Tech | Adam Myrick, LLC

Tech: Welcome

“Technology Should Be Your Servant, Not Your Master” - Ludovic Tendron

This page is dedicated to making the most of your tech in a budget-friendly way & cutting through the noise.

Tech

I am at heart a technology nerd. I am addicted to consuming tech content and learning about different innovations. I get lost in the imagination of what people can invent.

But what’s the point of technology, and how should we use it?

In the most basic sense, technology exists to solve our problems and make our lives more productive & efficient. It’s kind of humorous thinking of tech this way because, for a lot of us (myself included), technology can become an addiction. Plus, it’s easy for it to drain our wallets. I don’t think tech is the problem though, but human behavior. Like with most good things, too much can be a bad thing. Alcohol, for example, can be good for your health and celebrations, but it is devastating to an alcoholic. Technology is the same way.

I think when used in the right way, technology can be a benefit and make life more efficient & productive. On a personal level, it is excellent for things like:

Automating bills.
Automating charitable contributions.
Capturing & sharing moments with family and friends.
Family & group texts are the best
It’s made investing and building wealth easier and cheaper than ever before.
The ability to store files and spreadsheets in the palm of your hand.
Transportation.
Entertainment.
Music, podcasts, & books.
Access to information/education.

Just be sure not to finance your life but to pay cash for your technology (a vehicle can be one exception to finance but within reason). Buy what you need, use it as long as you can, and don’t let anyone ever oversell you on a product. Most people don’t need a flagship product. Also, if it doesn’t benefit you or causes too much stress, just get rid of it! There’s no shame in that.

Mint Mobile

T-Mobile Home Internet

I only post about Mint Mobile because we have used it for over a year and a half. It’s the best cell phone company we have used, and as a bonus, it’s very cost-effective.

The only downside to Mint Mobile is they only offer plans for phones at the moment, meaning no watch or tablet plans currently. This doesn’t affect us since we only need a phone plan.

Mint Mobile uses the T-Mobile Network and has compelling prices starting at $15 a month.

Every plan is unlimited talk & text, of course. Technically, all their plans are unlimited data, but each tier gives you more high-speed data. The starting plan is 4GB/mo of high-speed data, and the top tier is 35GB/mo. If you go over the allotted data, your speed is reduced for the month. No overage charges.

Their plans are structured in 3, 6, or 12-month packages. To get the best price, you need to get the 12-month plan. We pay for the 12-month 35GB/mo plan. After fees and taxes, it was about $400 a line for the entire year (that breaks down to $33.33 a month per line!)

It was also super easy to switch your current number over. It took me about 5 minutes to create an account and transfer my number over.

Mint Mobile is a Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) using T-Mobile towers. This means they don’t have to pay to have the infrastructure; this enables them to keep their prices low. This also means that during a time of high data traffic usage Mint Mobile is a lower priority resulting in possible lower speeds during a time of congestion.

Honestly, I haven’t noticed slower speeds, and my service has been more reliable since moving to Mint Mobile.

Finally, (shameless plug) they also offer referral bonuses. As of this post, you can earn up to $90 per referral, depending on your referral's chosen plan. Click here if you want to use my referral link.

I only promote products and services I use and believe others can benefit from them. Regardless if you use my link, I think they are worth checking out. They will help you cut down your monthly living expenses by reducing your cell phone plan cost so you can invest the difference.

⚠️ - Informational Purposes Only - Not Personal Advice

After 13 years with our home internet provider, we finally made a switch.

T-Mobile has home internet. Yep, who knew. It’s only $50 a month, fees included. The best part is there are no data caps. They use a 5G modem for the signal. I was skeptical about not having a cable line and relying on a cell signal, but after switching, I realized it’s more reliable than our previous cable provider.

T-Mobile says their home internet is deprioritized during high congestion times. We haven’t noticed slow speeds. We are averaging speeds around 400 Mbps download and 60 Mbps upload. These speeds are fast enough for multiple devices.

We were more concerned about upload speeds. With all the cloud storage we use, and with Sarah’s photography, we upload a ton. On our old provider, when Sarah would upload a photoshoot for a client, it would take an hour plus. Now, it’s about 60 seconds.

I think T-Mobile Home Internet is worth looking into if you want inexpensive, fast internet with no hidden fees and no data caps.

If you contact T-Mobile to make the switch, I recommend using their online chat feature. They will try to sell you other stuff, but you have to be clear you only want home internet, and they will stop the sales pitch. When we signed up, they gave us a rebate for our first month free. I’m not sure if they still have this deal, but it’s worth asking about.

The first day we set up the modem, I had to go through the setup serval times, and we kept losing the signal. It only lasted for about 18 hours, and since then, we have been rocking strong signal and fast speeds.

The T-Mobile router doubles as a wifi router, but you can plug in your current wifi router to it. That’s what we did.

⚠️ - Informational Purposes Only - Not Personal Advice

Password Manager

I’m not sure how everyone stores their passwords. We used to keep all of ours in the notes app on our iPhones. It wasn’t the most practical way to organize them, especially when you have hundreds of passwords. We currently have over 600 different logins.

We started using 1Password around six years ago per my father-in-law’s suggestion and have never looked back. It’s definitely worth the money!

One of the best features is having all of your passwords accessible on all your devices. And, of course, it can auto-fill your logins and your credit card info! It can also keep track of your security questions for each login you have.

1Password is a one-stop-shop for storing your sensitive info like:

Logins
Credit Cards
Bank Accounts
Social Security Numbers
And just about any other sensitive info, you need securely stored

Another cool feature is they monitor website vulnerability information and alert you if you need to change your login information for compromised sites.

This sounds like a paid advertisement, but it’s not. I have tried to get them to approve an affiliate link twice but never heard back either time. Nonetheless, 1Password is a great password manager. Click here for their website.

If you know of a better app for storing login & credit card info, let me know.

⚠️ - Informational Purposes Only - Not Personal Advice

Backup Your Data

We have had friends and family tell us they have lost their precious photos because of a failed phone or hard drive. It’s so sad. It’s essential to have backups of your data.

An excellent way to backup your data is to have a three location system:

Local - On Device
Local Backup - External Drive
Offsite - Cloud Storage or Offsite External Drive

Sarah and I use Apple products, of course, and pay for iCloud Storage. This allows us to keep all our devices in sync, including our enormous photo library & files.

We have our phones to optimize storage, but our MacBook Pro downloads all our photos & files. We have an External Drive that connects to our MacBook Pro and creates a complete backup of it using Apple’s Time Machine App.

So with everything being pushed to our MacBook Pro via iCloud and our External Drive backing up our MacBook Pro, this takes care of having two local copies of our files & programs.

iCloud works for having an offsite location for Apple products, but currently, you are limited by storage options (4TB), and it’s decently pricey. You also have to be in the Apple Eco System to use it. With iCloud, you also have to be intentional to make sure files are being backed up. I think iCloud can work for most Apple users, but if you have terabytes of data, there are better and cheaper options. Also, if you use iCloud, you need to make sure at least one device downloads your files. You don’t want them stored in the cloud only.

For our offsite backup, we use BackBlaze. Right now, it’s $7 a month (or $70 a year) for unlimited backup. We have about 4.4 Terabytes of data being stored. Backblaze backs up all the files on our MacBook Pro and any external drive connected to it (except for the Time Machine backup).

It’s worth noting that Backblaze only backs up your files, not your applications or computer settings like Apple's Time Machine does. They do have a simple app for iOS devices that gives you access to your files that are backed up from anywhere, including files on external drives that are backup up.

I do have an affiliate link for Backblaze. Click here if you want to use it. I only recommend it because we use it and love it.

⚠️ - Informational Purposes Only - Not Personal Advice

Should You Buy the Extended Warranty?

Usually, I would say buying an extended warranty is a waste of money.

I do recommend buying AppleCare+ for Apple products. It is such a great deal. It even covers accidental damage.

In the picture is Sarah’s 2017 13” MacBook Pro. We have had it for almost three years. The battery was only getting about 30 minutes per charge, so we scheduled an appointment with an Apple-certified technician. We have about two weeks left of our warranty, and they ended up replacing the battery, keyboard, & touch bar at no charge.

I would stick with Apple’s AppleCare+ instead of going with a third party warranty.

I know I am an Apple fanboy, but it’s because they have always taken care of us. Sarah’s first MacBook was replaced twice with a newer generation MacBook because of issues at zero dollars out of pocket, except the $270 we paid for the AppleCare+, well worth it if you ask me.