$ Strategies: the Keep

I plug every hole I see but sometimes there are holes I cannot; so, I take the extreme measure of building a credit-keep: an impenetrable fortress of security, buried deep in my fortified city.

Credit-rating agencies are the keepers of the rivers of commerce; credit flows. By default, our credit is open. With the right information, signatures, verifications, and paperwork credit lines are established through these three agencies. What does Identity Theft really mean? Money. I define Identity Theft as the moment someone has convinced these agencies that they are me. If someone is slick enough to slide the right information past the right sentinels of commerce, these agencies will have no choice but to accept the debt on our behalf. The trick is to dismiss the guards and close the gate.

And there are many guards, many for-profit companies eager to provide the monitoring necessary to protect your open credit. For a monthly fee, they will scan the universe for intruders. But is this money well-spent? In a word, 'no.' You will pay these agencies to protect you from something that you can do much better for yourself at a minimal cost with a maximum benefit. For anyone willing to put a little effort into their financial health, credit-monitoring is a scam. How? Simple: a credit-lock.

Let me say that this solution is not for everyone, all of the time. That said, this solution is for anyone willing to fortify their credit. But it requires work and discipline. You must open and close your credit with planning and intention. It also costs money, not much but some. It's easy to use, and secures us against the greatest risk: unknown, unauthorized credit lines. The process is relatively simple. You sign up at each of the agencies. You request a lock on your credit, pay the fee, and create a password. Then, when you want to open your credit for some perspective creditor to view, you create a temporary lift of the lock and pay that same fee again. This means that if you want to open a new credit-card, buy a house, or a car, you will have to plan for it.

Although it takes effort, a credit-lock insures our exposure is vastly limited. Having to intentionally use our credit means we considered new lines more closely. I highly recommend it. Then again, if new lines of credit is critical to your long-term business strategy, maybe this isn't for you. In that case, you could do worse than to pay the right people to monitor your credit. But come on, if you're wealthy enough to be opening and closing accounts regularly, you've got people whose sole job is to take care of that. The effort it takes to live with a credit-lock is how the rest of us remain bulletproof.

Donald Chump Treasure

The basic question when it comes to 'The Donald' and his run is whether the Office fits. Please.

His candidacy has always been about the luxurious nature of his candidacy. His singular message encompasses many traditional GOP points of view, including the Putinesque strongman image of the 'Doer.' Doesn't matter the problem, he knows the guy. The Donald gets it done. For every question, he has no other answer: the Donald's a Doer. He loves everyone, everyone loves him, and he knows what's best. The shinny, golden, god-like level of the Chump's narcissism is not run-of-the-mill.

No, it's the best, most classy, luxurious, highest quality in Town. He sets the bar.

Although there would be no greater Democratic gift than his nomination, Donald's Treasure is for the GOP. His candidacy represents an opportunity to pivot. Over the next year, the bashing of the Chump's 19^th century's views will allow this party to redefine itself and finally join the 21^st century. The Donald raises many issues worth discussing: immigration, healthcare, women's rights, and the legitimacy of Obama's “official birth-certificate.” Okay, not the last one; that's more of an example of this pivot-point. The value of The Donald is the distance the GOP can run from him. This distance is directly proportional to their remaining relevance. Run Republicans run.

Why is he so popular right now? Because it's right now. Activists are the only ones engaged at this point and they love him. Let's hope more than the GOP candidates challenge his message. What would be really nice is if the other side seizes this opportunity for real dialogue. Then both sides can come together for a single purpose:

Pile-on the Chump!

May the truth of this Treasure be the moment the GOP has a real conversation with the American People.

Their failure insures their status as the inevitable third-party.

$ Strategies: The Fortified City of Wealth

The best financial defense is your effort: spend time; remain alert, proactive; monitor exposure. Keeping the avenues of commerce open while avoiding obstruction is a balancing act. As Sun-Tzu might say, 'though a general does not lose, it does not mean he wins.' Victory does not simply come from a good offense but requires a solid defense. Sun-Tzu warns the invader to consider the great cost when attacking a fortified city. Financially speaking, we can vastly limit our exposure and create that fortified city of wealth.

A simple example of a great defensive habit is to log-out. Why should I make the effort if the system will automatically deactivate access to my account after being idle for a specific interval? Fair point. For the most part, that protects most of us most of the time. If being secure most of the time is good enough for you, then why worry? For me, I'm concerned about those moments when automation fails. I close each secure session every time. The second a system is hacked sufficiently, all open accounts become targets. Anyone with the bad luck of being connected to a breached system's core runs the risk of exposure. During this time, the system's security will find it challenging to detect your absence when the hackers raid and manipulate your information. Because you did n

ot log-out, their activity appears as your activity. It takes so little effort to click the link. That's why it's there. Use it.

A tight ship does not leak. Any hard-copy with my personal data is stored or burned. Period. One thing we control is what comes out of our homes. We can toss our junk mail out; we can be lazy and fail to go through it. On the other hand, we can imagine the many pieces to the Identity Theft puzzle. Junk-mail constitutes a few. Credit-card offers are a prize, like a game-piece ready for play. Denying any single avenue makes theft difficult for thieves; denying all of them makes it impossible for anyone. I choose to burn; others prefer to shred. Ashes, when scattered, are not as easily reconstituted as bits of paper. Maybe some alien, quantum magic exist out there where spread ashes can be reincarnated. I guess I'll take my chances. What I am not willing to take a chance on is shredding.

Of course, large-scale shredding that is directly recycled is perfectly safe for industry. But it's different when it comes to my limited, personal information. I plug every hole I see.