Identity Protection cleanup
October is identity protection awareness month. Although the month is coming to an end,
the need for identity protection is certainly not.
Sometimes we all have the best of intentions for protecting our private information. We just don’t know where to start, aren’t aware of identity vulnerabilities and feel it is such an overwhelming task that we don’t bother.
First we are going to start out with a quiz.
Ask yourself the following questions.
Do I know the physical location of:
Active and inactive credit cards?
Social Security cards for myself and my family members?
Birth certificate, Wedding license, Divorce decree?
Investment statements?
Health insurance Card, Drivers license?
Has this ever happened to me?
Wallet or purse ever been lost or stolen?
Do I?:
Check my credit each year?
Review statements of my active and zero balance credit cards?
Renew my computer anti virus software when it expires?
Question fishy looking emails and avoid clicking on them?
Check my mailbox every day?
Shred credit card offers or other pieces of mail with personal information when disposing such items?
Remind my children that they should not be sharing their own or my personal information?
Have different passwords for all of my internet accounts?
Change my passwords frequently?
Use public Wifi?
That was a lot of information to go through.
Don’t worry we are going to break the process down.
Our Goal for November:
1. Find or buy a sturdy binder that has several pockets and is large enough to store paperwork. if you can’t find one her is a link to an appropriate one on Amazon. it is about $10 the last time I checked.
2. Gather important documents and determine where a safe place to store them will be.
A. Documents to locate:
– Passport
– Social security card
– Children’s birth certificates
– Wills
– Bank and credit card statements
– Health insurance cards
– 401k Information
– Any other important documents you have
That may seem like a simple start but you will feel like you have accomplished a ton simply by starting your identity protection planning process.
Good Job.
