Five Super Smart Tips to Save More and Invest Better

Posted on May 7, 2015 .

Image Credit: www.flickr.com

There’s so much you want to accomplish in your lifetime. Undeniably most of your dreams cost money. The key to fulfilling them is to learn to manage money.

Once you learn the basics of saving, budgeting and investing money, you will undoubtedly achieve your goals.

In today’s economy with skyrocketing energy and food costs, and rising unemployment rates, managing money can be an arduous task, but surely not an impossible one.

How do you go about it?

Here are the top six tips to save more money and invest better.

1. Making a Budget is Priority

• Regular and one time spends
• Each and every expense, even discretionary ones

If your budget includes both these elements, you will probably never be out of money. You can control your finances just by budgeting. This way you can prioritize your spending and allocate your money to things that are of utmost importance to you.

Farnoosh Torabi, financial author and expert, stresses on the importance of paying attention to the little things that add up to a big amount.

Of course you want it all, but prioritize what you need first and what can wait for later, and spend accordingly.

2. Maintain an Expense Record

You need to look more closely at where your money is going and where exactly you can cut corners.

Sandwiches, magazines or those coffees at Starbucks – everything counts. Regardless of how small the amount you spend, it all adds up to a bigger number. Hence, you need to keep a track of it.

The best way out is to maintain an expense record. Try making a note of what you spend for at least a month, including every purchase. If you can do it for longer, you’ll get a clearer picture of exactly what you spend your money on and how you can cut costs there.

In addition to this, you can divide your expenses into two: regular and irregular. This will help you have greater control over your monthly expenditures.

3. Clearing off the Debt

If you’re in debt or are struggling financially, one of the easiest ways to cope with it is to crawl into your shell and ignore your bank statements and payment demands. But this, by no means, is going to make things easier.

Instead, face the problem. Know what you need to deal with. Once you are clear on this, you will be fully aware of the next step.

Dave Ramsey, an American financial author, advocates getting out of debt with the debt snowball plan. By this he means, it’s wise to keep your debt as low as you can without crippling your business. And keep your personal debt nonexistent, if possible. These are some of the top tips that he offers:

• Stop adding on to your debt
• Set up automatic bill payments
• Organize your debts
• Pay attention to one debt at a time

Rachel Cruze, Dave Ramsey’s daughter states that by setting up an emergency fund, you will be able to stay focused on paying off debt when emergencies pop up.

4. Insurance is the First Step

One of the basic steps for your and your family’s future is insurance.

There are various types of insurance, but the focus needs to be on the most important ones such as health insurance, disability insurance, life insurance, auto insurance, and homeowners insurance.

5. Establish Saving Goals and Save Regularly No Matter What

Image Credit: www.flickr.com

Look at yourself in the mirror and say this – by the end of this month, you will be able to buy your dream car from your savings, one that you have been desperately waiting for all this while.

How does that make you feel?

Excited, of course!

This, however, will not become a reality until you wise up and start saving money to achieve your desired goal.

The point to bear in mind while saving money is to focus on what you will be able to do once you have successfully built a considerable corpus, rather than only thinking about setting money aside.

Award-winning journalist and savings expert Cameron Huddleston emphasizes on the importance of setting goals when saving money.

So, you want to save money on a regular basis but don’t know how?

Enter savings account.

Set up a standing instruction, so that every month the money gets transferred to your savings account directly without you worrying about it. And don’t wait till the end of month for this.

There are three benefits of doing so:

• The money gets transferred into your savings account as soon as you’re paid your salary.
• The amount you save increases if you get a pay raise.
• You get a competitive rate of return on your savings.

6. Evaluating Your Risk Tolerance

Risks play an important role in making all investment decisions.

The golden rule is, the higher the returns from a particular investment, the greater will be the risk involved.
Some of the most important factors that can help you determine your risk tolerance are:

• Income
• Expenses
• Financial goals
• Liquid Cash
• Insurance Cover

If you want to make wise investment decisions, you need to evaluate your risk tolerance before venturing into anything.

Conclusion

One of the hardest things about managing and saving money is the very first step – getting started. It can be extremely difficult to use your savings prudently in order to pursue your financial goals. The above tips will help you develop a realistic saving and investment plan. Moreover, it will help you understand money related matters in a much better way. Follow them and nothing can stop you from achieving financial success

10 Things You Should Understand About Identity Theft

Posted on September 21, 2015 .

Although identity theft is a fairly modern concept, its roots lie in the ancient times, when espionage and impersonation was a part of the power struggle between the different kingdoms and nations. Nevertheless, the coining of the term ‘Identity Theft’ happened in 1964, when it was used to address a case of Identity related fraud. According to a recent study done by an American research agency Javelin Strategy and Research Inc., there are more than 13 million cases of identity related frauds that happen in the US each year. This means that unlike popular belief, no one is actually safe from this menace. Hence, it is extremely important that you try to gather as much knowledge regarding identity related fraud to escape the clutches of the identity perpetrators. Listed below are a few things you should know regarding identity impersonation and frauds.

1. Your Credit Card No. Isn’t Required

Even if you’ve managed to keep your credit card details safe and hidden, there are still several ways how the thieves can get to it. This means that no matter where you’re at, you should leave no door open for the perpetrators to get hold of your personal information. Try not to leave any important documents scattered around your place and make it a habit of locking them up when you leave your house. If you want to buy identity theft protection service, make sure you buy it from reliable companies.

2. Frauds Can Happen At ATM Terminals

ATM terminals can be some of the most risky places and can be used as bait by the identity thieves. They often tamper the ATM card slots with scanners, so whenever you use your cards at the terminal, all the details regarding your card and account gets registered. Some perpetrators have also been known to gather the security no. from the camera feed. Hence it is important that you cover the keypad before entering your PIN.

3. Avoid Paper Bills

Paper bills not only affect the environment but also pose a threat to your personal details. Most bills also display your personal information like name, address, date of birth and other sensitive information, which can be easily stolen. If you do not receive a particular bill or receive it later than you expect, there are high chances that they’ve gotten into the hands of the Identity thieves. Opting for e-statements and bills not only saves precious paper but also keeps your precious information from getting into the wrong hands.

4. Fake Search Engine Results

Search engine manipulation is also one of the most dreadful tools of the identity thieves. They often use fake webpages and websites that will appear at the top of the results and will require you to enter some personal details. Not many people are aware of this scheme and often end up divulging their sensitive information that results in an identity theft.

5. Beware of Unknown Wi-Fi Hotspots

We all love free internet, but little do we know that the identity thieves can also use fake Wi-Fi hotspots to steal the personal details. So if in case your smartphone, tablet or laptop shows some generic names for available hotspots such as Airport or Hotel Wi-Fi, there’s highly a chance that these are fake and are aimed at retrieving some sensitive personal information.

6. Debit Cards Shouldn’t Be Used During Checkouts

While the media is promoting the use of Debit cards, we all must be aware that debit cards have a really poor protection against any frauds. Whenever doing some shopping, make sure that you use a credit card instead of your own account card. The reason is simple; the credit card is funded by the providers and doesn’t involve your personal income or bank account. So even if the details are taken from a credit card, they can be easily protected from fraud as compared to your band debit cards.

7. You Can File For A 90-Day Fraud Alert In Case

Even if you find yourself victimized by identity theft, not all is lost. In case you feel your personal information has been compromised, there is always a 90-day period during which you can check on all your details and request a fraud alert. It provides you a detailed credit report, which is totally free of charge and helps pinpoint the fraudulent transaction. In case you fine any discrepancies you can also freeze your account and prevents anyone from accessing it.

8. Sign Your Cards As Soon As You Receive Them

Most new cards need to be activated before and one must also sign on the back of the card to protect it from any unauthorized use. Make sure you use a permanent marker or a sharpie to do your signatures so they cannot be overwritten or erased by the thieves. Leaving the activation sticker is also a good trick as one would need to make a call to the card providers to activate the card.

9. Even Military Personnel Aren’t Safe

We all must understand that identity theft is a common problem and can be faced by anyone. Even military and police officials have been targeted by the identity thieves by presenting fake retirement or saving schemes, so there is no reason to get careless with your personal information. Most thefts occur simply due to the lack of attention and failure to protect your sensitive information. Hence, one must always check the validity and genuineness of any special programs for those who served in the defense.

10. Online Statements Must Be Checked Regularly

Unless you like surprises, it is always better to be pre informed regarding any unauthorized or shady transactions. Checking your online statements not only helps you keep a track of your monthly expenses but also highlights any transactions that can possibly be a result of identity fraud.

Although it sounds like something that only targets the wealthy, Identity theft should never be taken lightly by anyone. There is countless number of ways how perpetrators can get hold of your personal information. Hence, it is essential that you gather proper information and with a little care and caution, you can stay one step ahead of the identity thieves

Realistic Password Management Tips

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No doubt you have read numerous articles warning you to have strong passwords and a different password for every account. For most people this advice is unrealistic since most of us have at least 20+ accounts all requiring a username and password – everything from online banking, social media profiles, online stores to paying for cinema tickets.

I would like to offer a simple approach to managing passwords that appears to work for people who don’t want to be bothered with password managers, encrypted drives containing passwords and hiding passwords deep within their computer folders etc…

Simple Approach to Password Management

The approach takes the path of having 3 levels of passwords:
1) Very sensitive passwords for accounts such as online banking
2) Semi-sensitive passwords for accounts such as social media profiles
3) Non-sensitive passwords for websites that you visit infrequently

Very sensitive passwords

For sensitive accounts such as online banking have very strong passwords and unique for each account. It is ideal to use an online password generator to make a truly random complex password but it will be nearly impossible to remember each one for every sensitive account you have. To make life easy think of a phase or event that is meaningful to you for example “I love Corro on TV at 7pm!” – with that phase replace the text with shorthand and symbols so it looks like “iluvCoTV@7PM!”. You could also associate the business name or service within your phase to help remember the password for example “ANZ is at 23 Allen St, Newtown!” which can be converted to “ANZis@23AS,NT!”. These are consider strong passwords because they include numbers, lowercase/uppercase text and symbols.

Semi-sensitive passwords

For semi-sensitive accounts use a password format that you can reuse and can easy change certain characters for example “!@12Facebook@!” and “!@12LinkedIn@!” and “!@12Twitter@!”. Then every month change the number – for example “!@52Facebook@!” and “!@52LinkedIn@!” and “!@52Twitter@!”. Of course please do not follow this pattern since its published on a public website – make up your own.

Non-sensitive passwords

For accounts that are infrequently access I use an online password generator to create a complex and unique password for each account. I know that I cannot remember the password so every time I need to log into the account I just use the systems reset password feature! This means the passwords are unique and complex so if the site gets hacked (and more often its the smaller websites that do) I don’t have to worry that I reused a password that is used on more sensitive accounts.

Of course having unique and complex password for each account is ideal but with many people having over 20+ separate accounts to deal with you need a simple system that helps you remember passwords – hopefully this approach can help.

Securing Your Site Against Online Hackers

When you are running a website there are all kinds of different dangers a designer can run into. When you are running a website where you are attempting to sell your photographs there are rather distinct factors you are going to need to have to worry about. Hackers and malware are things that everyone on the Internet needs to worry about.

The size of the company doesn’t mean there is any sort of protection against hackers. Some small business owners think they are safe if they are operating under the umbrella of a larger company because those firms tend to have tighter security. Despite that tighter security, hackers almost always find a way in.

Small businesses tend to think they’re safe because they are flying under the radar of most hackers and the people who send out malware. The problem is that if you are running a site where you are selling photos you are basically painting yourself as a target, especially if your photos are good. If your photos are of something or someone that a lot of people want to see you are going to be an even bigger target. So how do you protect your site and your photos against people who want to get at both illegally?

Watermarking

If you are more worried about your photos than the integrity of your site, then you will find watermarking a rather effective approach. This simply means that you overlay the photos with either a brand from your site or with your name. You can make the watermark almost anything you want, but the intent is to have it there so that you can remove it when a photo has been purchased and it stays when people steal or simply download the photo without first offering up attribution or payment.

Using Flash to Display Your Work

Most images that are displayed online are going to be in the regular old JPG format. This makes it easy for you to sell them to a number of different sites, but it also makes it incredibly easy to download to a thief’s computer. Putting your gallery in Flash means that hackers or thieves cannot simply and easily download the images.

Shrink Wrapping

Shrink Wrapping is another approach not unlike watermarking with a twist. This process is basically the practice of using Javascript to display one image with another. When the hacker or thief goes to download the image they are trying to take without paying, they will actually download something else and this something else is usually just white wall.

Antivirus Software

If you have gone with an approach like putting the galley in Flash or watermarked the photos, it might actually be quicker and easier to get at your entire site, instead of the photos one by one. If you think your site is going to be a target you are going to want to have an antivirus software installed on any computer where you access the backend.

Depending on the size and reach of your company you are going to want to have differing levels of investment. Rest assured that there is an antivirus software for any size of business that will protect you against those who want to get into your files and grab whatever they feel like taking.

All of the Above and Then Some

The fact of the matter is that there is almost no sure fire way to make sure your site is 100 percent protected. Every defense someone puts up has been circumvented at some point in time. The key is to protect your property as well as you possibly can.

The best way to make sure you have put enough guards in place for peace of mind is to do more than one of the above approaches. Shrink wrap or watermark as well as use Flash and have up to date antivirus software. The more layers of security you use, the harder it will be to get through. The real key is to make cracking your code such an annoyance that the hacker moves on to other targets.

The Cost of Leaving Security Behind

One of the reasons that the Apple operating system was perceived to be so safe throughout the late nineties and early 2000s is that the user base was relatively low. The use was also limited to professional settings, so there wasn’t likely to be much more than a work email address from a Mac user. Of course, times have changed and now Mac finds itself just as vulnerable as every other operating system.

Small businesses tend to perceive themselves as the ‘Macs’ of the security world. They are successful, but on a niche level and therefore not really worth the effort of hacking. Nothing could be further from the truth.

How Attacks on SMBs Work

Cyber-attacks are typically conducted on a short or long term scale. The hacker looks for what he or she can get in the moment, then prods for potential openings. This isn’t a great strategy against large companies that may have employed an IT department to secure the network and its secrets. Smaller companies, however, tend to localize theirnetwork security in the form of antivirus software. As a result, long term attacks have great success against smaller businesses without the resources to defend for long periods of time.

What ‘Compromised’ Really Means

When Dennis Nedry hacked into the Jurassic Park security system, he replaced the administrative desktop with some graffiti and prevented access to the network through a password screen. This was the definition of ‘compromised’ that Hollywood set in June of 1993. Until the Sony breach, and then the Target and Home Depot breaches, it was our only way of understanding how hacking works. It’s subversive, that’s true, but the goal of hacking is largely information access. Hackers want data they can sell, like customer information or trade secrets.

In this sense, a network compromise represents a serious financial loss to your business. During a hacking, you either lose trust with your customers or data about the products you are building that give you a competitive edge. If that doesn’t wake you up to the reality of cyber attacks, consider that an infected compute can damage more than your own network.

Bot Nets and How They Affect You

A new challenger to the social network scene, ‘Ello,’ found itself to the be the target of a DDoS attack in late September of 2014. The network was gaining more users when the attack hit, bringing the site and its services down for 35 minutes while the team investigated the source of the problem. Bot nets are like armies, sometimes referred to as ‘zombie computers,’ and they are used to carry out an attack elsewhere on the Web. So a hacker may steal resources you use in your business to conduct an attack on another business. The result is losses on both ends, and hackers have a multitude of ways to inject these viruses into your system.

To put things into perspective, Amazon (which is a large company) loses $66,000 every minute it is not in operation. What’s your company’s number?

How to Fix the Problem

The first step is to backup your files religiously. It’s not enough to designate Tuesday as backup day, you need to automate a schedule that accesses your most important files from each terminal and backs those up to a central server that is off site. This is commonly referred to as ‘the cloud,’ and it’s a useful method to keep your files safe from attack.

The next step is to designate secure password use, meaning passwords for each terminal that are better than ‘password123.’ In this regard, it is a good idea to set employees up with a password management program to help them track the passwords they use. Also encourage employees to vary the passwords they use for each service, even if they protest.

Securing each terminal really comes down to training. Make sure that employees understand where to download securely, monitor their usage and follow up with real infractions that encourage better use. Restrictions are the best approach, because it’s easiest to restrict low level employees and grant priviliges as you go up the chain. Internet security software can help you manage firewalls, terminal access, and automated scanning to try and make this task possible.