Mountain Views News          Saturday, November 22, 2014

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BUSINESS NEWS & TRENDS

Mountain Views-News Saturday, November 22, 2014 

FAMILY MATTERS By Marc Garlett


DON’T RISK IT 

When listing your home, you may need to move 
before a sale takes place. If you vacate the home, 
it’s very important that you notify your insurance 
company, because many homeowner policies have a 
“vacancy clause” that goes into effect once the home 
is unoccupied, usually for more than 30 to 60 days. 

 Insurers see different risks in vacant homes, like 
vandalism, systems failures, or other liabilities. In most 
cases, you’ll simply purchase an endorsement to your 
existing policy, but different insurers have different 
options, and if an endorsement is not available, you can 
get a separate “vacant-home” policy. 

It may be an additional cost, but it’s called “insurance” 
for a reason, and could save you a lot of money down 
the road. If you don’t notify your insurance agent 
about vacating your home, they could reject any 
claims you file for property damage or liability, or 
accuse you of insurance fraud. 

 It may be tempting to just hope that your home 
will sell within 30 to 60 days after you have to move 
out, but it’s critical to speak with your insurance 
agent before you move to discuss your options. They 
may even pro-rate and refund part of your premium 
if you sell before the end of the policy’s term. It’s a 
small price to pay to protect your home and your 
peace of mind.

THE FINAL LOG-OFF: WHAT HAPPENS 

TO OUR DATA WHEN WE DIE?

“DON’T CAGE ME IN”

Take a moment and consider how much of your life you 
live online. If you are like me, you bank, pay bills, make 
purchases, connect with friends and conduct business 
online (in fact, I even met my wife online)! Now think 
about all the digital assets you have accumulated - 
account information, passwords, emails, photos, videos, 
etc. But what happens to all of it when we die? 

 Since you will not be around anymore, you may not 
care. But chances are good your loved ones will. There 
have been many stories of families trying to get access to 
a deceased family member’s photos and emails on social 
media sites - in fact, there have been so many requests 
that most of these sites now have policies in place for 
family to gain access or deactivate online accounts:

 Google. Last year, Google unveiled its Inactive 
Account Manager, which allows users to choose to 
name a beneficiary for their online account activity on 
all Google sites (which includes YouTube) or to delete 
it after a set amount of time passes during which the 
account is inactive. 

 Facebook. Facebook allows family members to 
request that a decedent’s account be deleted or provides 
them with an option to “memorialize” the decedent’s 
page so it stays up, but is essentially frozen in time. 
Facebook requires you to provide a death certificate or a 
published obituary to accomplish this.

 LinkedIn. LinkedIn provides an online form to 
remove a deceased member’s profile page from the 
site. You will need to furnish the member’s name, 
email address, the URL to their LinkedIn profile and 
some other information as well as a link to their online 
obituary.

 Twitter. You must email Twitter a request to delete the 
account of a family member who has passed and mail 
them a copy of the death certificate, the obituary as well 
as a copy of your ID and proof that the decedent owned 
the account if his or her Twitter handle is different from 
their given name.

Yahoo. You can have an account deleted by providing 
Yahoo with paper copies of the death certificate and the 
document appointing you are the executor of the estate 
or personal representative of the deceased along with 
a letter furnishing the Yahoo ID of the decedent and 
your request that the account be deleted. Yahoo will not 
transfer or preserve any data in the account.

 But why make your loved ones jump through hoops 
to deal with your digital assets? You can take care of it 
yourself with these three simple steps:

List all your digital assets. You may already have a list 
of all your online accounts and passwords (who can 
remember them all?) so you’re halfway there. Add to 
that a list of documents on your computer as well as 
photos and other data that may be stored on backup or 
flash drives.

 Decide to keep or delete. Not everyone wants their 
family to have access to all their digital files, so review 
your list and decide which files are worth preserving 
and which ones can be deleted. Then tell your family.

 Designate a digital executor. If you have already 
named an executor in your estate plan, you may want 
the same person to handle the disposition of your 
digital assets. If not, then designate someone in your 
will to handle this task. Do NOT include your accounts 
and passwords in your will! A will is a public document 
and this private information can easily be stolen.

 To talk about digital asset protection or estate 
planning in general, call our office today. Be one of the 
first two readers to mention this article and we’ll waive 
our normal planning fee (a $750 value). As the holiday 
season approaches, there really is no better gift you can 
give yourself and your family.

 To you family’s health, wealth, and happiness,

 

A local attorney, father, and CASA volunteer (Court 
Appointed Special Advocate for Children), Marc Garlett 
is on a mission to help parents protect what they love 
most. His office is located at 49 S. Baldwin Ave., Ste. G, 
Sierra Madre, CA 91024. Call 626.355.4000 to schedule 
an appointment to sit down and talk about ensuring a 
legacy of love and financial security for your family or 
visit www.GarlettLaw.com for more information.

By Amanda Rogers

 Have you ever tried to cage a wild animal? I know Guinea 
Pigs don’t conjure up visions of wild, fierce, untamed beasts, 
but work with me here. . .

 Over the weekend a friend asked me to pet-sit her guinea 
pig. I was to pick him up from her garage and transport 
him in a small cage back to my house. When I arrived, it 
was clear that this fast and feisty rascal was master of his 
domain. This guinea pig (we’ll call him Sam to protect his 
anonymity) roamed freely and had no interest in being 
caught, let alone put in a small carrier. He was enjoying 
himself too much. On all fours I tried to chase, coax, trick 
and bribe Sam in order to catch him. Finally with only a 
carrot for arsenal, I grabbed him. He fought me tooth and 
nail (and I mean that quite literally) refusing to be caged. 
Finally, after a dramatic struggle between man and beast, I 
was able to get him safely inside the cage and quickly close 
the small door. 

 Sam got quiet on the thirty-minute ride home. Was he 
sulking? Giving me the cold shoulder? Was he being passive 
aggressive in a rodent-like way? Finally home, 

 I placed the cage in my empty garage, opened the little 
cage door and with arms wide open, declared, “You’re free!” 
He lay still in the back corner of his prison cell refusing 
to leave. I put my hand in to lift him gingerly out of this 
isolation chamber and on to the floor. But Sam would have 
nothing to do with it. With every attempt to get him out, he 
dodged my grasp. Giving up, I sat on the floor in front of 
the cage. I thought…. I get it, Sam. You’re just like me. Well, 
parts of me…

 We all have that isolated creature hiding in the cage of 
our discarded selves. In fact it seems we spend the first half 
of our lives deciding what parts of ourselves to put into 
the cage and then the next half of our lives trying to coax 
them back out. Of course Carl Jung brilliantly described 
this as the “human shadow.” We’re born whole. But over 
the course of our childhood, we learn to hide pieces of 
ourselves. The parts our parents look at disapprovingly. By 
the time we get into High School and have had a multitude 
of relationships, even more pieces of ourselves are caged. 

 Somewhere in our fourth or fifth decade, after a great 
many life experiences, we’re ready to start opening our cage 
and trying to retrieve what we’ve been hiding all these years. 
We discover that the pieces of ourselves we’ve kept hidden, 
unattended to in the cage haven’t evolved like the rest of us 
has. In the dark, these shadow pieces have regressed; they’ve 
become primitive and sometimes hostile to the person who 
finally opens that cage. They’re angry. Beaten down. And 
who can blame them?

 I thought about what I have held prisoner in my own 
cage. I thought about how impatient I can be to recover 
those pieces of me and bring them back into the light 
where I now understand they belong and have their place. I 
realized I couldn’t just drag them out of isolation and expect 
them to run free. It takes time. It takes love and it takes 
patience. With this newfound insight, instead of forcing 
Sam through the narrow door of the cage, I disassembled 
the cage around him. I breathed deeply with the knowledge 
that he needed space and he would come out when he was 
ready. 

 To continue the conversation, join me at www.
amandarogerscoaching.com


SHARE INTERESTS WITH LISTLY

Recently I’ve discovered a cool tool called List.ly. It 
allows you to share interests and build lists with 
other people in an interactive way. It works great with 
Facebook and Twitter. 

 Basically, you start a list on list.ly and it posts to 
your Facebook account so that others can add to your 
list. People are making lists of restaurants, favorite 
iphone apps, tv shows, best cameras, gift ideas etc. It’s 
an interesting way to curate content and share ideas 
with others.

 To get started, go to list.ly. Connect with your 
Facebook account. Select “Make a List.” Add a few links 
to your list and then share to Facebook to encourage 
participation. I just started a list called “Unique and 
fun places to visit in Southern California.” I can’t wait 
to see what ideas people share!

 About MJ: MJ and her brother David own HUTdogs, 
a creative services business that specializes in Internet 
Marketing strategies and Social Media. They offer 
social media management services and help their 
clients build a strong on-line presence. “Like” them on 
Facebook for trending news in social media, internet 
marketing and other helpful tips, www.facebook.
com/hutdogs.

 Sign up for their upcoming classes, webinars and 
presentations at: www.hutdogs.com/workshops/
schedule 


Many of my clients come to me, because they are 
miserable at their jobs. They are sick of the hamster 
wheel, working hard and feeling unfulfilled. They 
want answers… what kind of job would they truly 
love? What were they created to do? 

 They remember they used to be creative as 
kids, even as teenagers, but once college hit, they 
abandoned that part of themselves. They left their 
natural passions for something more “grown up.” 
For a “real job.” For something that made lots 
of money. The problem is if your work does not 
include passion, no matter how much you make, 
you will be left unsatisfied.

 Who you were as a child offers clues to who you 
are as an adult. You’re probably not going to make 
a living playing with legos, but construction and 
design may be your thing. Dolls could point to a 
deep desire to nurture. If you’re miserable, go back 
and look. What interests did you leave behind 
and how might they be employed today to create 
meaningful work? 

 When you reconnect to those innate passions, 
you will rediscover your path and find that 
fulfilling work. It’s what you’re here to do.

. . . . .

 LORI KOOP : Coaching for Creatives… Career 
~ Business ~ Life. Schedule a complimentary 
session: www.LORIKOOP.com or call 626-836-
1667. (Location: 47 E. Montecito Avenue, Sierra 
Madre 91024) I’m here every other week.


Mountain Views News 80 W Sierra Madre Blvd. No. 327 Sierra Madre, Ca. 91024 Office: