Locked Out?

Andy Rooney on Numbers:  Why can’t we each simplify and have just one number for everything? Ok some problems might be created.  For example having your AMEX # on our license plate?

Are you living in a Andy Rooney world?  Well, Andy there are hexadecimal randomized password generators to reduce hacking.  Phishing emails and Social engineering Hackers today.

With all this risk of others this complexity also risks you getting locking yourself out!

Have you ever been LOCKED out of an account?  Imagine how bad it would be to be locked out of many or all your accounts? 

Here are some situations which lead to lockouts:

You have:

moved, a fire, a disaster, forgoten, lost a piece of paper, Dementia, Lost your phone,  a medical procedure, kick the bucket, Temporary medical condition, employee separation, social media disaster, Large internet company was hacked, a vendor change, a change in IT support,  Change in hospital, Diabetes, taken Drugs, Alcohol.

You have trouble:

when your internet service provider (ISP) was sold or reorganized, when you were forced to change your password, got a divorce or relationship Breakup, PC died, Hard drive failure, Surprised by a service change at any of your Web Service Providers, Technology advancements, New higher security standards were implemented, Change of Jobs, Lost Phone, Change of staff at Vendor or financial institution, Retirement yours or somebody else’s, Staff MIA, Family MIA, COVID 19 lockdown,  Your company or one you depend on dissolves. Any of these can cause you to loose access to information and or your accounts.

Basic steps to protect yourself:

Backups Data

Redundancy of technology

Back up Passwords

Back up contacts

Backup email

Back up financial software

Make sure to have passwords on your devices especially your portable/ mobile devices.

Login to your browsers and they will help remember your passwords

Create Power of Attorney (POA) forms for property, and healthcare.  Bring these to financial institutions and doctors your-Self well before you need them.

Carry identification so you don’t become a John Doe

Program ICE in your phone (In Case of Emergency)

Add younger healthier Cosigners for your banking,

Create complete and keep updating your Wills Trusts and Beneficiaries

TrueCrypt  http://truecrypt.sourceforge.net encryption and or other encryption

Identify your important credentials.  The list below is a good start.

Assign responsibilities to others in case you suddenly become incapacitated.

Add younger healthier Cosigners for your banking,

Create complete and keep updating your Wills Trusts and Beneficiaries

Identify your important credentials.  The list below is a good start.

Assign responsibilities to others in case you suddenly become incapacitated. Below are some memory prompts to help you recall the credentials you our your POA or heirs may need to continue when you are Locked Out. below find a PDF and a csv file to help you create your own template.