Important Annual Review: Unclaimed Money, Credit, and Passwords

No matter what you do for a living or your future goals, it’s important to ensure your hard-earned dollars are safe and accounted for. One of the best ways to keep track of these items is by doing an annual review, focused on unclaimed assets, credit reports, and password security. Read on for everything you need to know about this crucial process.

1. Check Your Credit Score

Everyone knows having a good credit score is essential, but most people don’t understand why that’s the case. This three-digit figure is a representation of your credit risk; that is, how likely you are to pay your bills on time. The score is a composite of the following factors - Amounts Owed (30%), New Credit (10%), Length of Credit History (15%), Credit Mix (10%), and Payment History (35%).

Many factors can affect your credit score, so regularly checking it is essential. There’s one factor you’ll want to look at extra closely–the possibility of credit card fraud. As part of your annual review, check your credit card history for charges you don’t remember making, no matter how large or small they are.

If you think you’ve found something in your credit history that could point to fraud, get in touch with the credit bureau as soon as possible. Fixing these errors can take weeks, depending on complexity. When that’s done, check with the remaining major credit bureaus to see if the same information is also listed with them.

2. Check Your Kids’ Credit Score

Reviewing your own credit score isn’t the only credit-related step you should include in this annual review. It’s also crucial to ensure that your children’s credit history hasn’t been affected by fraud.

Not sure why you’d need to check your kids’ credit, if they aren’t old enough to have credit cards? As it turns out, that’s the exact reason why scammers use childrens’ identities–if you don’t check their credit history, fraudulent transactions could go ignored for months, if not years. Even after you’ve discovered this deception, you and your child could be in for legal battles to get things cleared up.

For extra peace of mind, you could take additional steps like freezing their credit until they get older. That can be inconvenient, but it’s the simplest way to protect them from database breaches. Plus, with Congressional approval of the Dodd-Frank reform law, credit freezes are free.

3. Check Unclaimed Property

In addition to monitoring credit, it’s also important to see if you have assets previously unaccounted for. You may have unclaimed property and associated obligations–and you might have no idea.

The term “unclaimed property” refers to any type of asset abandoned by its owner for a specific period. In your case, that might include:

• Excess customer payments

• Used gift certificates

• Proceeds from life insurance

• Savings accountings that are inactive

• Escrow accounts

• Trust funds

• Mineral interest/royalty payments

• Mutual fund accounts, bonds, or stocks

• Cashier’s checks and payroll checks

• Safe-deposit box contents

• Bank accounts

Legally, any of these unclaimed assets must be returned to their rightful owners or given to the state. Each state maintains a database of all unclaimed property. You can search each database to see if you or your family members have assets they could recoup. 

4. Update Security

Lastly, it’s time to boost your security to lower your risk of future fraud. In the modern age, one of the best–and simplest–ways to accomplish this goal is by updating your passwords.

Here are a few essential password security tips:

• Don’t rely on easy-to-guess passwords. While remembering longer passwords can be tricky, they are far stronger and harder to crack. Ideally, your passwords should be 16+ characters long and not contain any personal information. And you should never use any form of “password” or “1234.”

• Create a different password for every site. Again, reusing passwords can help your memory–but it also can make life easier for cybercriminals. Instead, create different passwords for each website and app you use.

• Use the right tools for the job. Multifactor authentication might sound complicated; however, these services can save you a great deal of trouble down the line. Meanwhile, using a password manager can make memorizing passwords a thing of the past.

Ensure Your Finances Are Balanced

By taking the time to do a thorough review each year, you’ll be able to manage your family’s finances more effectively and safely than ever before. With that said, this is just one component of your financial checkup–it’s also important to do regular audits of your overall portfolio, retirement, estate planning, etc.

Instead of taking the “DIY” approach to something this essential, team up with Consilio Wealth Advisors. Consilio specializes in helping people in the tech industry lower taxes, optimize RSU income, and make work optional. 

Consilio provides straightforward advice at a fiduciary standard, that you don’t need a financial dictionary to decipher. 

Disclosures: 

The information provided is for educational and informational purposes only and does not constitute investment advice and it should not be relied on as such. It should not be considered a solicitation to buy or an offer to sell a security. It does not take into account any investor's particular investment objectives, strategies, tax status or investment horizon. You should consult your attorney or tax advisor.

The views expressed in this commentary are subject to change based on market and other conditions. These documents may contain certain statements that may be deemed forward‐looking statements. Please note that any such statements are not guarantees of any future performance and actual results or developments may differ materially from those projected. Any projections, market outlooks, or estimates are based upon certain assumptions and should not be construed as indicative of actual events that will occur.

All information has been obtained from sources believed to be reliable, but its accuracy is not guaranteed. There is no representation or warranty as to the current accuracy, reliability or completeness of, nor liability for, decisions based on such information and it should not be relied on as such.

Consilio Wealth Advisors, LLC (“CWA”) is a registered investment advisor. Advisory services are only offered to clients or prospective clients where CWA and its representatives are properly licensed or exempt from licensure.