Steps you can take to protect your identity and assets

Identity theft ravages the financial world about like a force-five tornado. With just the four digits of your social security number, a sophisticated “digital impersonator” not only has power to take all your money but also to open credit accounts and secure mortgages totalling potentially a million dollars or more.

More credit cards increases vulnerability to identity threatNaturally, the more assets you have and the better your credit scores, the more damage a skilled identity thief can do. Therefore, although you do not want incipient paranoia to drive you into the company of identity-protection scammers, you do want to safeguard your accounts against intruders and thieves of all descriptions.

First, follow your common sense. Shred everyday documents that reveal your financial information, keep sensitive documents out of your trash, and digitize your most important financial information, protecting it with impenetrable passwords. Then, develop healthy habits that will keep your personal information safe wherever you go and whatever you do:

Empty your purse and wallet

Make cash the official currency of all your commerce. The more you use credit and debit cards, the more you make them vulnerable; you obviously increase the risk of losing them, but you also put them at-risk of password theft or “skimming”, the use of electronic devices to capture the numbers on their code strips.

On an ordinary day, you need only your driver’s license, your health insurance identification your roadside assistance card, and the one credit card you use for emergencies – the one with the best, most efficient theft and fraud protection. Carry enough cash to cover your transactions and provide for an emergency stop at a coffee shop! You’re safe and good to go.

Refuse to do business over the phone

Under no circumstances should you ever transact business over the phone, because you have absolutely no way of authenticating the person on the other end really is who he or she claims.

Automated transactions give you a few more protections than voice transactions, but they still come with risk that a determined identity thief may steal the numbers you send and therefore gain control of your accounts.

Especially refuse to share the last-four digits of your social security and charge account numbers with telephone service representatives. Exercise similar caution about internet transactions, double-checking to make sure your easy-access, user-friendly bill-paying and shopping sites have high-quality encryption and other hack protections.

Create and re-create strong passwords

If you watch crime dramas and mysteries, you know that every sleuth, whether good guy or bad guy, easily guesses the most common passwords – your birthday, your children’s and pets’ names and your address.

Sophisticated computer spies have compiled lists of the top twenty most frequently used password formulae, all of which are so painfully obvious even the “Home Alone” villains could guess them. Use your own criminal mind to develop passwords only you could know. Then, change those insidious, super-sneaky passwords about once each month.

Keep your distance

When you must use the ATM, or when you use your debit card at the gas station and in other public locations, make sure people are not peering over your shoulder, and shield the keypad with your free hand while you enter the magic digits.

Whatever precautions you take in semi-public situations, take them to an exponent of ten when you use a credit or debit card at a major retailer, because you are extremely exposed as you use the elevated keypad at the check-out stand.

Check every “mistake”

Good financial management requires you reconcile your account statements every month. Personal safety demands you check and reconcile your accounts at least every week. Use your banks’ and creditors’ websites to review deposits and purchases, making sure your own records match theirs. Whenever you see a discrepancy, call the customer service line immediately, engaging the representative until you feel satisfied they have corrected the error or you have taken proper steps to protect your account and assets.

“I used to take pride in being a trusting person,” says one identity theft victim, “No more! Now, I take pride in how safety-conscious I have become.” Stressing the emotional and practical consequences of identity theft, “You cannot imagine how vulnerable and violated you feel when an invisible thief steals everything you have worked to save. Then, you cannot imagine how much work it takes to reconstruct your genuine financial self.” Feeling a little bit safer and more secure because she has survived the ravages of identity theft, the victim says, “Now, a thief will find it easier to break into Fort Knox than into my accounts.”

How to Improve Your Business Using Technology

In today’s day and age, you will very rarely find a business owner sitting on their laurels and simply allowing their business to move from one day to the next without change. With the current unsteady financial climate, most should be doing their utmost to move their business forward in order to attract and secure enough new customs to stay afloat. One of the many ways in which this can be achieved is to invest in the latest technology for your particular field of business.

Whilst this may seem a daunting prospect both in terms of a lack of technological experience and a strain on already limited finances, the advantages of making the investment could be profound. No matter what industry you find yourself in, there is almost certainly going to be a form of technology at your disposal – whether this be a specific system, programme or piece of equipment – that can have a positive effect on the way in which your business is run.

For instance, a retail setting that is behind the times in terms of technology could definitely benefit from the introduction of point of sale and EPOS software to make payment transactions swifter and stock counting easier. Although the transition from traditional ways to modern alternatives may be unnerving, if you are able to keep track on the amount of stock you have on the shelves whilst making payment at the tills quicker, this could have long-term financial benefits.

In an office environment, a large number of computers has now become the norm. In the world of computer technology, new system updates and program developments are common place so ensuring that your business stays up to date with such regular changes can be a struggle. However, by investing in professional help, you may then be able to divert your attention away from this area to concentrate on other pressing matters, safe in the knowledge that everything is being taken care of on your behalf.

IT support cartoon

Professional tech support could help prevent employees from needing their own!

Whether you decide to develop an in-house team to offer support when it comes to your IT systems, or decide that outsourcing will be a more cost-effective option, having one individual or a team of technologically savvy employees who are aware of technical changes that could influence the performance of your business will give you an advantage over your competitors.

It is no secret that attracting new custom can be a struggle and with many consumers now using the internet to find local services, ensuring you have a fully functional website and an online presence is more important than ever. Attractive website design coupled with an SEO campaign to get your business ranking in the search engines for particular terms related to what you offer could make all the difference and give your company the edge when attracting new customers.

Although the current financial climate leaves many businesses in a perilous position, it is clear to see that with an investment in new technology, things may well turn around. From developing a fresh and invigorating website through to purchasing the latest equipment and calling upon professionals to offer assistance, you and your business could see a turn in fortunes that leaves you in a far more stable position.

What we now know about Facebook

As you may have heard, Facebook plans to become a public limited company (plc) and float on the stockmarket. It hopes that this will raise around the sum of $5 billion USD (this is only about half what most people thought it would try to raise) in finance for the business, a colossal amount!

Facebook's LogoThanks to the flotation it is estimated that around 30% (roughly 1,000 people) of the companies employees will become millionaires! That said, Mark Zuckerberg is reducing his annual salary to just $1 as of January next year. Why? Because he will have shares estimated at the value of around $100 billion!

Anyway, due to Facebook wanting to become a plc, it needed to release more detailed financial data than it ever had before, into the public domain. This means that we now know much more about this previously rather secretive internet giant, than ever before!

Finances

Thanks to its choice to become a plc, we now know that Facebook makes 85% of its income from advertising. Furthermore we know that last year it made almost $4 billion USD! Out of this, it turned an impressive 25% into profit, bringing it in $1 billion (supposedly exactly) in net profit.

It is now possible to value to company as a whole, and it is thought to be worth $100 billion USD. To compare that to other industry giants, Amazon is valued around the same amount, eBay is values at about half that figure, and Google is thought to be worth double that.

Ownership

Facebook will still be owned and controlled largely by Mark Zuckerberg. He currently owns 28.4% of Facebook and has a majority in terms of voting rights with over 50% of votes. Basically Zuckerberg owns Facebook still, and he seems to want to stay in the driving seat for a while yet!

Mark Zuckerberg the founder of FacebookUsers

We now also know that Facebook have around 845 million active users around the world, of whom, around 450 million visit the site very regularly – that is a crazy amount!

The Future?

Facebook would be worth nothing without its users. Some people say that its users are not Facebook’s customers, but in fact the networks products. If people get bored or move on, the site will die.

If you were buying shares in an internet based business, Google would probably be a much safer bet than Facebook, as its future looks much more certain. Facebook may pay massive dividends to investors in the future, or it may go into decline and cost investors a collective $5 billion!


Friends Reunited was once great, now it stands in Facebook’s massive shadow, as does Myspace, Bebo, Foursquare and many other social media sites. All these sites how now been superseded by Facebook, the question is, will Google Plus or something else dwarf Facebook? Personally I believe that in 10 years, there will be something bigger, but we will just have to wait and see 🙂