If you have an account with Zappos, the popular online shoe and clothing retailer, you were one of 24 million people exposed in last week’s hacker attack on the site. If you were a victim, it is important for you to take steps to protect yourself right away. If you were not, this should act as a reminder to stay vigilant and work to protect yourself against identity theft online.

It is important to note that only partial credit card numbers and encrypted passwords were accessed, not full passwords or credit cards. However, full names, addresses, phone numbers, and emails were access in the attack.

Unique Passwords

I have a unique password for almost every single website I use. Each password is a randomized alpha-numeric 15 character password. If I don’t know them, they are nearly impossible to guess and a brute force attack would be a waste of time. In other words, I am secure.

I have a level of security in the range of 96 bit to 128 bit security. What is important, though, is that I use a different password for each site. If one gets hacked, I am still safe on every other website.

Remembering these passwords is impossible. There is no way to remember one of them, let alone all of them. So how do I do it? I use Lastpass to manage my passwords. That password is the last one I ever had to remember.

Lastpass is a password security application that can generate, remember, and fill in your passwords for virtually any site you use. It is incredibly secure and is free and easy to use with Chrome, Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari, and Opera. It works on Windows, Mac, and Linux. For an extra fee ($12 per year), you can also use it on your Android, iOS, Blackberry, or Windows Phone mobile device.

Not having different passwords across sites is plain stupid. Not having secure passwords is pretty dumb too. You might as well take advantage of this free option and have unique and secure passwords. It could save you a huge hassle and a ton of money if someone tries to steal your identity in the future.

Shop with Credit Cards

If you use a debit card or bank ACH payments to pay online, you are exposing yourself to a big risk. If someone steals those numbers and make a fraudulent purchase, you lose access to that money until the problem is fixed, if ever.

If you use a credit card, you are automatically protected from fraudulent purchases. Check your account rules for details, but I know that my Starwood Preferred Guest® Credit Card from American Express, British Airways Visa, and other cards all protect me from fraud.

Do It Today

Do not wait until you have a problem to fix your online security. Secure your passwords with Lastpass today and make sure to only shop secure in the future. Be smart, not a victim.

What strategies do you use to protect yourself online? Have you ever been a victim of online fraud? Please share in the comments.

Image by Don Hankins.

Secure Your Online Life is a post from: Narrow Bridge

Related posts:

1. Protect Yourself from Everyone
2. Pay Online or Pay by Check
3. Getting Started in Online Banking

Today major sites around the web are shutting down to support efforts to kill the SOPA and PIPA bills in the US Senate and House. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) might sound good on the surface, but they threaten content producers and bloggers around the web.

What Do The Bills Do?

PIPA was introduced to the Senate in May. The bill is designed to give both companies and the government the ability to seek legal action against companies that they see as infringing on copyright.

SOPA took that a step further, by giving the government the ability to blacklist specific sites by using DNS blocking. DNS blocking is a fancy way to say that the government can force web internet service providers to censor sites.

Here is a video from the folks at American Censorship explaining how the bills work:

Why Is It Really Bad?

What sets the United States apart from Iran and China? In China and Iran, the government blocks websites that it doesn’t like. In the United States, we are given freedom to information. The internet has become the biggest information source for the average citizen. I do not want to see that blocked.

Under PIPA and SOPA, the government could say that my blog is copyright infringing and block it from all United States viewers. News sites, blogs, information sites, and any other content producer would be at the mercy of large corporations and the government.

This is such a big deal that you can’t visit Wikipedia, Reddit, Mozilla, or a long list of other sites today. I hope students did their homework early, because 40 million people will not be able to access Wikipedia as usual today. Imagine if that were permanent?

Support the Cause

I wrote to my Senators and House Representative urging them to vote against PIPA and SOPA if they are given the opportunity. Please do the same and spread the word through Facebook, Twitter, blogs, and any other outlet you have.

Killing these bills is essential to freedom on the internet, thousands of jobs, and millions of web users around the United States.

You can get more information and links to easily write your representatives at American Censorship. Please take a few minutes and sign the petitions and write the letters to protect sites like mine and thousands of others today.

The Danger of SOPA and PIPA is a post from: Narrow Bridge

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A new finance tool, the Five Minute Retirement Plan, does what the name implies. In only a couple of minutes, the site will create a free, customized retirement plan based on your age, current assets, and ability to invest in the future.

I gave the site a test run to see how my current retirement investing compares, and the results were interesting.

I agree with some of the results, but I believe that having 25% of a portfolio in emerging markets is a bit much. If I had built a plan myself, I would have put more weight into Mid Cap and Small Cap funds and less into Emerging Markets, but overall it is a pretty good guide.

According to the site’s creators, this is the methodology used to select asset classes for your customized portfolio:

A major goal of Five Minute Retirement Plan is to use empirical data to make investing decisions. To that end the system uses historical market data to determine a representative set of asset classes across the risk/return spectrum.

The United States, being the world’s largest economy, is allocated the majority of equity holdings in the portfolios with up to 55% of assets spread among large (30%), medium (10%) and small (15%) capitalization stocks.

In the past twenty five years, globalization has been a major economic trend, with the emerging market showing impressive gains. Since this trend is expected to continue, stocks of companies in the emerging markets (China, Brazil, South Korea, Taiwan & India, etc.) are given a weight of up to 25%.

The Asia-Pacific and European developed regions are represented by companies with large capitalizations and are given a weight of up to 10% and 5% respectively.

The US Treasury Inflation Protected Bonds and REITs are used to combat the risk of inflation and are given a weight of up to 20% and 5% respectively.

Long Term US Treasury bonds are used to combat deflation, and are given a weight of up to 20% (although in practice this asset class’s allocation will be much smaller).

Total Bond Market and Short Term US Government Bonds are allocated up to 20% and 100% respectively and are included to get low risk returns over medium and short time frames.

I recommend that anyone uses this free tool to compare their current retirement allocation. I would certainly not follow it to the dollar, but it is a good guide to help you get started with an ETF based approach to your retirement account. Be sure to use your own brain and research as well.

If you are interested, you can also read a more technical review of the site at Seeking Alpha.

The Five Minute Retirement Plan is a post from: Narrow Bridge

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Slice is a new and useful website that can be used to track your online shopping habits. Like Mint or Adaptu, Slice brings everything you need to know to one place from multiple websites. Like TripIt, Slice can grab your information from your Gmail or Yahoo inbox automatically so you don’t have to remember to update your account.

Why It Is Useful

When I order something online, I want to know where it is and when it will show up at my door. If I am on Amazon, I can go to the Amazon website, click through to my account, enter my password, click on recent orders, find my order, click on the track button, and see where it is.

With Slice, I just click on the shortcut and everything is just there.

The site also tracks your order history from about twenty online retailers. It is helpful for cost tracking and to see where your money is going. When I look through my history, I see orders from Amazon, Bed Bath & Beyond, Eventbrite, Ticketmaster, Groupon, Dell, Netflix, eBay, Coscto, Barnes & Noble, the US Post Office, Woot, and Overstock.com. Those are just the places I have shopped online.

How It Works

First, go to the Slice homepage to sign up for a new account. Give the site permission to access your email account. That’s it. Seriously. That easy.

The site will immediately grab your most recent orders and will take some time to go through your history. If you are like me and never delete an email, you will quickly build up a record of all of your online purchases.

When you visit the site, you can search and filter to find old orders or click on recent orders to see the order and shipping status. Slice even goes to the UPS, FedEx, and USPS (to name a few) websites to import the location tracking information for you.

Like all products I recommend on Narrow Bridge, I have used this product myself. In fact, I just used it today to track a shipment. Slice is free to use so check it out today.

Slice Tracks Your Purchases is a post from: Narrow Bridge

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1. Buy Discounted Gift Cards to Save on Purchases

A few weeks back, I was tagged by Kay Lynn Akers, the Bucksome Boomer, to take part in a series going around the world of blogs. The idea is to find seven posts from your archive to answer seven questions. It is a great journey back and resurrects some of the best Narrow Bridge Finance has to offer.

Your Most Beautiful Post

Sometimes I am surprised by what comes out when I grab the keyboard to start a new post. Unlike some writers, I am not someone to put together an outline unless I am planning a long post or a series. I usually just write from the gut. Sometimes, I write from my heart. Those are the most beautiful posts I have ever written.

The post that I put more emotion into than anything else came at a tough time for me. I wrote it in the weeks following the end of a four and a half year relationship. The Complete Guide to Heartbreak: 10 Rules to Get Over It and Move On gives you a little window into me that no other post has. It is also the 19^th most popular of the 600 posts I have written so far.

Your Most Popular Post

When you write a post and it does exceptionally well, it is probably a good idea to repeat what worked. I did, and it worked better than the first time.

I wrote a post comparing Mint.com vs Thrive and it was my best post ever at that point. I followed it with a post titled Mint.com Alternative: Pageonce vs. Mint.com. That is my most popular post ever and gets the most traffic at my site every week. (That post has had more traffic than my homepage)

Your Most Controversial Post

I try to keep politics to my personal blog, but when those politics include the economy, I don’t hold back and share my thoughts with Narrow Bridge Finance readers.

Last December, Americans finally noticed the growing problem of our national debt. I came up with my own solution for the national debt and taxes. I can proudly say that I probably pissed off half of the people who read that post. The other half thought I was brilliant.

Your Most Helpful Post

Obviously every post I write is helpful. That is why people come back again and again. Some post, though, make more of an impact for the average reader.

So many people do not understand how the stock market works. They see sexy movies like Wall Street and Boiler Room showing the highs and lows of investing, but they do not understand how the markets really function. I wrote a post about when to buy and sell stock that can help a beginner understand how to make investment decisions.

A Post Whose Success Surprised You

They say that if you have a question, many other people have the same question. I guess that was the case when I started reading up on IRS guidelines for how long to keep your receipts, taxes, and statements.

I compiled what I learned and wrote a post about how long to keep your bank statements. I guess a lot of people were curious too. It became my fifth most popular post ever. If you want to know about de-cluttering your file cabinet, you should probably check out the post yourself.

A Post You Feel Didn’t Get the Attention it Deserved

Any blogger knows the feeling. You come up with a brilliant idea. The minutes turn to hours as you craft a blog post that, if you were a journalist, would certainly win the Pulitzer Prize. You make sure every detail is just perfect. The post goes live. Then… Nothing.

For all of that effort, if there is any one post that sticks out, it is definitely my post on different investing options. I wrote it in 2009, well before I really understood how people read online. It is more of an essay than a blog post, but it is packed with valuable information.

The Post You Are Most Proud Of

I have a lot of friends with questions about debt. I managed to pay off my car loan while in grad school. Also while in school, I put in a ton of work to accelerate the payments on my student loans. Of the $52,000 of debt I took to buy a car and go to school, I have $7,000 to go. I think that is good progress.

I have pointed countless friends and readers to snowball their debt when they ask me for money help. My all in one debt solution post, that includes my own debt story, can be found at My Debt, How I’m Paying It, and the Snowball Effect.

Next Up…

I had fun taking a look back in the archives and browsing my old posts list. I think the most proud moment of this post was seeing how much my writing has evolved over time and how my writing voice developed.

To pass on the challenge, I call out these friends to find their 7 posts:

Shane at Beating Broke

Jeff at Sustainable Life Blog

Shannyn at Frugal Beautiful

Trish at The Financialite

Eric at Dollarversity

Image by stevendepolo.

7 Links Project is a post from: Narrow Bridge

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It is no secret that I am a huge fan of automation and aggregation. The fewer places you have to look for your financial information, the less time you will use and the less likely you are to mess up. Simplee simplifies and automates your insurance just like Mint or Adaptu does with your finances.

What It Does

Simplee works with your insurance account to make sure you really understand where your money is going and gives you reminders when a bill is due. The site also helps create an understanding of how your healthcare costs are distributed (you vs. insurance) and understanding what your true costs are.

Cost Tracking and Breakdown

This year I had a more complicated insurance plan than ever before. Since I started working and paying for my own insurance, I have always been on an HMO. HMOs, for those who don’t know, are a for-profit company that includes the insurance, treatment, pharmacy, preventative care, doctors, and hospitals under one umbrella. Now I am on a PPO where the doctors are separate from my insurance company.

With a PPO, I have a lot more to deal with. I have a deductible, a flex spend account, out of pocket maximums and minimums, and other complexities. It is a lot to wrap your head around. Simplee makes it simple.

The site has a dashboard that tracks everything (I have linked both my PPO and dental plans). It tells me what the deductible is and what I have spent toward that amount. It tells me what I have paid and what the insurance company has paid. It tells me everything. It also makes pretty graphs.

Who This Is Good For

This site is useful for anyone with health insurance. Period. You don’t have to spend a lot of time on the site to get a great value. And, as a bonus, it checks your insurance account daily and sends you an email whenever bills are due or services have been processed. I just jump on, take a glance, and have a better idea of what is going on with my insurance and healthcare costs.

This site is a great supplement to the personal finance arsenal. And, like all other automation tips on this site, it is 100% free.

Simplee Automates Your Insurance is a post from: Narrow Bridge

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2. Annual Insurance Check Up
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I travel a lot. If you are anything like me, you like having your travel documents, plans, and information all in one place. I used to print out a stack of papers for each hotel, flight, rental car, and other reservation during a trip. Thanks to TripIt, that is now a dead practice. This site is the Mint.com of travel.

What Is TripIt?

TripIt is a web application that works in conjunction with your Android, iPhone, Blackberry, or Windows Phone. It creates itineraries for your upcoming trips that are consolidated into one location for easy and instant access.

From the TripIt website, I ensure everything I could want to know for upcoming travel plans is entered in as a Trip.

How Does TripIt Work?

Every time I make a flight or hotel reservation, I get an email confirmation. I gave TripIt access to my Gmail inbox and it regularly searches it for new confirmation emails. If it finds one, it creates a new trip and ads the information for easy access.

When you click on the trip (see above), a screen opens up with every flight, confirmation number, hotel, maps, links to directions, weather forecasts, and anything else you might want. You can add restaurant and show reservations too.

If a plan does not import automatically, you can forward the confirmation email to plans@tripit.com and it is added for you. If the site can’t read the email, which is rare, you can always add it manually.

The Social Aspect

I have seven friends currently active on TripIt. I can see their upcoming trips and annual miles traveled. It is a fun way to interact with friends. You can also automatically post to Facebook, but I don’t.

I only add people on TripIt that I actually want to know where I am. Anyone you connect with can see your general plans for your trip, so only allow people you trust to connect. Outside of those people, everything is secure.

Automation and Time Savings

Outside of saving a few trees and printer ink, this site is a huge time savings. I know I can just pack up and head to the airport without worries of forgetting anything. When I get there, I just open up the TripIt app and check in for my flight. When I land, I just open my phone to grab directions to the hotel or rental car reservation information.

It is so easy that people might not get how it works. The thing is, there is not much to get. It just does everything for you so you don’t have to waste time.

TripIt Makes Travel Planning Easy is a post from: Narrow Bridge

No related posts.

I recently went through a very shocking moment when I realized I could not trust someone that I thought was one of my closest friends. I will share more about that next week, but it got me thinking. You really can’t trust anyone with your account information and passwords.

Beef Up Account Security

Unless you have a joint account, there is almost no reason for anyone other than you to have your account information. Account numbers, routing numbers, credit card numbers, and other financial account information should be kept private.

In the event that you do have a shared account, keep tabs on it and monitor for suspicious and unexpected activity.

Outside of your employer and someone you can trust in an emergency (ie spouse, parent), keep this information private at all costs. Do not give your account information so someone can run an errand for you. Do not give your information in case someone needs it. Just keep it secure and you have nothing to worry about.

Beef Up Online Security

We have all read stories about someone’s ex breaking into their email or Facebook account. Far worse than your buddy finding your computer unlocked when you go to the other room and writing “I’m Gay” on your Facebook wall, giving someone unmonitored access to your online life is a big mistake.

Want evidence? Just search for breakup horror stories involving Facebook and Gmail online. You will find plenty of stories.

To ensure my accounts are all secure, I don’t even know my own passwords except for my Google and LastPass account. LastPass can generate randomized passwords for every site you use. It has a Chrome, Firefox, IE (do people still use IE?), and Safari plugin that will auto-populate your passwords for you.

Just remembering two passwords is easier and will keep you safe. No one is going to guess or brute force my randomized 16 character alpha number passwords.

DTA – Don’t Trust Anyone

Stone Cold Steve Austin said it best. My best friend growing up is no longer my best friend. My girlfriend of four and a half years is no longer my girlfriend. Fortunately there was no messy falling out or breakup, so I have always been safe, but you never know.

And that’s the bottom line ‘cause Eric said so.

Image by vagawi .

Protect Yourself from Everyone is a post from: Narrow Bridge

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Blogger Interview: Marie at Family Money Values is a post from: Narrow Bridge

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For those of you blogging or reading from the United States, you are enjoying a long weekend and a Monday off of work. To celebrate the long weekend, enjoy the 4th of July (technically 3rd of July) edition of the Yakezie Carnival.

I teach you about the Price/Book Ratio and what it means when investing.

Crystal from Budgeting in the Fun Stuff has frugal tips for dog owners.

Sweating the Big Stuff gives us early tips to start saving for the holidays. It is never too early to start stocking money away.

Money Reasons offers us a way to act like a landlord without spending the extra money on real estate.

One Cent at a Time has a method to become rich that most people have no thought of before.

Mr. and Mrs. Not Made of Money  have 33 ideas for you to save money on your next wedding. Ideally you only need this post once, but it is good to share with friends too.

The College Investor decided it is time to help his parents out with their finances. Get great tips from his new post.

Saving Money Today has a creative method to pay off US government debt. Not a bad idea if you ask me.

Money Beagle had a close encounter with a grill fire. Fire in the hole!

Investor Junkie has given Lending Club a shot. Learn how you can be a bank.

101 Centavos debates when it is worth giving home repairs a shot on your own and when it is better to just call a professional.

Compounding Returns is onto year 9 of the 15 year millionaire series. That is just shy of the $500,000 mark.

Evan at My Journey to Millions found that congress is not required to follow the same insider trading rules as Wall Street professionals. That might need to change.

Prarie EcoThrifter shares why credit cards are so important when traveling overseas in a guest post from the CEO of Card Hub.

MoneyCone did an analysis of Citigroup stock and its recent reverse split.

The Family CEO wants to instill important money lessons in her children.

Little House in the Valley took a look at spending on restaurants compared to groceries.

Family Money Values teaches her grandchildren important money lessons.

Tight Fisted Mister wants to know what you have done to get rich and has ideas for you to take action.

Greg from Control Your Cash has ideas about politics, capitalism, and more at his Independence Day post.

Matt at financial excellence wonders if debt is a good tool to use or if you are playing with fire when you take out a loan.

Khaleef at Faithful With a Few explains why you have to know about the contingent workforce and how they will impact your career.

Financially Consumed has ideas to save money on your bills while being green.

Suba wrote about bridging the retirement gender gap at Bucksome Boomer.

Amanda tell us about the five rules of gold at Frugal Confessions.

Super Frugalette debates the idea of quality versus cost when shopping at IKEA.

Glen at Free From Broke thinks that bridge loans are bad and gives eight reasons to sell your home before you buy a new one.

Is $20 enough for an emergency fund? Find out at Daily Money Shot.

A debate is going on in Washington about setting uniform standards for financial advisers. Invest it Wisely has the scoop.

The Amateur Financer has ideas for finding ways to build side income.

Find out how to turn wasted money into a debt payment at Deliver Away Debt.

Outlaw Finance takes a look at technical analysis vs fundamental analysis.

PT Money takes a look at the best gas rewards credit cards.

Len Penzo shares 9 movie theater extras that we can live without.

A lot of people might be scared off by ride sharing. In Seattle, real time ride sharing is real and Krantcents explains why it is not a bad idea and how it works.

Our parents often hope that they can offer us a better life than they had. Darwin at Darwin’s Money is better off, and he does not take it for granted.

My Personal Finance Journey recaps the top ten money saving tips you can easily incorporate into your life.

Suba at Wealth Informatics thinks you should skip your company’s 401(k) because of all of the fees and expenses.

Read about Credit Karma’s new approval odds system at 20 and Married.

Yakezie Carnival: Independence Day Edition is a post from: Narrow Bridge

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