Press
A collection of our press mentions and articles
The Information - How Techies Stock Their Disaster Kits
We’ve come a long way since Y2K when everyone was obsessed with stockpiling shelves and shelves of nonperishables, according to Joel Smernoff, CEO of Black Umbrella, which sells curated emergency kits. “If you gather the right supplies to allow you to live at home off-grid, then you’re in control of your destiny and you’re not on the streets with panicky people or in the supermarkets fighting over a can of peaches.”
Black Umbrella’s “Sanctuary Box,” for instance, includes a “comprehensive emergency solution” neatly packed in a 60-liter Yeti cargo box with enough supplies “to live comfortably off-grid without water, electricity or communication for extended periods.”
CheddarTV - Joel Smernoff talking about Hurricanes Harvey and Irma
Barron's Magazine - 9 Meals Away From Disaster
Call it tail risk or Murphy’s Law, but if history has taught us anything, something unexpected and unprecedented will come for us. In the past 100 years, we’ve seen Pearl Harbor and 9/11, a Great Depression and Recession, and lots and lots of war. Sure, we bounce back, but having a plan for the tough times makes them a lot easier to stomach.
What’s to come? New possibilities include cyberterrorism—potential attacks on our electrical grid, financial systems, or water supply. A dirty bomb could render a major city section like lower Manhattan uninhabitable for years. Then you have Mother Nature: hurricanes, earthquakes, tsunamis, and quieter disasters like drought.
Financial Advisor Magazine - Bunker Time for the Rich
“I think risk mitigation is very important to them,” he says. “That’s why many have family offices and focus on capital preservation. So in following the concept of being able to protect what you have, I think they also over-index in preparedness. These are people that are used to having insurance for everything. One way to look at emergency preparedness is as physical insurance.”