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The Smart Home: More Productive, Efficient, Emotive, And Economical

By Frugaling 1 Comment

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Her Film Spike Jonze Smart Home Automation
Her by Spike Jonze.

The OS: Into our homes, hearts

Our brains are wired for interpersonal relations. Human-to-human contact reduces depression, anxiety, and a host of psychological concerns. When a child exhibits facial expressions that are more reminiscent of adults, there’s usually a cute relation to it. When a cat brushes up against you and purrs when you rub it, there’s a feeling of mutual connection. As adults, we connect with these as-if experiences – they’re so adult-like.

Skeptical Baby Meme Smart Home
Skeptical Baby Meme

Automated devices can be adult-like, too – mimicking that human-to-human experience and connection. In the recent film, Her, a lonely man falls in love with an operating system (“OS”). The OS predicts his needs, sends and organizes emails, and offers romantic companionship. The main character, Theodore, loves the anticipatory brilliance and personality of the device. Suddenly, this inanimate object becomes a vital part of his life – personally and professionally.

After watching the movie, a friend of mine asked if that predictive, assistive, and somewhat convivial system could ever exist. It made me chuckle. Frankly, these capabilities are nearly a reality and they’re going to lead to tremendous savings.

Beyond suggestions, you’ll find automation

If you ask Apple’s Siri (personal assistant software) how long it takes to drive from point A to point B, it’ll plainly explain how long and offer a map. The directions will account for changing traffic patterns, as well. Looking for the latest showtimes and reviews? Just ask Google Now and it’ll give you all the local theaters, films, and reviews. They all are at your service, waiting for your questions, concerns, and comments.

If an application can predict what you might like next (and is incentivized to offer paid suggestions), you’ll likely hear about some special deal at your favorite local restaurant. This could lead to budgetary problems from predictive advertising for some consumers, but there’s another side that is far more positive, environmentally friendly, economical, and a true productivity booster.

The power of smart homes, technology

Nest Thermostat Smart Home Appliances
The Nest Thermostat

If you’re a discerning automation expert, you may realize that asking a question and getting a simple response aren’t quite the same as engaging in full-length dialogue (back and forth) with a software package. This Her-like capability is coming to many devices. It’s going to completely revolutionize our homes, heads, and hearts.

Imagine walking up to your apartment/house, seeing the lights turn on, feeling the heat match your immediate needs, seeing the oven beginning to preheat (knowing that you got your favorite type of take-and-bake pizza); all the while, a virtual assistant checks in with you to see how your day went. This is the not so distant future.

By automating the simple tasks and leaving them to computers, we can appreciate from electricity, heating, and gas savings. Have you ever left your house’s air conditioning or heating on too high while away? How many times do you accidentally leave lights on in your house after you leave? These forgetful moments can seriously hurt your bottom line. Smart homes can predict and prevent these errors.

A few devices are already leading to serious savings. For instance, Nest has created a thermostat and smoke detector that can communicate with each other. Used in conjunction, these devices can tell when you’re presently in your home – changing the temperature to something more economical when you leave. All of it is automatic – no more adjustments. The thermostat can even be locked to prevent tampering. By properly controlling your thermostat, you can save $173 a year.

By allowing these devices into our home, we can actually be safer and more prepared if anything happens. The Nest Protect (smoke detector) sends alerts if it senses smoke and/or carbon monoxide. This is just the beginning of a serious technological evolution. The future will bring these systems in unison, and give them a voice.

The future looks frugal

There are many players in the smart home market. This has led to fractured, expensive devices. Companies are investing billions to create automation technologies with sharp designs, but they aren’t universally connected – they can’t necessarily communicate with other systems. This is where competition can hurt innovation.

These tech stalwarts and startups are battling for space in your home. Google has been on a buying spree – getting everything from Nest Labs to Boston Dynamics (a robotics company). Apple is developing and modifying Siri constantly – aiming to make it more interactive and available. Each of these iterations will further a sci-fi reality that includes a smarter home.

As the leaders emerge and prices begin to fall, the demands that technology and regular household devices ask of us will swiftly decline. We should have more time for work, family, and enjoying what’s really important in life. This the essence of frugality and it’s coming to fruition one smart device at a time.

In case you haven’t seen Her, here’s the trailer:

Filed Under: Save Money Tagged With: Apple, applications, automated, automation, connection, emotions, Google, her, ios, nest, now, os, play, remote, saving money, siri, smart home, wemo, wireless

Poor Man’s Guide To Failing At Investing

By Frugaling Leave a Comment

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Wall Street Bull Money
Photo: thenails

Addicted to the stock market

As a high school student, I envisioned entering the world of finance. I enjoyed watching the market movements, and loved reading Jim Cramer’s Confessions of a Street Addict. After I matriculated to college, I made a sudden switch to psychology and never looked back until I began writing, firsthand, about becoming more frugal.

Investing held a special place in my heart and I had amassed about $4,000 in a Roth IRA prior to graduating college. The funds were invested in a diverse array of stocks and exchange-traded funds (ETFs). Unfortunately, financial demands grew every day as a graduate student and I opted to liquidate much of my portfolio for tuition payments and living expenses.

Graduate school and my sinking portfolio

In capitulating to serious financial demands and poor budgeting, I lost something I loved. I know it sounds funny, but investing wasn’t about the money for me. The money was the medium necessary to engage in a mental game I enjoyed. If I could research, understand, and time an investment well, I could profit greatly from it. This spoke to me on an intellectual level.

But by selling off my stocks and ETFs to pay for the present, I no longer had the impetus nor motivation to research and select stocks. With a measly $1,000 left in my Roth IRA, no investment could be diverse or well-balanced across sectors. Investor fees would eat up any gains I saw. Even as I try to become financially fit and solvent, there are parts of me that feel this incredible pressure because I don’t have enough to invest smartly.

The final $1,000 and failing at investing

With my final $1,000 in a Vanguard account, I’ve made some interesting investment decisions. I was invested in Tesla (TSLA) for years and years, it doubled to $55 a share and I decided to take the profits and sell the position. Honestly, I didn’t want to sell the whole position – I just wanted to conserve some gains and let the profits run.

But when you have next to no money for investment purposes and really small positions in different stocks, you can’t smartly buy and sell stocks. I still believed in Tesla’s business model and future, but wanted to prevent from losing all the gains. This Catch-22 of investing is dangerous and subverts your ability to realize significant financial gains. Over the next month or so, Tesla would go on to about $150 per share – tripling from my sale point and increasing about 500% from my original investment. I had missed the largest gains.

In high school, I invested in Apple when they were around $20-30 a share. Unfortunately, I only had a few hundred dollars in my name. To conserve the profits, I sold the position after the market madly invested in Apple’s iPhone release and catapulted it to $80-90 per share. While I appreciated the 300% gain, I wanted to see the investment continue – I needed more money to defend the profits and position.

It takes money to make money

This trite cliche is entirely true when it comes to investment decisions. Sure, you could get lucky, have an individual stock run up big and take the profits at the perfect time, but you could also miss out on ever-increasing gains and opportunities. The reality is that investing takes a certain amount of funds – $1,000 is hardly enough. While my student loans loom, I’ll be focusing my energy on paying those off first.

There’s still a part of me that misses being involved actively in investing and dedicating a portion of my week to researching and studying up on the market’s developments. This is a very clear consequence to the financial situation I find myself in nowadays. Until then, I am stuck kicking around $1,000 in a Roth IRA, waiting for small gains here and there. This is not a recipe for success.

Filed Under: Make Money, Social Justice Tagged With: Apple, ETFs, invest, investing, market, money, stocks, Tesla, Vanguard, Wall Street

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