A close relative of mine just sent me this email:

Gotta love my bank . . .

I went online to check my bill and I see nothing there about me ever having a credit card…

As i’m looking around I notice I have an “email” from bank of America with a new credit card number…umm…WHAT!??!

So I call them…she said it has been “compromised or your card is lost or stolen.” I said umm I have it in my hand…it’s not stolen…she said, well sir mail has been sent to you regarding why this was done…I don’t have any info.”

i called back 5 min later and someone much more helpful said It’s not just me, its thousands of people. Apparently some store I shopped at (could have been a month ago or 4 years ago) got hacked and all their credit card numbers have been stolen. So they closed everyones accounts down and sent out new cards…my card that I have right now will still work till I get the new one.

This is all fine and dandy…but don’t you think they should have called?!?!?!

So no one knows anything till I get something in the mail.

#     #     #

Who can be the first person to correctly identify the bank?

Who else is in the same shoes?  Should they call or at least email? Thoughts?

Of my top ten saving strategies is Number 4: Enjoy Free Stuff.

You: How can somebody do that?

Easy.  Just play on the swings or dance in the leaves.

You: Seriously?  I’m an adult.

Not going to lie to you – you might get some looks on the swing set.   Still, well worth it.  Or try something similar like going for a hike, visiting the beach, or taking a newspaper to the park.

You: Gotcha.

Yesterday, I re-discovered one of the best free activities in existence.

You: Re-discovered?

I chose that word because I forgot how much fun the activity was. I hadn’t done it since I was in high school.

You: Is it legal? Not sure I want to do anything I did in high school again.

It’s not like that.

You: What did you do?

I went sledding.

You: Really?

Yup. Took my girls sledding down a big hill at a nearby farm.  It’s in the early running for the memory of 2010.

You: Why?

Sledding is A LOT of fun.  Riding down a big hill with virtually no steering control knowing that the worst thing that could happen is a face full of snow is a blast.

Admission charge: zero dollars.

Sled price per use: Negligible, especially when you consider that it was really inexpensive to begin with and we’ll have it for two kids and several winters.

Seeing two little girls go from slight fear to daredevil status in less than an hour?

Priceless.

What can you do next weekend for very little money that you’ll remember for years to come?

As common as identity theft has become, I am amazed at the poor password practices of many people I interact with.

You: Because I use my significant other’s name as my password?

That’s one example.  But, at least according to this New York Times article, there are far more egregious examples.   When a hacker was able to get into a big web site and decided to post all the passwords, an analysis of the top passwords used featured obvious choices that could easily be guessed.

The number one most commonly used password?  See below:

• 123456

You: that seems like a pretty easy one to figure out.

I agree, but apparently people figured it was far safer than the second most commonly used password . . . wait for it:

• 12345

You: Not exactly a tough one.

No.

You: What else did people use?

Besides the incredibly sly password 123456789, the next most common password, and the first one to introduce the complexity that letters create was:

• password

You: Huh?

The most common password that uses letters was “password”.

You: Seriously?

Yes.  Also, Iloveyou.

You: Excuse me?

Iloveyou.

You: This is out of nowhere. I’m just reading your blog. . . I barely know who you are.  You’re making me uncomfortable.

Sorry, just reporting the news. The next most common password after password is “Iloveyou”.

You: Oh. I knew that.

I know.  It doesn’t get much prettier after that (although “princess” is a top 10 password too. My, how modest we all are.).

The analysis showed that 20% of all accounts could be opened by trying just 5,000 passwords. Those smart, yet evil, people with computers surely could figure out a way to try 5,000 passwords on your accounts in fairly short order.

The bottom line:

• “Password” ain’t no password.
• Don’t tell your bank that you love them (or at least not as a password).
• Your dog may be your best friend, but his name is a lousy password.

Also, don’t forget: nT09%9bUl2 is a damn good password.  But if it’s on a post-it note attached to your computer, it sucks.

Turns out Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck readers do like polls.

You: Was that an actual survey question?

No.

You: Then how do you know?

Based on the quantity of votes cast, some issues definitely get people energized to respond.  Here are some of the interesting results from the recent polls.

• While only 10% of you use cash for most of your daily spending, 67% of you use debit cards. Since I’ve always considered debit cards the second-best choice behind cash, that’s promising. Only 23% of you use credit cards for your daily spending, a percentage I’m confident is much lower than the population at large.

• By a 57% to 38% margin, you make financial New Year’s resolutions. I’ve never made new year’s resolutions because I don’t see the point in using a calendar to drive a new behavior. Nonetheless, as long as you can improve your financial habits, who cares what technique you use?

• More than half of you indicated that the majority of your retirement plan money is in your workplace retirement account. I was glad to see an even split between those who have more money in their Roth IRA vs. in their traditional IRA.  Some of you are taking advantage of tax-free growth at an early age.  Most surprising: Nearly 10% of you indicated that your retirement savings is either in “other” or in a taxable account.   Most disappointing: 8% of you haven’t started saving for retirement yet.  Most promising: you’re way ahead of the nation at large and 8% of you will be starting soon, right?

• Nearly 2/3 (64%) of readers responded that they had three months or less saved in an emergency fund. Are you in that group? If so, check out my top ten saving strategies for tips to increase your savings rapidly without any significant pain.  On the other hand, nearly 20% of you have more than the standard financial planner recommendation of three to six months.  Yet, in this economy, I can appreciate your increased conservatism, especially if you’re in one of the many affected industries.

• You’re an optimistic group of investors. Not a single poll respondent expects the S&P 500 to lose more than 5% in 2010.    Yet, 67% of you think the market will increase by more than 5%.  (I hope you’re right, but I’d give you only 50-50 odds.)

• You’re more likely to over-spend on services than on goods by a margin of 29% to 24%.  Me too (and I didn’t vote).    More people indicated their spouse (14%) was too expensive for their income than was their house (7%).  I wonder who picked out their home.

What surprised you?  What question would you like to poll the Beyond Paycheck to Paycheck readership?

Sorry I’ve been a bit out of touch lately.  Lots of exciting things going on, plus the holidays and end of year tax fun.  Fortunately, I’ve got a vacation coming up shortly.  So, between work and pleasure, the time on the blog is rather limited at the moment.

Want to help?

You: Me?

Yes.

You: I don’t want to write your blog. It’s your blog.

Well I don’t want you to write my blog.

You: Why not?

You just told me you didn’t want to write it.

You: That’s when I thought you were going to ask me to.

But now that I’m not asking you, you want to do it?

You: That’s not what I said.

But it is what you implied.

You:  Maybe.

This is starting to feel like what I imagine the Congressional subcommittees on health care reform must sound like.

You: Scary.  So how can I help?

I’m going to create and share a series of polls over the next several days.  If you could take a second to answer them (and comment, if so moved), I’d appreciate it.  When I get the chance to dig out, I’ll share the results and try to decipher what it all means.

Here’s the first poll: