John very good to see you. But some disturbing recent financial headlines, a massive security breach involving people's social security numbers. That sounds pretty scary, so let's talk through how to stay safe, because you are known for your shield strategy. One of those shields is asset protection. So I was hoping you could give us some tips right now of what we can do to keep our money safe in light of these headlines. Yeah, and

you know, we've talked about this before, and we're going to talk about it again. You know, when in our shield strategy, we we discuss asset protection with our clients, and traditionally, that's, you know, protecting it within trusts or or insurance vehicles. But we have to understand that we also have to protect your money from criminals, because there are people that are preying on us every day. So two quick tips. Number one, do not expose your Social Security. Do not leave your Social Security you know, Erin, let me tell you a story. One time, I was getting out of my car and the very the car, very next to me, had their tax return with their Social Security and all their information, sin right on the driver. Let's not do that. Let's not expose our Social Security online, if we don't have to right really safeguard that. The second thing is, and this is a pretty common mistake, do not use a debit card anymore. A debit card is a direct line to your bank account. You do not want that. The banks are not easy to work with in these scenarios, use a credit card. The credit cards are very diligent. Credit card companies are very diligent at monitoring any identity theft patterns, and you are safeguarded with a credit card more than a debit card,

right? Absolutely So again, just to dip back into the scary headline here 2.7 billion, I was going to say million, it's billion, numbers stolen and records. I mean, John, this is unbelievable. So there are two popular ways to defend and keep your credit cards. Excuse me, your social security, your credit safe. Tell me the difference between credit monitoring and a credit freeze.

Yes. So there, these are the two most popular ones, reactive, and one's proactive. So credit monitoring is simply a fraud alert. It's going to notify you that, Hey, someone has opened an account or done a credit check, and you're going to get the notification the action has already taken place, your email, your phone number, is on the dark web. A security freeze is you're telling the credit card companies that listen, I'm freezing my credit and insurance companies potential creditors and any loans you're going to do, they cannot access or see your credit. So, you know, while your credit is frozen, nothing can happen. So I kind of like to use the analogy here, of you have some beautiful flowers, and you have a landscaper, and they watch. They protect your flowers. They watch over them. They look, you know, they treat them the best they can, and their monitor, however, your flowers are still exposed to pests and disease and just the exterior elements. That's what a credit monitoring system is kind of like now a credit freeze is you have those beautiful flowers in a greenhouse safe and secure from the surrounding elements. Maybe that door is locked sealed where animals and critters can't get it. So the credit freeze is the preferred, more secure way to go.

Well, that's good to know, John, because I do have all of my accounts frozen, and my husband's it is more secure, but break down exactly what we need to know before we put that freeze in place. Yeah, so

you can go on any of the three main credit monitoring websites, yeah, we're gonna, we're gonna put those links down below for you, and you can freeze the accounts. And let's say you know you're going to go out and do a loan, you can lift that freeze to a specific creditor or for a period of time. I believe that the monitoring system or the credit bureau has to lift that freeze within three days. And essentially, what they're going to do is they're going to give you a pin with some instructions how to lift that freeze so you can literally freeze, unfreeze and freeze again, kind of like locking and unlocking that front door.

But what if you lose that pin?

Well, don't lose the pin. Erin, don't lose the pin. I don't lose my pin. John,

put the pin somewhere secure. No. So if you lose the pin, you're gonna have to contact the credit bureaus explain them that you lost the pin. You like a new one. And of course, they're gonna make you jump through some hoops, because they are protecting you. So just be patient, but just don't lose that

pin. Absolutely. Yeah, no, this, it all became a lot easier after the Equifax breach. That was when I froze all mine. So really important information. John, and again, just to remind everybody watching, we do have links to all three credit bureaus in the description here, so you can go there freeze your credit, and then you can lock it and unlock it. John, this was incredibly helpful. I know we have a lot more resources for people available on our YouTube site and everything else. What else do people need to know?

Yeah, so visit our YouTube site or visit our website, www.gosecurus.com we have all of our videos, our podcasts, our blogs on there, and while you're on the website, you can visit the contact us tab, where you can schedule a 20 minute phone you can where we'll answer any general questions, or you can schedule a complimentary vision and clarity, consultation, but if you like doing things the old fashioned way you can give us a call at our new number, Erin, new number in new number alert new number new office, 858-758-9889. They will get you on my schedule, and we will help you out.

Great. John, thanks so much for your time today.

Thank you, Erin.