Living_in_America™        (PREVIEW)

▹  "secure by default" — Book_of_Moreign™

• "do NOT use debit card or ATM/cash, only credit card to insulate yourself from risk" — Book_of_Moreign™
  ~~ DO NOT TRUST anyone to "pull" money from your bank account.  Debit Card transactions PULL money directly from your bank account ~and~ you do NOT have the same protections like using a Credit Card, as credit-card transations use the bank's money, creating  a layer of separation between your bank account and the vendor who is charging you.  

― IF you prefer NOT to use a credit card, at the least minimize your risk by maybe using a gift-card ...  buy Visa gift-cards when Office Depot runs sales that offset the fees (not just saying things, showing you how also, not affiliated or sponsored by any of them :-)

― IF you hessitant or find difficulty managing credit,  just shrink the credit-limit on a credit-card to prevent yourself from overspending.  There may be credid card providers that will auto-deny and send you a verification text to approve, then re-run the transactions ~~~ if only this was standard behavior ....

NOTE:  Remember pro-privacy is about you being in control of what you knowingly share, the benefits of the credit card outweigh the tracking ... all the best!

• "Paying Bills:  YOU control your money movements — ONLY push,  NEVER authorize any institution pull monies" — Book_of_Moreign™
  ~~ DO NOT TRUST anyone to "pull" money from your bank account.   ALWAYS try to "push" payments from your credit card, first.  IF you cannot, then use your bank's FREE billpay feature to push payments.  ALWAYS take screenshots, so you have proof of issuing the payment, in a God Forbid situation, if an oops happens you have proof of your transaction. 
  Bonus:  it  saves on stamps & posting, money & time!   The one benefit of https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FedNow is the money should be instantaneous (that's what they say).  So, IF your bank delays your transaction ~or~ IF your bank tries to charge you for it — switch institutions (get out of there & go where you are welcome :-)   
  
  

• "NO single point/place has everything about you" — Book_of_Moreign™
  ~~ SPLIT your monies across financial institutions;  most companies now allow splitting your direct-deposit (DD) across 2 banks, so you do not have to maintain minimum balance and can avoid the fees.  Keep only Checking account as external facing (with cheques) and barely anything, if it is breached that's your exposure.  So, make sure the day your DD/pay hits your Checking account, move the bulk of your money to your (Savings, Brokerage, etc.).  

NOTE:  you may want to check out Fidelity brokerage as it gives you everything that a bank gives you for FREE and then some.  Fidelity comes under brokerage laws, and also gives you more coverage than FDIC.  Unlike Schwab or eTrade, Fidelity is private not public, so, do your own due dilligence (sharing per NOTICE in footer :-)

• "Reduce Risk:  YOU control your money movements — AVOID automatic with institutions" — Book_of_Moreign™
  ~~ CONNECTING institutions ... undestand this  https://www.courthousenews.com/judge-approves-settlement-ordering-plaid-to-pay-58-million-for-selling-consumer-data/ 
  ... just opt for connecting via the old school way, deposit a tiny amount over a few days to connect your account.  So, fast comes at a cost ... and in somethings it is NOT worth it

~~ e.g., automatic monthly bill-pay, automatic transfer from Checking to Savings, etc.  Trust you see the point of taking the extra steps now to protect yourself.   The best part is, you will know what your financial status is and cut-off any wasteful spending and grow your financial well-being.  
tidbit:  Remember many of these banks/credit-unions/etc.,  rely on third-parties ...  and when you connect your financial institutions they make it EASY for you for instant connections, except they do NOT always disclose they are using a third-party and WHAT that third-party does with your info.

... now that you know you can be safer :-)

▹  "insulate yourself by default" — Book_of_Moreign™

"check & freeze your credit, and only thaw it when needed, and that too for a tight window" — Book_of_Moreign™

There are several credit/data agencies, but these are the big/primary ones, for now, who have expanded globally!    Remember to always Create a login, so, you can CHECK your credit, FREEZE it, THAW/unfreeze just before you need to use it, and that too only for a tight window, so it AUTO-FREEZES) ... KEEP it accurate & safe ... God Bless!

• Equifax:          https://my.equifax.com

• Experian:       https://www.freecreditscore.com   — this is Experian's FREE credit score + report.

• Transunion:   https://www.trueidentity.com   — this is Transunion's FREE report only, not score.

• Innovis: https://innovis.com  — FREE credit report

• LexisNexis:   https://consumer.risk.lexisnexis.com/consumer  — this is the big-daddy as it is for banking accounts, towing, and even US Govt.
  ~ federalnewsnetwork.com/agency-oversight/2023/03/for-years-gsa-deceived-agency-customers-about-login-govs-security-bonafides
  ~ nextgov.com/digital-government/2022/11/logingov-getting-new-anti-fraud-tools-privacy-advocate-raises-concerns/380159
  ~ reuters.com/technology/us-treasury-weighs-alternatives-idme-after-privacy-concerns-raised-2022-01-29 

Food-for-thought: (feel free to research this) 

• ID.me — is a private entity that is supposed to ID you for you to access US Govt. sites

• Login.gov — IRS/EFTPS/etc. use Login.gov to identify you;  Login.gov uses LexisNexis (HQ in New York, is subsidiary of UK based RELX) 

*** Research and you can find ways to avoid Login.gov & ID.me and still work with the the US Govt. sites ... 

▹  "keep your finger on the pulse" — Book_of_Moreign™

Finance dictates our day-to-day life, cost of goods, lay-offs, raises, etc. — so even if we are not going to invest,  it is imperative that we learn to be aware.   After dabbling around for a few years, realized that charting tools paint the most realistic near-realtime picture of the markets.  After playing around with various products, and seeing some promising startups morph/fade/etc., I landed on TradingView.   After testing them for many months, TradingView  stood out for me (in 2024)  to the point I decided to become an  affiliate.  

• If you want to get a decent look into live trading, without shelling out, check out their FREE option — so you can get a feel for what is going on, and be prepared, think of it as checking the weather news even if you are not going out/fishing :-)

• tid-bit:  When you are ready, rather than using your brokerage's tools only, you now have one of the best third-party tools to separate your actual trading from your learning/trying/strategizing/etc.  

• note:  this is the first time ever that I am providing an affiliate link,  just in case you wish to take a look at them https://www.tradingview.com/?aff_id=132605.
  For clarity — NOT recommending or promoting, just sharing link IF you decide to go beyond the FREE option.