How to Keep Your Finances Protected This Year

Virtually everyone works hard for their money and as such, they want to protect it as much as possible. No matter how large or small your savings account is, failing to protect it could lead to a number of problems.

Bills, groceries, gas, investing in Tesla stock, and just daily life have a tendency to deplete plenty enough on their own, and the last thing you need is to see even more of your money disappear. Help protect yourself from financial loss by keeping the following tips in mind.

Scammers Keep Getting Smarter

While you’d think that most consumers are savvy enough not to fall for the Nigerian Prince scam anymore, thieves are still raking in hundreds of thousands of dollars every year. However, unscrupulous internet scammers are always modifying their methods and sometimes even the smartest of consumers fall prey to various schemes.

If you haven’t already done so, one of the first things you should consider is looking for the best ID theft protection service you can find. Each year, millions upon millions of Americans have their identity stolen. Due to factors such as COVID and more people transitioning to working from home, those numbers saw a sharp increase.

Whether you’re in a home or traditional office and no matter how careful you think you are, you need to be sure that you follow these best practices:

• Secure your home network with WPA2 or WPA3 encryption.
• Strictly limit access to your work computer and phone.
• Don’t use the same password across multiple sites/apps/devices and utilize a secure password management service to store and use your unique passwords.
• Be exceptionally careful when clicking. Double-check links by hovering your mouse over them to ensure it’s the place you intend to go. As a general rule, never open HTML or other attachments from sources you don’t know.
• Be wary of job offers or a debt collection agency that wants personal information such as SSN upfront in order to “verify” your identity.
• Utilize up-to-date antivirus and anti-malware software.
• Shred your personal credit reports and other documents that contain personal identifying information (PII) before discarding them in the trash.

Choose Wisely

Everyone wants to increase their income, while no one wants to needlessly lose money. One of the biggest mistakes you can make with your finances is to trust the wrong person, company, or service.

Keeping your money protected this year goes beyond the secure internet and passwords and other items mentioned above. You need to be choosy with any relationships with people who will have access to your financial information. This includes everyone from that Facebook ad purchase to your financial advisors.

Before you make an online purchase or take out a loan with a bank, be sure to read reviews and speak to current and past customers if at all possible. Make sure those that handle your money and PII are trustworthy and that there aren’t any red flags that others have experienced.

Go Paperless

Lastly, you should check to see if your various creditors have paperless bills and automatic payment options. Doing so eliminates the risk of someone getting their hands on your discarded, un-shredded mail and obtaining compromising information that can be used to phish for access to your money.

In Conclusion

Protecting your finances is important in this day and age and failing to take preemptive measures is inviting potentially devastating consequences. Don’t wait until it’s too late. You’ve saved, invested, and worked hard to achieve your goals and, if you want to keep your money, you have to be smart.