Safety is also a word often used to imply security. And many times we feel secure because there is no information to tell us otherwise. That doesn’t mean that we can’t be more secure. Lately, I’ve been thinking about steps and actions that might improve my security, or my safety when it comes to finances. Some are the ones I have been using myself, and others are only more recently coming to mind.

1. Account security. Online banking is great. But how secure is your account? Do you change passwords regularly? Do you use easy to determine passwords? Do you use a common password for most of your accounts or logins? I have had some sort of palm or smartphone device for years, and when I lost one in an airport, I had to set about changing all my passwords, because there was an outside chance someone could crack my password file, and thus get all my passwords. I realized then how weak my plan was. Now I still keep a file on my phone, but it has a password that you couldn’t guess before the file auto-destructs. And all my financial accounts not only have tough passwords, but they have different user names.  Overall, I feel pretty secure.
2. Auto financing. Most people understand that they typical new car loses value when you drive it off the lot. Depending on how much you put down on a car, you may owe more on the car than its re-sale value for the first  two to three years of ownership.  I have a Ford Focus philosophy about cars. What is the least I can spend on a car that is sufficient for my commuting and traveling needs? Keep it maintained, and plan to drive it for 10 years (or longer), and you end of with a pretty good value. I can afford a much nicer car, at least in terms of current cash flow, but every extra dollar I spend now is one I am not saving for retirement.
3. Every extra dollar I spend now is one I am not saving for retirement. Yeah, I know I just said that, but when I consider the implications on my various monthly services – internet, cable, phone, wireless, lawn care, heat, electricity, water, trash removal – I am sure that I could pare those down a bit, and maybe work one or two months less than if I spend at the level I do today.  Spending less now equals more financial security – if I do the right thing with my saved money.
4. Consider the size of your house and mortgage. For me, these two have been increasing through 6 moves over many years. Thirty years of home ownership, and I currently have 24 years left on my mortgage. It doesn’t have to be that way. Its an old paradigm. My wife hit me with this one last week with one question: Why did we buy the house we live in today? I knew the answers, and every one of those answers no longer matter. We have fewer people in the house, we have no interest in the schools, and we have more rooms than we need. Yes, I can continue to live here and pay the mortgage and build equity, or we can find a smaller house that fits our current need, go to a mortgage that is half the size of the current one, and be paid off in 7 years. Not as much equity, but now I can save the money I was paying each month, and not one dollar of that goes to someone’s interest earnings on the money they loaned me.
5. Diversify. We all hear this, and it makes sense, but you need to pay attention to it carefully. Not all savings in one bank, not all investments in one stock. Life expectancy is increasing, spending power of dollars weakens over time, and social security just might not be accurately named – at least the “security” part.
6. Prepare for college, or raise your children to know exactly how they can get college paid for. Here in Georgia, my youngest is benefiting from the lottery in the form of a college scholarship. That means he can use what he and we saved for graduate school, which he will likely consider. There are all kinds of approaches today from 529 plans to pre-paid tuition. Understand the options, and don’t wait too long to decide what your approach as a parent will be.
7. Kick the gadget habit. “I don’t need an iPad, I don’t need an iPad…..”

There are many other important purchases and income opportunities that help define our financial safety. You are in control, every day. Do you have a particularly smart strategy for improving your financial security and safety?

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there.

Anna at abdpbt is responsible for the effort to Fight Listless Mondays. Find other list links on her blog. Her lists and the others linked there always give you something to think about, and may even make you smile!

Long before everyone had color televisions, video games and personal music players, we amused ourselves with traditional toys. Well, maybe they weren’t all traditional, but they were fun! Even with all our progress, many games and toys from my childhood are still popular today. But there are a few from Christmases past that have gone away, some for safety reasons.

1. The Sonic Blaster. This was probably my most favorite unsafe toy of all time. There was a pump handle that you were instructed to pump “no more than 8 times”, which was of course an invitation to pump until you couldn’t anymore. When you pulled the trigger, it let out all that compressed air which echoed through its long chamber in the coolest “BOOM” you ever heard. We once set a lit candle at the bottom of the basement stairs, and then blew it out with the blaster. We had ours taken away when my parents found the burnt paper plates we were lighting and blowing out like we were skeet shooting. Mattel took it off the market due to the damage it caused ear drums. Not the sound, but having it blown at the side of your head.
2. Mr. Kelly’s Car Wash.  Nothing unsafe, just boring. We started looking for inventive uses that the toy was not designed for, which is never a good thing. Little plastic cars go through a motorized tunnel where they get squirted with water and dried with little sponges. Yipee. Perhaps its purpose was to motivate us to go to college, or to be Mr. Kelly and not one of his workers.
3. Thing Maker. This was like a Fry Daddy, only you filled it with plastic pellets. When they melted, you injected the mixture into molds to make your own “Things”. There were theme sets with bugs, army men, and other creatures. Anyone who had one got a burn mark or two.
4. Photo-Electric football. You had a set of papers that had plays drawn on them. Your opponent had defensive plays. You lay them both upside down on top of each other on a lite box, and slowly pull a slide out so the light would shine through the paper. If the Offensive play moved down field without touching a player’s dot on the defensive sheet, touchdown baby! Of course if the bulb burned out and you replaced it with one that was too much wattage, you burned the plastic screen that the plays are set on, and maybe even caught it on fire. Some halftime show.
5. Jarts. Need I say more?

Any toys you remember from your past that you probably wouldn’t let your kids get near?

May your holidays and gift-giving be safe, memorable, and trouble free.

Thanks, and let’s be careful out there.

Anna at abdpbt is responsible for the effort to Fight Listless Mondays. Find other list links on her blog. Her lists and the others linked there always give you something to think about, and may even make you smile!

So today’s run was 7 miles, and it’s the first time I’ve been out that long for months. I’ve got a long way to go to be ready for this late-January event, but if I follow the training I will do well.

I ended up with a fair amount of walking breaks today, and it was a good day to just see where my thoughts would take me. They took me to my Dad. He’s been gone for 15 years now, but still with me in so many ways. Since I worked in his factory through college, I’d like to think I got a lot of ideas for safety from him. Truthfully, I got a ton of ideas about life from him. Here are a few that I remembered today.

1. Too much of any one thing is not good for you. That’s so right about so many things. Too much food, too much exercise, too much work, to much play, too much money.  If you have enough that you can say it’s too much, it’s time to course correct somehow. If you happen to be in the “too much money” category, I might have a few ideas to help you out!
2. Be Careful. It was always the last thing he or my Mom said when we left the house. Whether we were teens early in our driving careers or adults visiting from wherever we lived at the time.
3. If we were all the same, we’d all be the same. He really said that, and it has stuck with me. I’m very involved with the diversity and inclusion efforts where I work, and this phrase makes me smile whenever I think of it.
4. Do as I say, not as I do. I think I only actually heard him say this once, but it was implied, especially in regard to swearing.
5. It’s just as easy to like a girl from the west side as it is to like a girl who is from the east side. I grew up in Cleveland, in the western suburbs, and ended up dating a girl who lived in an eastern suburb. It wasn’t a background issue, just a practicality of driving issue. I think I’m even more practical than him – I’ve told my boys that it’s just as easy to fall in love with a rich girl.
6. That’s enough for now. Good advice, and sort of goes with #1. We usually heard this after an afternoon of water skiing when he drove the boat. It’s also good advice for this post!

Do any of your parent’s sayings stay with you today?

And you know mine – Let’s be careful out there!

Anna at abdpbt is responsible for the effort to Fight Listless Mondays. Find other list links on her blog. Her lists and the others linked there always give you something to think about, and may even make you smile!

Last week we had a family wedding – the oldest of our two boys and his best friend, the love of his life. Matt and Kellie had a great time in the weeks, days and hours leading up to the main event, and they had a fabulous honeymoon.

For the rest of us, it has been as hectic as my old theater days. I took time off from work to accommodate the many tasks and airport trips that were involved. We had many family members stay with us off and on and served several group meals. The last guest left Sunday, the young couple’s beagle, who stayed with us while they went to St. Lucia.

As life gets back to some level of normalcy, I was thinking about things that need re-focus, that I need to pay attention to again to be my best.

1. Every trip to the store does not have to be fast. I am no longer in a rush, and taking my time is one of the most important things I can do to assure my safety – and my sanity.
2. I need to re-focus at work. I have earned lots of vacation time, but I rarely take more than a week at a time. This time I was off for nearly two full weeks, so a lot went on while I was gone. I work with a small team, so others carried a lot of work and were more than happy to get me back in the loop. I tried to minimize the stories of the wedding (unless they asked of course).
3. Exercise. I am way off plan for the year, and certainly for the last 4 weeks. Time to refocus and be fully prepared for an injury-free half marathon in October.
4. Food. The last of the leftovers are gone. Baked Ziti. Sausage, peppers and onions. Cakes. Chips. Time to eat smart again. I’m not even stepping on a scale for at least two weeks.
5. Taking care of the mother-of-the-groom. This was our second wedding, our daughter was married 6 years ago. I remember that following all the activity the lull was also sort of sad. What will we do now? Fortunately, I’ve got some ideas in mind.
6. My dog looks lonely. Not sure what to do about that.

Big life events are fun and exciting. But I think I’m looking forward to a period of normalcy.

Let’s be careful out there.

Anna at abdpbt is responsible for the effort to Fight Listless Mondays. Find other list links on her blog. Her lists are more clever. Lots.

Because I’ve had very few injuries in daily or routine activities, I rarely look at how to make my performance safer. With my son’s wedding this weekend, I got to thinking about why you should, at least once in a while, take a look at some of the most hazardous things we do and identify improvements.

1. It’s the right thing to do
2. We are self-protective by nature, but we are not inherently able to identify hazards
3. You owe your family you best self at all times
4. You owe your employer your best professional self at work
5. You owe yourself the opportunity to reach your potential
6. You make a difference
7. You want to see your children grow into adults, and watch them become their own best selves

My daughter and my older son have both asked me to perform their wedding ceremonies, and for that I am grateful. I would not have imagined how impactful it was for me to do that, and it would be a shame to not have been able to do so.

I have another son in college, and a most amazing wife, so I need to continue to work and live as safely as possible, and to take the best care of this one body I have.

What are your reasons to be your best self? Is any excuse to do less good enough?

Let’s be careful out there!

Anna at abdpbt is responsible for the effort to Fight Listless Mondays. Find other list links on her blog. Her lists are more clever. Lots.