Sometimes, we listen to what’s going on in the world and we want to help. We want to help make all that bad stuff better. We want to aid and soothe and comfort and be a part of helping people and families who – Obviously! – Desperately need it.
Oh, sure, some of us may be in a position to help: personally, financially, by participating in an effort, with a group, etc – But some of us can’t. We can whisper to whomever we believe watches over us, if we believe that at all but, often, that’s about it – And that can get…depressing. So we sit and worry and wish we could.
Well, not taking care of ourselves won’t help take care of them, so let’s try to lighten-up and do what we can do for ourselves or people we care about, huh? So, a little this-and that:
Since more and more of us are inching our way toward Social Security eligibility (Yup: Boomers! The rest of us can just smile and nod), I’m hearing that more and more of us need to know how that little vehicle works. One of the best and easiest ways to get your foot into that territory is to go to www.socialsecurity.gov/myaccount/ and just take a minute.
What you can do is set up your own personalized online “account” that will let you see your earnings history and/or payment history or access a benefit verification letter. You want to see your earnings history because, if there’s a mistake, you only have three years to fix it! And your Social Security benefit is calculated on your earnings, get it?
If you do this, take a couple more minutes and just cruise the Social Security web site. You can learn an awful lot about how it all works pretty quickly – Get a lot of questions answered and do a lot of stuff (like play with “what if” scenarios)! And you could actually apply for Social Security on the spot (well, on the site), so, get a friendly beverage, sit down, take your time, set up your account and see what you think.
For others of us who are feeling smug because we’ve already managed to navigate our way into Social Security, consider setting up an account, anyway. Why? Well, did you see the part above where I said you could get an official, personalized “benefit verification letter?” That’s a very handy thing to have if you’re applying for a loan or a mortgage or housing or or or…
Here’s another: I’ve got a buddy who has cataracts, and they’re getting worse; yes, she’s going to have that addressed, but the immediate problem was the fact that it was almost impossible for her to drive after dark.
Yes, I know that a lot of us aren’t too crazy about that particular undertaking, but this was unusually difficult. One thing led to another, and the next time she took her car in for an oil change, she asked them to look at her headlights. They “polished” her plastic headlight covers, and VOILA! She could see the fog lines!
It’s not an excuse to avoid dealing with the cataracts, but HEY! Help is where you find it.
One more (…sigh…), and it’s another thing to be wary about. Do you know what “RFID” stands for? I didn’t, either – It stands for “radio frequency identification.” It’s the technology that allows us to wave our credit card or license or passport or whatever in the general direction of a scanner instead of having to submit to the overwhelming effort and indignity of actually having to slide the magnetic strip through a machine; so, the scanner picks up said signal and we can proceed triumphantly, having saved ourselves 25 seconds.
And more and more credit cards, etc. are coming to us with this embedded capability, whether we asked for it or not – Oh… goody.
Well, it seems that (once again) tech has trumped tech, so now the bad guys just go out and buy a card reader for $100 or so, and walk around picking up all your cards’ “pings,” which means they now have all your info and can proceed – Triumphantly! – On their way to be you. Think, “ID theft.”
What can you do? Well, you can keep said cards, etc wrapped up in aluminum foil, and try to explain that to friends and family, or you can purchase a “sleeve” or a “badgeholder” or a wallet or whatnot that will shield said cards. Some friends tell me that this actually happened to a gal in little old Sequim, so our non-urban environment may not protect us from the ravages of progress.
Be warned.
I suppose another thing we could do would be to insist on paying for everything with actual money and risk toppling what’s left of the economy but appreciate the entertainment value associated with watching people attempt to make change when they’ve never touched money in their high-tech lives!
Or, I suppose we could veil all of our cards in aluminum foil, put them inside our aluminum foil hats and present ourselves at the bank or the airport or church, pinging our way to fashion immortality…
…and prompt institutionalization.
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