision.

Sell Equity

Selling equity means that you will take money from an investor to fund your business in exchange for an ownership stake in the business. For example, if you sell 50% of your business for $1M, you now have $1M in cash to start and operate the business, but you only own 50% of the business. The advantage to this is that you avoid the regular expense of a loan (principle and interest payments), and the investor who now owns a portion of your business, might be a helpful partner in terms of knowledge and connections they bring to the table. The disadvantages are that for a new startup, it’s going to be very difficult and time consuming to raise funds by selling equity, especially if you have no track record as an entrepreneur. This is because it’s very risky for an investor to invest in a new business that hasn’t generated any revenue or profit yet. Because their risk is so great, they will be hesitant to invest and when you do eventually find an investor, they will likely want to value your business at a low valuation – which will allow them to take a large share of the business for a low price. This can be harmful to you in the future when the business is successful and you’ve sold a large portion for a low price in the past.

Take a Loan

Taking a loan has some advantages that were indirectly mentioned above. Since the expense of loan is fixed (assuming fixed interest rate), it can be a much less expensive form of funding if your business becomes very profitable. For example, if you sold 50% of the business for $1M, as mentioned above, and in 5 years the business is generating $5M in annual profit, you will effectively be losing $2.5M of profit as compared to if you owned 100% of the business. A loan can be much less expensive in this case. For example, if you funded the business with a $1M loan instead of selling 50% equity, and the loan was at a 7% annual interest rate with a 10year amortization, you’d have approximately a $140,000/year payment to service that debt. Obviously this is a lot less than $2.5M/year and the loan payment will be finished after 10years, while the expense of the equity is in perpetuity. A loan however has disadvantages – while the business is not profitable, you will still owe this $140k/year. Selling equity, you only have expense when the company makes a profit. So a loan is risky – it puts financial stress on the company, but if the company is successful, using a loan, or leverage, can be more efficient than funding with equity.

Your Money

My favorite form of funding for a new business or startup is to use your own money. I think most new businesses should use this method because it’s fast, easy, allows you to keep all equity and control, claim to 100% of future profits, and doesn’t require the fixed expense of a loan. Also, in my opinion, it’s more stressful to lose other peoples’ money than to lose my own money. To employ this strategy, you need to save adequate funds and maybe keep a part-time job so you can feed your business’s startup and operating expenses while still meeting your living expenses. This strategy is also great because it will force you to be more innovative, apply more effort, and be more conservative since you likely won’t have a large pile of money. It will also force you to make your products and services profitable from the beginning. As I mentioned, I started CRAVEBOX with very little of my own money – I took on no debt and sold no equity. I still own 100% of CRAVEBOX and very rarely use a line of credit. Starting CRAVEBOX in this way forced me to price my products with gross profit built in from the start and control expenses to maintain a healthy operating margin. This meant that once I started doing sales, I was profitable, and the business’s operation could quickly fund itself.

About John Accardi

John Accardi is the founder and CEO of cravebox.com and starcoursecap.com. CRAVEBOX assembles care packages and gift baskets to be sold online. STARCOURSE CAPITAL is a venture capital firm that invests in young e-commerce companies. John dropped out of a PhD program at Georgetown University in 2014 to start CRAVEBOX and he says it’s the best decision he ever made. CRAVEBOX is located in North Wales, PA and John lives in Manhattan. When John’s not working, he enjoys sailing, playing guitar, and spending time with family.

4 Reasons to Pick Delivery Over the Liquor Store

Finding a high-quality liquor store near me is pretty difficult, at least in terms of finding all the different selections I’d like to be able to make in one place for a reasonable price. That makes it pretty inconvenient whenever there isn’t any more wine or alcohol in the house in general, or I’m just craving something in particular that happens to not be around.

What makes it even more difficult is when I need to head to a liquor store near me and I’m not able to squeeze in the time without making a mad-dash from work to the store with my favorite red, as well as deal with all of the other errands I need to handle.

Situations like this make ideas like wine delivery services sound even better than they normally do, for a number of reasons. Not only are these kinds of services convenient because they do the shopping at the liquor store near me without me having to abandon my other tasks, but they offer a number of other perks as well.

Wine delivery services make it possible for me to get everything done when I’m busy, to save a little cash while I’m doing so, and permitting me a wide selection from any liquor store near me or you. What that also means is that I get to support local businesses in the process. Let’s dive in a little deeper to see what that actually looks like.

Pick Delivery for the Convenience

One of the most obvious reasons to pick a delivery service over going to the liquor store yourself is that there’s a high level of convenience available to you through this option. Not only am I getting wine options from a liquor store near me, but I also don’t have to leave the house in order to get the alcoholic beverages that I want.

Taking the example from earlier, if I’ve just headed home from a long day of work and needed to do a number of errands before finally making it home, I’m not going to look forward to anything but relaxing once I walk through the front door. But if the liquor store near me is extremely out of the way, or I simply forgot to pick up booze while I was at the grocery store, there’s a solution.

By choosing a wine delivery service, I still get to prioritize my relaxation while also getting to have a drink before the night is over. Plus, I don’t even have to leave the comfort of my home in order to get my drinks. And neither do any housemates that I might have in this particular situation. It’s a bit of a win for everyone involved.

Choosing Wine Delivery Might Save You Both Money and Time

With respect to what was said in the previous section, wine delivery means that you get to spend a little extra time relaxing instead of running around and picking out the kind of wine that you want to drink. But did you know that there are some alcohol delivery services that offer you some opportunities to save a little bit of money on your hobby?

If you spend a lot of your money on wine because it’s something you particularly cherish, you know that the habit can get a little pricey for a lot of people’s budgets. But there are some services that offer first-time customers a certain percentage off of their order, or even free delivery so that you don’t have to pay any extra fees.

Additionally, there are services that offer loyalty programs, allowing you to get free wine if you spend enough cash in the app. So if convenience is something that you need frequently, it might save you both money and time in a really significant way. Talk about getting some of your life back!

Wine Delivery Can Offer You a Wider Selection

Rather than needing to go to multiple liquor stores in order to find the kinds of alcohol that you want, a wine delivery service can give you the ability to look through a number of options on your phone and from your home. That means that you probably won’t need to spend nearly as much time on your errands, unless you like spending that kind of time shopping.

The way that a lot of these do this is by offering selections from several local business or liquor stores in your area. So not only can you place a couple of orders and get all of your drinks quickly, but you also have the ability to support local businesses.

Even in the situations where you wouldn’t be able to visit a brick and mortar store, you’d be able to support your favorite local businesses by making selections that they offer.

Sustainability In Food Production

In food production, there is a continued focus on sustainability and improving ways to produce and provide food to people across the world. Products such as Aleph Farms cultivated steak are focused on improving the way food is made through advanced lab methodology. There are several areas in the broader sense where the industry is trying to improve on sustainability while reducing pollution. These are not just in how meat is created but also in supply chain issues, packing, and use of energy. Here are several key areas where sustainability is being improved and modified.

Lab-Grown Products

One area of improved sustainability is lab-grown foods such as steaks and other animal-based meat products. These lab-grown meats are made from animal cells and, while made in a laboratory, are meat products and not artifice or a replacement like the many vegetarian options currently available. Lab-grown meats offer many potential advantages in terms of sustainability. These include reduced use of land for producing meat products, reduction in the use of water and grains, reduced chance of illness exposure, and also meat that is not exposed to outside agents such as animal antibiotics.

Farming Improvements

Traditional farming is also updating methods and making use of cutting-edge tools to improve efficiency and reduce waste in the growing process. Innovations and improvements include improvements to growth methods making use of vertical farming and improved greenhouses. Technological improvements also provide better information, such as real-time updates on weather, moisture conditions, soil quality, and light. Common tools being implemented include cloud computing, the internet of things, and drones.

Improving Packaging

The packaging food comes in is a point of sustainability. Materials such as plastics collect in landfills and pollute bodies of water. The challenge becomes finding a replacement for harmful packaging that still provides the level of protection needed to keep food fresh and safe for consumption. One area of interest is the development of natural plastics which are made of organic materials and seek to protect foods and products with a material that is far less harmful to the environment.

Why Sustainability Is So Important

Sustainability is important not just for the preservation of the natural world but also for improving overall efficiency due to changes in the environment and world population over the next several decades. The world population is going to continue to grow and much of this population growth will be centralized in cities. Also, there is only so much additional farmland that can be brought into the food production industry. This need for better shipping, improved growth, and optimization of land use also requires an approach that focuses on usability, so waste is reduced and land can continue to be productive well into the future.

Final Thoughts

Sustainability in farming is going to be an area of heavy focus in the coming years. Every level of food production will be affected by these changes. Improvements will be implemented in how food is grown, how it is tracked, shipping, packaging, and even how the food itself is created. Biodegradable plastics will see use alongside lab-grown meats as science and industry seeks to improve how food is made and brought to citizens worldwide.

Can I buy life insurance for my parents?

As parents get older, it’s more important than ever to make sure they’re well taken care of. In addition to helping maintain their homes, taking them to doctor check-ups, and so on, there will come a time when you may want to purchase life insurance for them too.

Life insurance is an excellent tool that helps to limit financial hardship and make sure your entire family is covered in the case of one parent’s death.

In the United States,it’s possible to purchase life insurance for a family member, including your parents. However, there are a few things to know before getting into how to buy life insurance for your parents.

Term life or Whole life Insurance for a Parent?

When purchasing life insurance for your parents, the question of whole or term life insurance may come up. Because you’re generally purchasing the life insurance at a later stage of your parent’s life, it is recommended that you stick with the best term life insurance policy you can find.

The alternative – a whole life insurance policy – is catered toward healthy, younger individuals. Your parent may not qualify, but it also does not make financial sense to invest in a whole policy later in life.

How Do I Get the Best Term Life Insurance for Your Parent

One of the most important components of taking out a life insurance policy on your parents is their consent. The exact process will look different for every application, but you can expect your parents (and you) to fill out paperwork verifying information with the life insurance agency.

Things the life insurance agency will check for include an insurable interest – as in you have a reason to benefit monetarily in their passing – their personal information, health, and other factors relating to your parent’s insurability.

Why Do I Need Life Insurance for My Parents?

If you’re not sure whether life insurance for your parents is a tool you need, remember life insurance for your parents can help:

Funeral Costs: End-of-life services can be a major financial burden if you’re not prepared. You may use a life insurance beneficiary amount for the funeral proceedings or any other costs related to your parent’s wishes.

Debts: One of the greatest financial obligations anyone carries is their debts. Whether it be outstanding credit card costs, liens on properties, forgotten about payments, and so on. While the costs are sometimes taken as a loss by the lender, they may demand you pay up as a parent’s next of kin. In those cases, proceeds from a life insurance policy can be invaluable.

Living Expenses:Provide funds for senior care, including care assistants, residential care facilities, or living costs if they move in with you. While these funds may not be available before the demand for them, the beneficiary amount may help to reimburse you.

Steps for Obtaining Life Insurance for Parents

Ready to move forward with purchasing a life insurance policy for your parents? These are the steps you’ll want to keep in mind:

Speak with your parents about why life insurance may benefitthem.
Obtain their explicit consent and notify them that they will be involved in the execution process.
Discuss who the beneficiary or beneficiaries will be for the policy. If you have siblings who also help care for your parents, be sure to iron this out early on.
Shop for life insurance policies that fit your unique needs. You may find that a senior-specific policy is an answer or that a general term policy is best.
Speak with professionals, like a financial planner, to help understand what your options are and what makes the most sense for your family.

The Bottom Line

Purchasing life insurance for your parents can be stressful, but with the right information and support from a life insurance agent, the process can be streamlined. Keep in mind that you’ll have to meet certain qualifications to purchase a policy on their behalf. It’s also important to compare different policies and companies to find the best coverage and rates. Finally, keep the policy in force by paying the premiums on time.

2 Scenarios Where Taking Out A Bill Consolidation Loan Could Be A Good Financial Move

You may have heard of a bill consolidation loan before. If you’re having a hard time paying your bills, it might seem like an attractive option. However, you might not know the subtle nuances of this type of loan.

We’ll run through some scenarios where a bill consolidation loan makes sense in the following article. We’ll also cover what you should expect to see from the best debt consolidation loans.

What is a Bill Consolidation Loan?

A bill consolidation loan is a loan you use to pay off several existing bills, sometimes ones where the accounts are in arrears. It works by taking out a single loan to pay off all your outstanding bills at one time. Consumers often apply for a similar loan if they’re trying to pay off several credit card debts at once.

The best bill consolidation loans are usually ones where the interest rate on the loan is better than the rate you’re being charged on your current debts. Now, let’s look at two scenarios where getting one of these loans is a viable option.

1. Single Payments

One of the issues you might run into if you owe multiple entities money is that you owe them chunks of cash at different times of the month. You might have some companies expecting cash on the 1st, the 10th, the 15th, or some other date.

It’s easy to get confused regarding what you owe and when you owe it if you’re in this situation. A bill might blindside you, and if you can’t pay it, a company might repossess something you need or shut off one of your utilities.

A bill consolidation loan generally allows you to make a single payment per month. You should find that tremendously helpful as you work to get out from under your financial obligations.

2. Lower Payments

You might also get a bill consolidation loan if the lending entity agrees to let you pay lower amounts each month than what you’re paying right now. It could be that the high payments on your current debts are too much for you to handle.

Securing a consolidated loan with a lower financial obligation each month might work better for you if the numbers fit your current cash flow. Just remember that if you agree to pay less each month, that normally means you have a longer repayment period, and you’ll probably pay more in interest during that time.

A Bill Consolidation Loan Can Be a Prudent Option

A bill consolidation loan is sometimes a way to simplify your repayment schedule if you owe several entities and you’re having a hard time paying them back. If you pursue this option, you can pay them all off, and be left only owing one lender.

You might do this to simplify repayment or if you can secure a better interest rate than you’re paying right now. One final reason you might go this route is if you can make lower payments than what you’re making right now.

If you can secure a loan that helps you out in these ways, it might seem like a no-lose proposition. Just keep in mind that it may take you longer to pay the loan back and that could translate to you paying more in interest over time.

How Ransomware Protection Works for Extortion vs.Encryption

Ransomware protection can help ward off cases of encryption and locked data, but the protection usually can’t provide the same coverage in the case of extortion. Below is a breakdown of ransomware and encryption, including how ransomware protection might help.

What Is Ransomware?

Ransomware is a type of malware that cybercriminals may deploy online so that they can hold a victim’s data for ransom. Usually, this includes a bad actor implementing encryption or locking the data, requiring an organization to pay for a decryption key to unlock the data. Sometimes the ransom may elevate to the next level of extortion in which the criminal will threaten to release the data they’ve stolen if a company does not pay.

Cyberattackers will find any way to infiltrate a business without discriminating between small, medium, or major enterprises because each has its own appeal for extortion. For large enterprises, it can be difficult to employ malware successfully, but if done, the ransoms can be higher. On the other hand, small businesses may not offer as high of a payout if successfully infiltrated, but they may be easier to attack because they usually have less sophisticated cybersecurity.

Ransomware protection can help a business fend off even the most prolific ransomware types by creating an extra layer of security, some of which may include data recovery, but it begs the question, how does the ransomware protection work for extortion compared to encryption?

Extortionware vs. Encryption Ransomware

Extortionware is very similar to ransomware, except that it is primarily concerned with extorting the victim for money if they don’t want their data to be leaked. Ransomware may encrypt a victim’s data and charge for the key to decrypt it, but extortionware entirely focuses on the public aspect of releasing compromising information, photos, emails, and similar that can be used as leverage for money. While extortion can be a part of a ransomware attack, ransomware can include other elements, such as reaching out to consumers of a breached business.

But while there may be a solution to ransomware, such as having a backup of data or recovering the files, there is no overt solution for extortionware. Once a cybercriminal has the compromising information, it’s too late to do anything about it. They are in possession of the data and can do as they want with it, even if crude, damaging, or illegal.

The Extortionware Process

Any criminal interested in extortionware will have to work harder than attacking via ransomware.The malware used for ransomware is a one-size-fits-all approach, which means it can be automated without much technical expertise or time. On the other hand, extortionware would require effort to pick a victim and sift through their data for compromising material to use for extortion.

Because there is no going back with extortionware, the best protection one has is to adopt anti-ransomwarebest practices to prevent a bad actor from ever accessing the data. Having strong ransomware protection means that there is less chance for either encryption or extortion to occur as a result of a hack.

In the case of ransomware, a good protection program may be able to help recover or unlock files that contain important data so that you can resume normal business practices, but that same program could not make a hacker delete the files they’ve acquired and are using to extort a business.

The best line of defense against ransomware is a good anti-ransomware cybersecurity stack that strengthens your security system.In contrast, a good anti-extortionware method is simply prevention.