I went ahead and followed the advice to freeze my credit score as a result of the Equifax data breach in August. Barbara O’Neill, an extension colleague at Rutgers University, posted a blog recently highlighting step-by-step credit freeze information(PDF)Links to a PDF document.. I found the suggestions in this blog helpful and I thought I’d […]
Money
Halloween: Financial Horror or Financial Fun?
It’s predicted that more than 179 million Americans will take part in Halloween festivities this year, up from 171 million last year. Spending is slated to reach a record high dollar amount of $9.1 billion, up from $8.4 billion in 2016. Halloween has increased in popularity so much that it is beginning to rival holidays […]
Protecting Yourself in the Face of a Data Breach
During mid-May through July of 2017, 143 million Americans were victims of a data breach at Equifax, a major credit reporting agency. In this data breach, sensitive information such as names, addresses, Social Security numbers, birth dates, and in some case credit card information were among the data accessed by hackers. If you were one […]
Competing with Yourself—Challenges Save You $$
I have always been a competitive person. What I have found over the years is that being competitive grants me certain advantages. For example, people who are competitive typically persevere until they reach their desired goals and don’t give up easily. Yet being competitive also has its disadvantages. Always doing, being, having, studying, and/or attempting […]
Working in the “Retirement Years”
By 2020, one in four American workers will be over the age of 55 and as the Baby Boomer generation continues to age into their retirement years, not working is becoming more a developmental process than an abrupt event. A recent Pew Research Center analysis of federal employment data reported that in May of 2000, […]
Credit score basics
When teaching my undergraduate course in family financial management at OSU, I explain the role of credit scores in several class sessions. It is a key component of consumer credit decisions in general, car purchases, home purchases, and in making employment decisions. These lessons always remind me of the important role of credit scores in […]