Dad’s words to remember

My oldest just got graduated from college (yeah me and yeah her!)…

Today I came across a posting that made me think.. hmm.. how much of my advice about money was truly useful.  Take a look at this article in Money Advice.

Now why did I like this article? Well growing up, only gave me one advice and I think it was the worst advice any father can give to his child. He told me:

“If you don’t save your money, one day you will lose it all“. Can you imagine the impact of that kind of harshness it has on the long term psyche of a maturing teenager? Well because of these wise words, I grew up being always afraid that I would become poor if I spent money and didn’t enjoy life.. I tried to squirrel away as much money as possible. This was good and bad..

I did manage to save money, but it didn’t stop me from getting into debt..

I always wanted to enjoy life, but had to reel myself in.. Instead of encouraging me to be cautious.. he just flat out said “you will lose it, with your desires“. Again a double whammy

So I as grew up and earned more and more money, I became even more afraid of losing all of my financial independence.. It affected all parts of my life.. I was determined to overcome this personality glitch and it took me a long time, but I think through my kids, I’ve turned the tide on this.

My kids were always taught to be in balance with spending and saving.. Yes they do what they want no mattr what Dad says.. but overall they are quite well adjusted when it comes to money..

 

Scam Alert: Fix My PC

Over the past few weeks, I’ve gotten a few calls from a notorious scammer from 800.843.0000. (DO NOT CALL THIS NUMBER IT IS A SCAM)

Now this scammer thinks I’m going to go over to my computer and give him access so he can steal my financial information. I don’t think so!

When I ask him for more information, he just repeats the same thing over and over again (as do I!)

“Sir, please go to your computer, so I can help you remove the virus from your computer“.

So I ask him: “Which computer?”, to which he replies.. “Your personal computer“..

So I tell him “I have multiple computers, which one?”..

he replies “the one you are in front of”

I say: “But I’m on my phone and not in front of my computer”

He says: “Sir this is deep support (no relation to deep throat I assume), and we have noticed that your computer has a virus and we would like to help you”.

I say: “which computer???”

We volley back and forth for a few minutes and finally I just hang up on the creep!

I’ve hung up on this guy a few times already.. but he just seems to love to call Dad’s Taxi and waste my time when I’m busy..

So next time, I’m going to have some fun and ask him to let me log into his computer so I can help him remove the virus on his machine? What do you think of that plan?

Since I have an evil streak: Next time they call me, I’ll tell the scammer  that I”ve been testing some nasty viruses on my machine and them calling me might have infected their computer via the SIP protocol (thank to my friend Mark W. for this one). Continue and harass them and reverse the call on them to ask if their computer has slowed down and they need to remove these nasty viruses simultaneously. otherwise their disk will crash!.. Won’t that be fun!

Ok.. so how do you defend yourself from these scammer’s and spammers?

• Be alert.. No “Geek team” or “high tier support” will call you without proper knowledge.
• Do not cooperate even if you think you do have malware or a virus on any of your computers.. If you have a Mac you are inherently protected.
• Hang up.
• List all your phone numbers  on the National Do Not Call Registry (Register All your numbers: Mobile/VOIP, etc..). You will have to provide an email address for verification purposes.
• Follow the directions (You will have to certify your numbers with a valid email)

Just for jollies see how many others have been calling with the same numbers with the various variations on the scam by calling who is calling me via the directory of unlisted callers (NO this will not give you a virus or malware.. it’s a legitimate site!)

You will see that there are various spins on these scam calls. I particularly love the “IRS” one.. that is bound to work on the elderly.. or the ones that are gullible.

Now excuse me as I just got a call  I need to get back to that guy who has issued a warrant for my arrest and is from the IRS. Because I really don’t want to get arrested by the Sheriff for being stupid and being scammed.. right?

Don’t get scammed! always be alert!

Irrational Morality

I was talking to a friend of mine a few weeks ago and we were discussing the issue of morality.

Of course I had an opinion (as I always do) about this, and I came up with two words that describe the way I think.

Irrational Morality – My definition of this is when you do the right thing for the wrong reason. This could mean doing something for your spouse, children, friends for the wrong reason.. Now what exactly does that mean? Let’s talk of a few examples and of course you are free to chime in with your feedback if you have any.

Here are my thoughts and examples on Irrational Morality

• If you are single you stop seeing someone because they are too good for you. The person you are seeing is perfect and loves you unconditionally. Even with your flaws and questionable emotional, or psychological patterns of behavior.
• Getting married for the sake of getting married. You know you are marrying the wrong person, but you say to yourself: “There does not seem to be anyone else better, so might as well settle for the person with you are with“.
  • Now why is this irrational morality? You are getting married for the wrong reason yet you think you are doing the right thing morally by marrying someone that you know will not make YOU happy, but THEY will be happy to be married to YOU
• To know the difference between right and wrong is important, but to be able to make the right decision for the right decision is key. When you make the wrong decision (i.e. Divorce) because you think you will be happier and more “independent” being single, is a classic case. Divorce is death.. Death of a relationship and it takes a few years to rebuild your life, and even then you are walking a fine line between sanity and insanity. h
  • A friend of mine related this to me.. and this guy was married for over 20 years! I know this guy better than anyone and he’s one of the most balanced guys I know.
    • When I asked him about “irrational morality”.. he got it right away: He said: “I can attest to this as I’ve gone through this “process” over the past two years and let met tell you I had totally underestimated the total impact of divorcing to do the right thing (morally)”
    • “I figured being divorced would be easy, so I gave up and went through the “process”. My Ex felt that being not-married to me would give her independence but she is more dependent on me than ever.”
    • “Thanks to the legal system, alimony and child support guarantees me unhappiness and the the sole responsibility of child care guarantees her unhappiness. So we divorced and now we lead two separate lives and and half the financial stability. The kids will now grow older with a broken home, because we irrationally felt divorce would solve our problems!”

Do you have any examples of irrational morality? If you do I’d like to hear about it.