Money Talks Blog by Oxford Planning Group

So, what is "Focused on Your Tomorrows " about?  Some of the greatest satisfaction I receive from being a financial planner is helping my clients free up their time to enjoy their daily lives.  This includes helping them navigate financial decisions as they move toward retirement, grow and exit their businesses, help their children fund college and in helping their parents as they begin to need more help.  Life is full of surprises and having Oxford Planning Group in their corner allows our clients to focus on what they enjoy most every day.  

At Oxford, we make financial planning a focus and an ongoing process.  A good financial plan should not sit on the shelf.  We build your investment portfolio around your financial planning needs.  We consider your time frames, risk tolerance and money values in building and monitoring the best investment portfolio to meet your goals.  At Oxford Planning Group, we help to coordinate with your other professionals. These can include your accountant, your attorney, insurance agents and others that arise from time to time.

In short, we help to simplify the complicated, manage areas where our clients would prefer less involvement and help give back time to our clients so they can enjoy each day.  So, who is "Focused on Your Tomorrows"? 

143 million

That’s the number of people estimated to be affected by the recent Equifax data breach.  With so much information, do you wonder which way to turn?  The daily stories are alarming, lengthy and can be confusing. Sadly, government and businesses are moving as fast as possible to protect data, but criminals are often moving just as fast.  To be safer, its best to be vigilant in protecting your data.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) website www.ftc.gov is a very good resource for unbiased information.   Considering a fraud alert or credit freeze is a question on most everyone’s mind.  Which is best for you personally?   The FTC post here :  https://www.consumer.ftc.gov/blog/2017/09/fraud-alert-or-credit-freeze-which-right-you  explains the differences and the steps needed to do both.  As with all security measures, there are offsets between convenience and security (if it’s convenient, it’s usually not as secure!).  

The truth is that there is no way to be 100% secure. Having said that, there are many things you can do to greatly decrease your chances of having your identification and cyber security breached.

Fraud attempts using malware are on the rise. These can include pop ups on your web browser and emails you receive. Fraudsters are creative and are constantly finding new ways to gain access to your information.

Some of the strongest defenses to detect and prevent fraud include:

· Regularly monitor Alerts and be aware of unusual activity, and especially transactions that appear suspicious.

· When contacting your credit card company, always call the number on the back of your credit card and never respond to numbers provided on your voice mail or other message system. This is a common method used by fraudsters to get you to call them and give your personal information.

· Avoid opening links and attachments, or downloading programs from unknown sources.

For example: LinkedIn sends periodic messages and notifications– never click the link - even if you are member. Close the message, open your browser and log in to that website.

· Refrain from using the public Wi-Fi available in hotels, restaurants, airports, coffee shops or libraries, especially to conduct business or logging into personal information such as banking.

· Keep your operating system up-to-date and run frequent virus scans (have them run automatically with the latest malware and anti-virus software).

· Use a firewall.

The best security means layers. The best security also means less convenience – there is a trade-off and you must find the right balance. But in the end, so worth it!