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Retirement Planning Bot: A Unique Solution for Unique Times

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wall art bot representing a retirement planning bot

We’ve all seen the terms recently – unique, unprecedented, even surreal or seismic. Whatever you call these pandemic times, most of us can agree that they often require equally anomalous ways of dealing with them. Depending on how close you are to retirement, that could apply to your retirement planning too.

I was excited to see that Michelle Singletary, personal finance columnist for The Washington Post, has introduced a retirement planning bot to “see us through the coronavirus pandemic and beyond”.

If you aren’t familiar with bots, they are software applications which are programmed to complete certain tasks. In this case, the bot collects information about your financial situation and retirement plans and makes recommendations relative to both. I had the opportunity to run through the bot program and see first-hand some of their suggestions.

The good news is that this is all completely anonymous. While they ask specific questions about your finances, they don’t know who you are, and they don’t save any of your information. Along the way, you can hear advice and commentary recorded by Michelle. I’ll be candid: I didn’t always find them helpful, but I thought they were good reminders and could offer a little effective guidance, particularly for some people who may be early in their planning.

On the downside, the program doesn’t factor whether you’re planning as an individual or a couple. That can make a huge difference when they ask for retirement or bank account balances and earnings. The bot also doesn’t ask your expected retirement age. It just makes the assumption that you will retire as soon as you reach the age for full Social Security benefits.

The best thing about this particular retirement planning bot is that it provided a step-by-step guide with as much hand holding as you can expect from a robot program. And there is a little encouragement along the way provided you are doing something to fund your retirement. They even have some FAQs at the end.

A couple important things to focus on:

  1. This is not a replacement for your professional financial advisor. A single source of information is rarely enough for something as important as retirement planning.
  1. You may not agree with the assessment of your financial situation and your retirement plans. That’s okay. It doesn’t mean you are doing a bad job of funding your retirement.

I think the best way to view this tool can be found in their own description:

“We may not be able to capture everything about your financial situation, but it’s a place to start”.

Many people are very concerned about their financial situation right now regardless of when they plan to retire. This retirement planning bot may help relieve some of the stress as you think of future plans. Who knows? You may just be better off than you think. And, if not, you could get some ideas on how to get back on track.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of Fort Lauderdale, FL

Social Distancing: 5 New Things You Can Do

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bar sign saying it's 5 o'clock somewhere for the purpose of social distancing

Depending on where you live, you’ve probably been practicing social distancing for at least a week or two. Maybe longer. It’s important for us to help flatten the curve and I’d like to believe that, by now, everyone knows that. 

But let’s be realistic. Social distancing is hard. Keith and I work from home, socialize very little, and even we think this is hard. We’re cutting back on the few things that we enjoyed going out and doing. So, I can only imagine what others who are used to much more active social lives are feeling right now. 

Like many, when we first heard about social distancing, it was an opportunity to dust off the to-do list and tackle some projects. We cooked at home. Started organizing the garage. Watched a few movies we’ve been looking forward to seeing. After that, a little bit of social distancing boredom sets in. We still need to stay at home but now we need some new activities to occupy our time and our mind. So, I’ve come up with a list of five things you might want to consider working on while you’re still at home.

  1. Take a MOOC (massive open online course). If you’re not familiar with MOOCs, these are free online courses taught by some of the best universities in the world. In the past, I’ve taken a course on the science of happiness from Yale. Keith and I just finished one from Harvard on meteorology. Think about a topic that you’ve been saying that you want to learn more about – like investing – and see if there’s a course available. BTW – there is an interesting financial markets course offered by Yale.
  1. Update your social media accounts. This is the perfect time to update your social media profiles, avatars, etc. Think of it as a social media audit. Be sure to also review the privacy settings for each platform as well. In addition, if you’ve been waiting for some free time to learn newer social media platforms like Instagram, this could also be a good time to slowly ease into it. That could lead to discovering even more activities such as Instagram’s “Photo A Day” – which is very fun.  
  1. Research the candidates running for office in 2020. Oh, and sign up for a mail ballot. For some, the last thing you might want to do right now is pay attention to the news but let me toss out another point of view. Now is when we get to see how political candidates handle the tough times. We get to see if they really act effectively and in our best interest. In addition, it will only take a few moments of your time, but find your supervisor of elections website and sign up for mail ballots. That way you know that you will be able to vote in the primaries and in the general election. 
  1. Attend a virtual event. Everything I’ve mentioned so far you can do on your own. If you’re missing human interaction, consider attending – or even hosting – a virtual event. You can sign up for a free account from Zoom and coordinate a virtual coffee meeting or happy hour. Netflix has a “party” feature where you can watch shows or movies with friends. Social distancing doesn’t mean we can’t see our friends, we’re just going to have to wait a little longer to be in the same room with them. 
  1. Stay healthy. Finally, don’t forget about your own health and wellbeing. I know that in many places, we can’t go to our hair stylist or a day spa. Keith and I have found it challenging to get fresh fruit and vegetables at the grocery store. Gyms, health clubs, and exercise studios are closed. But that doesn’t mean we’re not trying new foods and new ways to get activity. We just discovered an app called “The Walk” (available for Apple and Android devices) that coordinates activity with a story about saving the world just by walking. Oh, and you will ultimately be walking the length of the United Kingdom. 

My hope is that today’s post offers a bit of creative inspiration to keep your social distancing activities interesting. This is a tough time – even for a mega introvert like me. If you have some tips or resources for keeping things from getting too boring, share them in the comments. We’ve love to hear them.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby just off Duval Street in Key West, FL

Older Drivers: Learning Technology Can Extend To Your Car

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drivers and their old cars on the streets of Havana, Cuba

At some point, Keith and I are going to have to think about getting a new car. Years ago as drivers, we became a one-car household. And our current car is over 15 years old. Having a reliable vehicle is important so we shouldn’t wait until we have to buy a car.

But you can see where I’m going with this. Today’s automobiles have a lot of technology! Our old car has a GPS system. Which of course we don’t use because it’s easier and more accurate to use our phones and Google Maps. But 15 years ago, GPS technology was fancy and a luxury! Since we tend to keep cars for a while, it’s important that we get the right technology that’s going to help us have a better driving experience. And what I mean by that is drive more safely.

If you’re not aware, AARP has a 90-minute self-guided online workshop about today’s smarter vehicles. It covers technologies like assistive parking systems, blind spot warning systems for drivers, and crash mitigation systems. The purpose of the workshop is to help people understand what these technologies do (and don’t do) so we can make educated decisions about the types of technologies we want to include in our vehicles.

As we age, one of the things that remains important to our wellbeing is having the ability to still get around. I think it’s fair to say that we don’t want to have to rely on people to drive us around for errands, etc. While those activities aren’t the most exciting, they do represent being mobile. And I’m sure we want to be independent as long as we can.

The Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) talks about how older drivers need to be aware of the changes that happen to our driving skills as we age. Falls and motor vehicle crashes are the two leading causes of injury and death in older adults. The good news is that the latest technologies can help. They’re not designed to be a replacement for our driving skills, but they can offer assistance. If you know about them and you know how to use them properly.

While we’re talking about driving, there are other resources out on the Interwebs that can help you with your driving skills as you age.

  • AAA has a Senior Driving site which includes each state’s licensing laws, a driving health check-up, and how to have a conversation with an older adult about their driving.
  • The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration offers something similar to AAA with videos and resources to support older drivers including how certain medical conditions can have an impact on driving abilities.

Having a conversation about driving is very difficult. Many of us have been driving for decades. Maybe we haven’t had a traffic ticket in years. That doesn’t mean we can let our guard down about our driving skills – or those of other drivers on the road. And when it comes time to replace our current vehicles, we need to understand the latest automobile technologies so we buy features that make sense for our situation.

Image captured by Sharlyn Lauby while exploring the streets of Havana, Cuba

Smart Home Technology Helps Aging in Place

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Las Vegas sign robot waiters cheers to good times with smart home technology

I ran across this article in ReadWrite about “The Key to Smart Home Success; Safety and Security”. It’s an interesting read that you might want to check out. Even if you’re not thinking about aging in your home.

Keith and I still have a few years before we’re of official retirement age (i.e. meaning we can sign up for Medicare and Social Security). But that doesn’t mean we’re not thinking about the home we plan to age in and how we can make that home as “senior” friendly as possible.

Obviously, that includes things like downsizing and making bathroom renovations to include grip bars in tubs and showers. But another area that we’ve been reading a lot about is using smart home technology. Hence, my mention of the ReadWrite article above. We’re using smart home technologies now to make our lives easier. Why not think about how smart home technologies can help us age in place?

But here’s the thing. We need to be deliberate when it comes to using smart home technologies. This isn’t simply about buying some gizmo and hooking it up to our home internet. Here are a few things to consider:

Learn how the Internet of Things (ioT) works. The Internet of Things (aka IoT) is a system of interrelated devices that connect with each other via the internet. A common example would be that I can view what’s happening in our home on my Apple Watch and iPhone using my Amazon web camera. The idea is that all of these devices work together to give me – the user – a more valuable experience. 

Think ecosystem. Keith and I were big holdouts when it came to the Apple ecosystem. We had iPhones and iPads but held back on iMacs and other devices. We had no idea how great the benefits were of being in the ecosystem. I’m not saying you have to buy Apple products but do think about how your devices will “speak” to or work with each other. Remember, the goal is to make things easier.

Research companies and services. Once we know how IoT works, then it becomes easier to identify those companies that might provide products and services that will be helpful. We can research who has ecosystems and who doesn’t. I hate to say it but the last thing we want to do is invest in products and services that won’t get along with other technologies. Or they sound cool, but they might be out of business in a couple of years.

Know how your home network is set up and functions. Getting internet at home is so easy today. Just call a service provider and they show up with a box and some wires. Just a couple hours later…poof! We have WiFi. But if you’re planning to use smart home technology to help with your aging strategy, then it’s important to know a bit more. Get educated on how the system is set up and how to do basic troubleshooting.

You don’t need to get a degree in engineering to become proficient with smart home technologies. But for all of those people who might be saying, “Ah, who needs the internet?!” keep in mind that smart homes are the wave of the future. It’s what people want. And it’s what companies are making. At some point, it is possible that all we might be able to buy are smart home technologies. No one wants to age behind a steep learning curve.

How to Become More Media Literate

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blueprint drawing man woman shaking hands and media literate

Regardless of your politics, we’ve all been exposed to the concept of “fake news”. It might have been someone who shared an announcement that a celebrity has died, only to find out that it’s either not true or it happened four years ago. Or the news agency that labels an act of violence as terrorism before all the facts are in. Bottom-line: as much as technology and social media have enriched our lives, those tools have also created challenges in being media literate. 

So, each of us has been susceptible to misinformation on the internet. My guess is that it won’t be the last time. This isn’t something to be ashamed or embarrassed about. Even professional journalists have had it happen. And the answer isn’t to stop using the internet. It’s to get better about questioning what we read and see. 

I recently learned about a digital literacy project called MediaWise. The goal of the project is to teach 1 million teenagers how to sort fact from fiction via a course called “Civic Online Reasoning”. Don’t let the goal of educating teens keep you from being interested in this project. That being said, I’m not going to talk about the “Civic Online Reasoning” course today.

Instead, I want to talk about another course that was actually mentioned casually in a promotional video for MediaWise. CrashCourse Media Literacy is a 12-series program that focuses on how to consume and evaluate the media to become more media literate. After watching the Crash Course Media Literacy program, I would strongly recommend this course to anyone wanting to learn more about how the internet shapes our lives. 

The episodes are educational, informative, and sometimes funny. None of the episodes are longer than 10-minutes. I’d like to think that we can afford to take 10-minutes a day to learn more about the internet. And I’m not just talking about fake news. The program does a good job of defining what media is and how we need to think of it as more than Facebook or Instagram. I had several takeaways from this series that I believe will help me be a better media user.

Media literacy isn’t just about what we share. Yes, it’s important that we share only legitimate news. But it’s also important that we don’t assume the all the news we receive is always 100% complete. It’s possible that we’re only hearing a small portion of the news or the facts. And it’s our obligation as a media consumer to research the whole story. We can’t make informed decisions with a fraction of the facts. Granted, there might be times when we don’t get all the facts and we’ll have to decide what to do with that scenario as well. But sometimes, we can find more information if we go looking for it.

You should know what happens with your data. I’m not anti-marketing. I think it’s fantastic that marketing companies have access to consumer data that helps them make good business decisions. That being said, as a consumer, you do need to know what data you’re sharing with companies and what they have permission to do with it. I must admit, I was surprised that CrashCourse included a section on user data, targeting ads, and terms of service agreements. It made me realize that part of my responsibility in being media literate is understanding what happens with my data. 

Media consumers might find it helpful to understand the business of media. Another aspect of the program that I thought was interesting was the conversation about who owns what media and how media ownership can impact what information we see (or don’t see). The program also spent some time talking about which media entities are regulated by the government, which ones aren’t, and why we might want to know that information. Finally, it discussed about how media companies partner with the businesses that make our phones, computers, and televisions to form bundles and exclusive agreements, which may or may not benefit us the consumer.

The purpose of this article isn’t to scare anyone. It’s not to imply that anyone should close all their social media accounts. And it’s certainly not to say that marketing and media companies are doing anything wrong. The purpose of today’s article is to encourage people to become more aware about their relationship with media. The more aware we are about media, the more internet and media literate we can become. 

I am so pleased that I went down the rabbit hole of the internet and found CrashCourse’s Media Literacy program. I spend a lot of time on the internet. We write content that other people consume. It’s important that we’re responsible media publishers. And as individuals, we must learn how to be responsible media consumers. 

Image from the Sharlyn Lauby book Essential Meeting Blueprints for Managers

Manage Your Digital Life with These Three Tools

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Out of Print Sign digital life and technology

We recently published a list of cybersecurity resources from TechCrunch and Google. If you haven’t seen them, it’s worth checking out.

As technology continues to fill our lives, we need to find ways to manage it. I’m not talking about taking digital vacations, although establishing boundaries is a good idea. When we use technology, we open ourselves up to risk. Even when we do all the right things, it’s possible we will have personal information exposed. Today, it could make sense to evaluate whether or not you need some helpful tools to manage your digital life. Here are three tools that we’ve added to make our digital life more secure. 

Password Managers

Consumer Reports published this informative article on “Everything You Need to Know About Password Managers”. And this article from CNET will give you some suggestions for “The Best Password Managers of 2019”. Personally, Keith and have been using LastPass with good results. They offer a family plan so you can make sure that a designated person can access your information in case of an emergency. 

While it’s not a exactly a password manager, I also recently purchased a Google Titan Security Key. This device provides a super-duper level of two-factor authentication to your accounts. I must admit, I’m still trying to figure it out, but I believe it is worth experimenting with. Oh, and if you saw those recent articles about a flaw in the Titan Key, Google is replacing them. Just contact them.

Identity Theft Protection Services

It’s sad to say that in today’s world we must think about this…but we have to think about this. Identity Theft is an issue. A big issue. According to a study published on ZDNet, around 15 million people in the U.S. have been impacted by fraud. To safeguard yourself, you have two options: you can do this yourself OR you can subscribe to a service. A third option would be waiting for a company to provide you with the service for free after your information has been compromised. (Please detect the cynicism in my last sentence.) I found this article on Nerdwallet that could help you decide “Do You Need Identity Theft Protection Services?”. 

CNET also put together a directory of ID monitoring services in their article “The Best identity Theft Monitoring Services for 2019”.

Virtual Private Network

A virtual private network (VPN) is designed to protect your private web traffic from being snooped by outside entities. The purpose isn’t because someone is doing something sinister. But let’s be real, it’s kinda creepy to know that somebody could be snooping around in my web traffic even if it’s nothing more than cute lemur pictures, shoe sales, and Randy Rainbow videos. 

If using a VPN interests you, this article from CNET on the “Best VPN Services of 2019” might be helpful. 

I really don’t like being cynical about the use of technology, but I do think it’s important to be realistic. Technology isn’t going away any time soon. We must be responsible technology users which means finding tools to help us manage our digital lives. 

Do you need to do these things? Maybe not. Personally, I’m finding this is one of those topics where I regularly ask myself, “Can I do it? Yep. Is this the best use of my time? Not really.” Maybe I need to find some tools to help.