Let’s be candid, life feels a bit crazy right now with all of this (waving vaguely in all directions) going on. I’m not going to get into specifics here, but I’m sure you know what I mean.
“All of this” can cause a lot of stress in your life and can cause genuine concern for your financial situation. And it can make you feel pretty powerless when you’re dealing with large government entities that are in flux.
How to Control Your Financial Information in the Face of Uncertainty
Not knowing what will happen once the dust settles can be terrifying. That’s especially true if you rely on any government agency for income or resources. Or owe money to the IRS or for student loans. All of this drama feeds uncertainty and insecurity
But there are things you can do to take control over your financial information and security. Some of these actions make sense no matter what’s going on., Others are specifically related to “all of this.”
And all 8 actions will help you secure your finances and your personal data no matter what happens next.
Action #1: Download All of Your Government-Related Information
Every American has some of their information on one government database or another. And right now, that data is being gone through. Some of it may be inadvertently changed or lost. So you need to grab your info right now.
Plus if a federal website gets shut down, you won’t have easy access to your information any longer.
Download hard copies of all of your current financial information onto a private physical device, like an external hard drive or thumb drive, from the following agencies:
- Social Security Administration
- IRS
- Department of Education (if you have student loans)
- Medicare
- Medicaid or through your state’s Health Connection website
- Your Secretary of State’s office (If you pay sales or business taxes)
Don’t put this information on cloud storage because that can disappear and it can be easily hacked. Printing copies and putting them in an old-fashioned file folder can work too.
This will mean any future payments (in or out) will not be recorded in these files, but at least you’ll have some record of what was accurate on a specific date if you ever need to refer to this information because of a data breach, the department being shut down, or a dispute over your information.
Action #2: Reduce Your Withholding If You Normally Get a Tax Refund Greater Than $250
When you get a refund, it means you paid too much in taxes, giving an interest-free loan to the federal government. With cuts to the IRS, tax return processing could slow to an even slower crawl. And that means you may not get that refund for a very long time.
Don’t give the government extra money that you could be using every month to pay your bills. You should be the one who has that money in your bank account, where it will earn interest for you. Or use it to pay down credit card bills and save credit card interest.
More importantly, you won’t be out that money if refunds get stopped or stalled.
All it takes to do this is to request a new Form W4 from your employer and fill it out. Whatever your current W4 says, change it to reduce the amount of taxes getting withheld from your paycheck.
Action #3: Create a Taxes-Only Bank Account
Right now, we don’t know who has access to our tax return info – and that includes your personal banking information if you’ve gotten a refund by direct deposit or paid by direct withdrawal. Data breaches happen all the time. And the best way to protect your money is to isolate it.
Set up a separate savings account that you only use to pay or receive tax payments from the government. Keep the absolute minimum amount your bank requires in that account and only transfer money in when you have to pay taxes. Transfer money out as soon as you receive it.
This will at least minimize damage if hackers get a hold of sensitive federal government data and it will prevent the government from taking anything that is not owed to it without legal recourse.
Action #4: Put a Credit Freeze on All 3 Credit Bureaus
This will stop anyone, legitimate or not, from opening any accounts in your name.
The main goal is to prevent accounts from being opened fraudulently. This includes credit card accounts and loans.
It will also stop any bank or credit card company from accessing your credit score if you try to open an account. But that’s a minor inconvenience that can resolved in a flash. You can put a temporary lift or “thaw” on your credit score when you are legitimately applying for a new account so that organization can see your credit score and history.
A credit freeze is free. Each credit bureau has its own process and you’ll have to create a free account to do this in some cases. They may also try to offer you paid products like identity theft and fraud protection. You do not need to purchase these to freeze your credit information.
Links to credit freeze information for all three credit bureaus are below.
Action #5: Stop Non-Essential Spending As Much As Possible
Non-essential spending drains your resources without adding value to your life. I am not talking about your daily latte here – that counts as essential in my world.
I’m talking about things like subscriptions you don’t use, the gym you haven’t been to for six months, the craft supplies you keep buying because you mean to use them (I have so much yarn. So. Much.)
Look at all of your monthly outgoing expenditures and cancel whatever you’re not actually using. Stop buying things you don’t really want or need.
This will keep more money in your pocket and help you save for emergencies. Speaking of which…
Action #6: Beef Up Your Emergency Fund As Much As You Can
I know you hear this all the time. You may even be sick of hearing it. I mean, how are you supposed to save money when eggs cost $12, your utility bill is twice as much as last year, and everything is just so expensive?
But if our economy implodes entirely or if your car blows a tire/cat gets sick/roof starts leaking, you’ll be so glad you have this cash reserve.
You don’t have to put in a huge amount. Any amount is better than nothing. Even $5 a week will help. Even if you can’t do it every week.
As this account grows, you’ll have the comfort of knowing you’ve got something to fall back on if something unexpected crops up. When it crops up. Because it will.
Action #7: Add Multi-Factor Authentication to EVERYTHING
And yes, I mean EVERYTHING or at least everything that involves your financial information.
When you consider that the majority of your memberships, bills, subscriptions, and other logins involve your financial information in some way… well… set it up on EVERYTHING.
If you’re offered the chance to add Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to an account do it.
Yes, it does mean having an authenticator app on your phone or waiting for a text or email to come through with a code to log into an account.
But if a few minutes of your time is traded for the safety of knowing someone unknown is logging into your account and gaining access to your financial information, that is time well spent in my opinion.
If you aren’t obnoxiously offered the chance to add MFA every time you log into a site (and if you are, say yes and set it up ASAP) you should be able to find it in your account settings, usually under login, password, or privacy.
Seriously, set this up. It may feel like an extra step or three, but I know plenty of people who have avoided having their accounts hacked because they have this extra step set up for their protection.
It may be a hassle, but it is the easiest way to control your financial information and it’s free. What’s more, these companies want you to do it! Help them help you.
Action #8: Call Your Congressional Representatives Regularly
I don’t normally get super political here. But the way things stand, I have to.
There is a lot going on in politics right now and some of it will affect your personal financial situation. You may not see that right away. But you will.
Things like groceries and gas will probably get even more expensive. Any support you’ve been counting on – disability, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid – may shrink or disappear, hopefully just temporarily. Times are uncertain. And there’s a lot beyond our control.
But this is something you can do.
Your congressional (federal) and legislative (state) representatives need to hear from you! You may think, “well, I voted for them so they know what I think.” Yes, you did and yes, they do. But you also need to remind them of this. Regularly. And especially when you don’t like what’s going on.
Calling your representatives does 2 very important things:
- It makes sure that your voice is heard so they know what you care about and how you want them to stand up for you.
- It gives that representative hard data to lean on when they say, “This is what my constituents want.”
The 5 Calls App makes this process really easy. It supplies your representatives’ names and office phone numbers, and even a short script to read when you call, based on whatever issue you’re calling about.
We are in this together. And we’ll get through by supporting each other and making our voices heard.
You Aren’t Powerless! Take Action to Control Your Financial Information
All of these actions are important to take, easy to do, and won’t suck up too much of your time.
If the more involved ones, like downloading your financial information from government websites or going through your monthly expenditures feel overwhelming, set a timer for 20 minutes and get as much done as you can. Then do it again the next day, and the next, until you’re done.
I know “all of this” can feel terrifying, but we will get through this. Together.
I just want to see that you get through it in the best situation possible for your finances.
If you have questions, please contact me. I am always happy to help.
I will say that I am not currently taking on additional clients, but if I can answer your questions or point you in the right direction for the resources you need, I absolutely will.
As I said, we’re all in this together. The only way we’ll get through it is by supporting each other.