You can hear horror stories involving privacy anywhere. There are constant issues over privacy at Facebook. Look, for example, at 10 Solid Tips to Safeguard Your Facebook Privacy and at Could I have my stuff back, please?
We hear repeated warnings about things that just won’t go away or be undone once they are on the Internet. The Digital Guidebook wrote Something to Think About: Your Digital Identity is the New Chastity.
Consider this example from the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), What Information is “Personally Identifiable”?:
Mr. X lives in ZIP code 02138 and was born July 31, 1945.
These facts about him were included in an anonymous medical record released to the public. Sounds like Mr. X is pretty anonymous, right?
Not if you’re Latanya Sweeney, a Carnegie Mellon University computer science professor who showed in 1997 that this information was enough to pin down Mr. X’s more familiar identity — William Weld, the governor of Massachusetts throughout the 1990s.
Gender, ZIP code, and birth date feel anonymous, but Prof. Sweeney was able to identify Governor Weld through them for two reasons. First, each of these facts about an individual (or other kinds of facts we might not usually think of as identifying) independently narrows down the population, so much so that the combination of (gender, ZIP code, birthdates) was unique for about 87% of the U.S. population.
The EFF report went on to say:
But research by Prof. Sweeney and other experts has demonstrated that surprisingly many facts, including those that seem quite innocuous, neutral, or “common”, could potentially identify an individual. Privacy law, mainly clinging to a traditional intuitive notion of identifiability, has largely not kept up with the technical reality.
CNet picked up on the story and wrote How 10 digits will end privacy as we know it. These 10 digits are the five-digit ZIP code, gender, and date of birth. CNet said,
Knowing just a little about a subscriber–say, six to eight movie preferences, the type of thing you might post on a social-networking site–the researchers found that they could pick out your anonymous Netflix profile, if you had one in the set. The Netflix study shows that those 10 de-anonymizing digits can hide in surprising places.
Our physical belongings also betray our anonymity by silently calling out identity-betraying digits. Small wireless microchips–often called radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags–reside in car keys, credit cards, passports, building entrance badges, and transit passes. They emit unique serial numbers. Once linked to our names–when we make credit card purchases, for instance–these microchips enable us to be tracked without our realizing it.
Ask yourself the following
· In what category do you fall? Worried, confident, concerned or unfazed about your privacy?
· Are you thinking about, developing, building, monitoring, and protecting YOUR digital footprint?
· Are you thinking about your footprint when (or not) posting or commenting on blogs, uploading material, or participating on social networking sites?
· Do you keep your personal and professional digital footprint separate?
· Do you just assume that no one will bother to try to find a trail to and about you?
If you aren’t paying attention to privacy yet, now is the time to get your head in the game and take a look at how you live your online life.
Some information in this blog thanks to the blog cross-posted at BlogHer, originally posted Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
The Secret to Investment Success
We all want to pick a winner. It doesn’t matter if we’re at the racetrack, casino, or investing our IRA. However, investors who spend most of their time trying to pick winners often end up losing more times than not. The number one determinant of your portfolio’s return is your asset allocation – the percentage of your investments in stocks and bonds – and not your superior stock picking ability or market timing. Once you have your asset allocation in place, your behavior will determine your long term success.
It’s easy to look back after a huge market run-up or downturn and think that it was obvious. It then becomes even easier to base our future decisions on recent events, by supporting our gut feeling by selectively looking at information that supports our opinion. We are constantly barraged with headlines that play to our emotions. The media loves to use current events to forecast the future. They want to create headlines that sell magazines or attract viewers, not create successful investors.
Steve Forbes said in a 2003 presentation to The Anderson School of Business, “You make more money selling advice than following it. It’s one of the things we count on in the magazine business – along with the short memory of our readers.”
And just how do investors do with all of the information available about how to pick the winners? Dalbar does an annual study of investor performance versus the indexes. Last year the average equity investor underperformed the S&P 500 by almost 4%. They were down 41.63% vs. a loss of 37.72% for the S&P. For the past 20 years (January, 1989- December, 2008) the average equity investor earned an annual return of 1.87% vs. the S&P 500 average annual return of 8.35%. On a $10,000 investment, this meant a difference of $35,240!
We cannot control the short term direction of the markets. However, if we focus on what we can control - our reaction to the market- our chance of success will be much greater. Author Nick Murray does a great job summing it up: “At the end of our investing lifetime, it won’t matter what your funds did, it’ll matter what you did. And what you did will be a pure function of the quality of advice you got – from one caring, competent (advisor), and not from any number of magazines.”
By Chris Carleton, CFP(r)
It’s easy to look back after a huge market run-up or downturn and think that it was obvious. It then becomes even easier to base our future decisions on recent events, by supporting our gut feeling by selectively looking at information that supports our opinion. We are constantly barraged with headlines that play to our emotions. The media loves to use current events to forecast the future. They want to create headlines that sell magazines or attract viewers, not create successful investors.
Steve Forbes said in a 2003 presentation to The Anderson School of Business, “You make more money selling advice than following it. It’s one of the things we count on in the magazine business – along with the short memory of our readers.”
And just how do investors do with all of the information available about how to pick the winners? Dalbar does an annual study of investor performance versus the indexes. Last year the average equity investor underperformed the S&P 500 by almost 4%. They were down 41.63% vs. a loss of 37.72% for the S&P. For the past 20 years (January, 1989- December, 2008) the average equity investor earned an annual return of 1.87% vs. the S&P 500 average annual return of 8.35%. On a $10,000 investment, this meant a difference of $35,240!
We cannot control the short term direction of the markets. However, if we focus on what we can control - our reaction to the market- our chance of success will be much greater. Author Nick Murray does a great job summing it up: “At the end of our investing lifetime, it won’t matter what your funds did, it’ll matter what you did. And what you did will be a pure function of the quality of advice you got – from one caring, competent (advisor), and not from any number of magazines.”
By Chris Carleton, CFP(r)
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Top 3 Ways to Guard Your Cards; Crunching the Numbers on Credit Card Legislation
The Credit Card Accountability Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 goes into effect February 2010, but changes are being made by card companies that might impact you today, even if you have great credit. Here’s what you should do to protect yourself:
1. Keep total charges below 20% of available credit. For example, if you have one card with a $5,000 limit and you charge over $2,500 each month to take advantage of the rewards points, it will negatively impact your credit score, even if you pay your bills in full each month. This factor makes up 30% of your credit or FICO score. To prevent this, consider using more than one card. Lenders are watching this ratio as a risk factor and using it as a reason to lower the total credit line for some cardholders. This creates a vicious cycle because a lower credit line increases your total ratio, which then further lowers your FICO score.
2. Keep your cards from being cancelled. Card companies are closing accounts that are inactive to limit their potential risk and expenses. This hurts you in two ways. If it is a card that you’ve had for many years, closing it will have a negative impact on your credit rating, since 15% of your FICO score is based on your credit history. The longer your history, the better. It will also increase the ratio of how much you owe to your total available credit and make it more difficult to keep below that 20% target. To keep your cards from being cancelled use them at least once every 3 to 6 months. Putting a revolving monthly charge on your lesser used cards is an ideal way of preventing cancellation.
3. Read all those boring mailings you receive from your card companies. In the past they were usually privacy statements or other dry material, but lately they have included notices on rate hikes, additional fees, changes in billing cycles, grace periods and other items that impact you. If you don’t know the billing cycle has changed and it causes you to be late, it will impact your credit score for up to a year. Your payment history is 35% of your score – the biggest factor. If they hike your rate and you have a credit score of 730 or above (the range is 300 to 850) consider looking for a lower rate card on http://www.bankrate.com/ or http://www.cardratings.com/ where there is still plenty of competition for your business.
If you aren’t in the market for new credit, you should still check your credit report for errors or suspicious activity on your accounts. You can do that by going to http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ to obtain a free report. You are entitled to one from each credit bureau every 12 months, and if you find a mistake on your report you can follow the instructions on the credit bureau’s website to get it corrected. Correcting mistakes can make a significant positive impact on your score.
It is crucial in this time of significant change to the financial sector to take an active role in protecting your all important credit score. By taking these simple steps, you will be well on your way.
By Jeannette Jones, CPA, CFP®
jjones@taaginc.com
1. Keep total charges below 20% of available credit. For example, if you have one card with a $5,000 limit and you charge over $2,500 each month to take advantage of the rewards points, it will negatively impact your credit score, even if you pay your bills in full each month. This factor makes up 30% of your credit or FICO score. To prevent this, consider using more than one card. Lenders are watching this ratio as a risk factor and using it as a reason to lower the total credit line for some cardholders. This creates a vicious cycle because a lower credit line increases your total ratio, which then further lowers your FICO score.
2. Keep your cards from being cancelled. Card companies are closing accounts that are inactive to limit their potential risk and expenses. This hurts you in two ways. If it is a card that you’ve had for many years, closing it will have a negative impact on your credit rating, since 15% of your FICO score is based on your credit history. The longer your history, the better. It will also increase the ratio of how much you owe to your total available credit and make it more difficult to keep below that 20% target. To keep your cards from being cancelled use them at least once every 3 to 6 months. Putting a revolving monthly charge on your lesser used cards is an ideal way of preventing cancellation.
3. Read all those boring mailings you receive from your card companies. In the past they were usually privacy statements or other dry material, but lately they have included notices on rate hikes, additional fees, changes in billing cycles, grace periods and other items that impact you. If you don’t know the billing cycle has changed and it causes you to be late, it will impact your credit score for up to a year. Your payment history is 35% of your score – the biggest factor. If they hike your rate and you have a credit score of 730 or above (the range is 300 to 850) consider looking for a lower rate card on http://www.bankrate.com/ or http://www.cardratings.com/ where there is still plenty of competition for your business.
If you aren’t in the market for new credit, you should still check your credit report for errors or suspicious activity on your accounts. You can do that by going to http://www.annualcreditreport.com/ to obtain a free report. You are entitled to one from each credit bureau every 12 months, and if you find a mistake on your report you can follow the instructions on the credit bureau’s website to get it corrected. Correcting mistakes can make a significant positive impact on your score.
It is crucial in this time of significant change to the financial sector to take an active role in protecting your all important credit score. By taking these simple steps, you will be well on your way.
By Jeannette Jones, CPA, CFP®
jjones@taaginc.com
Tuesday, September 8, 2009
Counting to 10
One of George Santayana’s most famous, and misquoted, sayings is “Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.”
The biggest regret we face from the recent downturn is failing to learn anything as it passes. That is not to say we can avoid another downturn, as surely another bout of greed will come along and create another bubble that will subsequently burst, but perhaps we can at least take away a few ideas that might generate some smarter investment decisions down the road.
A footnote to an article by Dayana Yochim for Yahoo! Finance this month mentions that she regulates herself with a three-day waiting period before making any major money decision. Long a means of gun control and a common rule to waiting to call for a second date, there is no doubt this cooling off period could also be a great tool in governing personal finance on several fronts.
The first is making knee jerk reactions in our portfolios. So many stories are starting to be told about those who finally reached their boiling points right as the market seems to have hit its trough back in March and sold a significant chunk of their equities at the lowest of their lows. While three days might not have saved everyone, certainly taking a breather and realizing this downturn’s place among a lifetime of investing ups and downs might have provided some additional reflection, and an opportunity to avoid selling out right before a historic upswing.
This helps on the upside as well. Greed is a powerful force in convincing investors to stay overweight or even buy more of a certain asset class when things are soaring and can’t possibly go down. If instead, that investor takes a few days to really think about times such as these, they might instead decide to take the respectable profits they have already achieved and buy into that lesser producing asset classes that, while not exciting anyone at the moment, are sure to impress down the road and keep the investor true to their original plan.
Lastly, just think what this waiting period could do for budgets. My wife and I were joking over the weekend that it seems all too easy for a quick trip to Costco for some paper towels and baby wipes to turn into a several hundred dollar shopping spree. By picking a certain dollar amount above which you will wait three days before making the final decision to buy, think of how many wasted purchases could be avoided.
A running theme in some of my past posts is that sometimes the best lessons are not those that induce sweeping reform or dramatic differences in outlook on how we do things. Major changes are rarely sustainable over time. It is instead those lessons that result in small, balanced tweaks to our behavior that can truly have the most impact over time. Don’t agree with me? Take a deep breath, wait, and then decide.
By Chip Workman
cworkman@taaginc.com
The biggest regret we face from the recent downturn is failing to learn anything as it passes. That is not to say we can avoid another downturn, as surely another bout of greed will come along and create another bubble that will subsequently burst, but perhaps we can at least take away a few ideas that might generate some smarter investment decisions down the road.
A footnote to an article by Dayana Yochim for Yahoo! Finance this month mentions that she regulates herself with a three-day waiting period before making any major money decision. Long a means of gun control and a common rule to waiting to call for a second date, there is no doubt this cooling off period could also be a great tool in governing personal finance on several fronts.
The first is making knee jerk reactions in our portfolios. So many stories are starting to be told about those who finally reached their boiling points right as the market seems to have hit its trough back in March and sold a significant chunk of their equities at the lowest of their lows. While three days might not have saved everyone, certainly taking a breather and realizing this downturn’s place among a lifetime of investing ups and downs might have provided some additional reflection, and an opportunity to avoid selling out right before a historic upswing.
This helps on the upside as well. Greed is a powerful force in convincing investors to stay overweight or even buy more of a certain asset class when things are soaring and can’t possibly go down. If instead, that investor takes a few days to really think about times such as these, they might instead decide to take the respectable profits they have already achieved and buy into that lesser producing asset classes that, while not exciting anyone at the moment, are sure to impress down the road and keep the investor true to their original plan.
Lastly, just think what this waiting period could do for budgets. My wife and I were joking over the weekend that it seems all too easy for a quick trip to Costco for some paper towels and baby wipes to turn into a several hundred dollar shopping spree. By picking a certain dollar amount above which you will wait three days before making the final decision to buy, think of how many wasted purchases could be avoided.
A running theme in some of my past posts is that sometimes the best lessons are not those that induce sweeping reform or dramatic differences in outlook on how we do things. Major changes are rarely sustainable over time. It is instead those lessons that result in small, balanced tweaks to our behavior that can truly have the most impact over time. Don’t agree with me? Take a deep breath, wait, and then decide.
By Chip Workman
cworkman@taaginc.com
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