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Your Credit Score and How to Improve It
Family Wealth Decisions Group
FAMILY WEALTH DECISIONS GROUP
Registered associates of Family
Wealth Decisions Group are
registered representatives of Lin-
coln Financial Advisors Corp.
Securities and investment adviso-
ry services offered through Lin-
coln Financial Advisors Corp., a
broker/dealer (member SIPC) and
registered investment advisor.
Insurance offered through Lin-
coln affiliates and other fine com-
panies. Lincoln Financial Group
is the marketing name for Lincoln
National Corporation and its
affiliates. Family Wealth Deci-
sions Group is not an affiliate of
Lincoln Financial Advisors Corp
Branch address-6900 Jericho
Tpke, Suite 101E, Syosset, NY
11791
CRN-1565357-080816 Doug Lemons
Beth Tinelli
Tyler D Simmons
Roy S Gilbert
Apr-Jun 2016
score may lead to higher
interest payments over a
lifetime and increased
stress. Fortunately, there are
actions you can take to im-
prove your credit score. But
first things first—
A recent survey from the Na-
tional Foundation for Credit
Counseling determined that
people are more embarrassed
to admit their credit score
than their weight.1 But embar-
rassment may be the least of
their worries. A poor credit
Continue on page 2
Our Team
2016 began with markets fix-
ated on global issues. Equity
markets dropped in January
and February as oil prices
slumped due to fears of a
weakening Chinese econo-
my. As the Fed held interest
rates steady, these concerns
eased. Markets rallied and
most equity markets made it
into positive territory for the
year.
As the first half drew to a
close, many thought the
global macroeconomic is-
sues that had captivated the
interest of market partici-
pants were behind us. In-
stead, in the final days of
June, markets were jolted by
yet another macroeconomic
issue: In a highly anticipat-
ed vote, British citizens
stunned the world when
Quarterly Market Commentary
Continue on page 4
dictions. The initial reaction
has been a sell-off in global
equities. As your advisors,
we would like to offer addi-
tional information that may
put Thursday’s vote into
perspective.
So, what exactly is the Eu-
ropean Union?
July 28, 2016
After weeks of speculation
and debate over the so-
called “Brexit”, British citi-
zens have voted to withdraw
from the European Union.
As is often the case when it
comes to an ominous head-
line, media outlets are abuzz
with “experts” making pre-
“Brexit”
Continue on page 6
Elena Sanoudakis
Inside This Issue
Your Credit Score 1
and How to
Improve It
Brexit 1
Quarterly Market 1
Commentary
Cybersecurity 7
Update
Ira’s IRA Tip 10
Aesop’s Corner 11
Continuing 12
Education
This credit score is proba-
bly the only credit score of
yours that you are aware
of. However, this is not
your only credit score.
There are a total of 49
credit scores issued by FI-
CO! The good news is that
this number is not very
relevant. There are only 28
FICO scores which are
commonly used by lend-
ers. Also, these 49 differ-
ent credit scores are all
under a large umbrella of
categories of scores dis-
tributed by each of the
three major credit bureaus.
There are a total of six cat-
egories that all these
scores fall into, including:
The Generic FICO Score,
There are three major
credit bureaus, each
gathering data about an
individual’s bill paying
history, especially in re-
gard to loans and credit
lines. These bureaus pro-
vide information to com-
panies who are in the
business of making loans
to the public. The three
major credit bureaus are
TransUnion, Equifax and
Experian. When you ap-
ply for credit, one or
more of these bureaus is
usually contacted. This
data is used to determine
your credit score using
analytic models created
by the Fair Isaac Corpo-
ration (FICO).
Page 2
The FICO Mortgage
Score, The FICO Auto
Score, The FICO Bank
Card Score, The FICO
Installment-Loan Score,
and The FICO personal
Finance Score. Essential-
ly, depending on the
kind of transaction you
are looking to pursue, a
lender may focus on one
of your credit scores
within one of these spe-
cific categories (i.e. A
car dealer looking at a
FICO Auto Score).2
How Can You Im-
prove Your Credit
Score? It is very important to
keep tabs on your credit
Your Credit Score (cont. from p. 1)
scores, particularly the
widely used credit scores
of the three main credit
bureaus. These scores are
what lenders use to ap-
prove or deny a loan.
They are used to set terms
on accounts, such as cred-
it limits and interest rates.
Insurance companies use
them to determine the risk
of insuring you. Employ-
ers may check your score
for security purposes. The
list goes on.
The first thing you should
do is to review your credit
report. You can obtain a
free credit report from
What is a Credit Score? It is a numeric scale of an individual’s creditworthiness, usually ranging from 300-850, the higher the num-
ber, the better.
What goes into the makeup a credit score? The first credit scores, created by the Fair Isaac Corporation
(FICO) in 1989, predicted the likelihood that someone would be ninety days late on payments over the next
two years on several different types of debt. Over recent years, these calculations have been tweaked. Alt-
hough there is no single formula today, the following categories and their relative importance may be used
as guidelines:
Payment history Total amount owed Length of credit history Types of credit in use New credit accounts Consistency of making Includes what you How long you have Your outstanding and inquiries
Payments on time owe to the amount been using credit credit accounts, e.g., Accounts you’ve opened
of credit available credit cards, install- and inquiries from
ment loans, mortgage creditors
(Source: www.myfico.com/CreditEducation/)
300-499 500-579 580-679 680-729 730-799 800-850
Very poor Poor Fair Good Very good Excellent
35% 30% 15% 10% 10%
Continue on page 3
Page 3
Your Credit Score (cont. From p. 2)
ment history may in-
crease your credit
score.
If you have questions
about your credit score
and how it may be af-
fected, please feel free
to contact us at Family
Wealth Decisions
Group.
Geoffrey Browne
Dominick Santise
Doug Lemons, CFP®
Geoffrey Browne and
Dominick Santise are interns
currently working at Family
Wealth Decisions Group 1https://www.nfcc.org/press/
multimedia/news-releases/poll
-respondents-more-
embarrassed-to-admit-credit-
card-balance-and-credit-score-
than-age-or-weight/
2 https://www.myfico.com/
Downloads/Files/
myFICO_UYFS_Booklet.pdf
and
http://
www.businessinsider.com/
what-to-know-about-your-49-
different-credit-scores-2012-8
3http://www.experian.com/
blogs/ask-experian/credit-
education/score-basics/
improve-credit-score/
CRN-1550335-071916
no longer using may
negatively affect your
credit. This is because it
may reduce your overall
credit limit and increase
your overall credit utili-
zation rate. Your overall
credit utilization rate is
calculated by adding up
all your credit card bal-
ances and all your credit
card limits and then di-
viding total balances by
total limits.
Refrain from applying
for new credit needless-
ly. Applications for
credit show up as in-
quiries on your credit
report. This indicates to
lenders that you may be
taking on new debt. Of
course, it may be neces-
sary to apply for new
credit, such as applying
for a home mortgage or
an auto loan. But in
some cases it may be
preferable to use the
credit you already have
to prove that you may
manage ongoing credit
responsibly.
Your credit score con-
siders the mix of credit
that you have, for exam-
ples, credit cards, retail
accounts and mortgage
loans. Having a mix of
accounts with good pay-
cards often charge high
interest rates, and why
would you want to in-
cur additional interest
if there is no reason to
do so.
You should not “max
out” your credit cards,
even if you pay on
time. You should be
doing just the opposite.
Your “credit utilization
rate” should be no
more than 30% of your
limit and even less. For
example, if your Visa
card has a limit of
$2,000 and you rou-
tinely charge $1,500
per month, it may not
matter if you pay it all
off before it’s due.
What matters is the
credit bureau’s percep-
tion—it may consider
you a spendthrift who
uses three-quarters of
his available credit
routinely. One option
here is to raise your
credit limit, for exam-
ple, asking Visa to
raise your limit to
$5,000, thereby meet-
ing the 30% guideline.
Of course, this doesn’t
work if your spending
increases commensu-
rately.
Sometimes closing out
a credit card you are
each of the three major
credit bureaus once eve-
ry twelve months from
https://
www.annualcreditreport.
com/index.action. You
should review these re-
ports for errors. Make
sure there are no late
payments incorrectly
listed and that the
amounts owed are cor-
rect.
Second, pay your bills on
time. As you can see
from the above illustra-
tion, paying bills on time
is the most important
contributor to a good
credit score. Delinquent
payments and collections
can have a major nega-
tive effect on a credit
score. According to the
Experian website, delin-
quencies remain on your
credit report for seven
years.3 To assist paying
your bills on time, you
may want to consider
setting up payment re-
minders or automatic
payments.
If possible, you should
pay off the entire bill
each month, or as much
as you can possibly af-
ford. Not only may this
help to improve your
credit score, but credit
Undoubtedly, you have
seen refrigerator magnets,
mugs and other items at
knick-knack shops dis-
playing the “keep calm
and carry on” message.
Because these items are so
prevalent, the message
might seem tired and com-
mon. The origin of the
phrase is anything but
common. As Europe faced
rising tensions leading up
to WWII, British leader-
ship felt massive air at-
tacks by the Luftwaffe
were increasingly likely.
Such attacks would not
only bring damage and
casualties but could result
in widespread panic, fur-
ther crippling the econo-
my. In 1939, the British
Ministry of Information
designed posters bearing
the message in an attempt
to calm and unify the peo-
ple. While the air raids did
come, the panic did not.
Often people can be far
more resilient in the face
of adversity than ever im-
agined.
One of the most important
they voted to withdraw
from the European Un-
ion. Soon the so-called
“Brexit” dominated
most people’s attention.
Ominous headlines and
dire “expert” predictions
were suddenly every-
where.
Given the unknown ef-
fects of a potential Brit-
ish exit, markets were
hard-hit. In the two
trading days following
the vote, the S&P 500
fell 5.34% and the
MSCI Developed Mar-
kets International Index
dropped almost 10%.
Some predicted this was
just the beginning. So
far, it looks like it was
not the “beginning” the
experts had expected.
As of the date of this
letter, the S&P 500 has
surged to new highs for
the year and internation-
al markets have regained
much of the Brexit loss-
es. While we still have a
long way to go and
many twists and rever-
sals are possible, it is
clear knee-jerk reactions
don’t often work. As
we have noted earlier, it
is too early to tell the
long-term effects of
Brexit. It is possible that
the Brexit issues will
take months or years to
play out.
Page 4
factors in successful in-
vesting is the ability to
put things into proper
perspective. Of course,
the Brexit issues are in
no way comparable to
the scope, impact and
tragedy of the London
air raids. There are,
however, potential par-
allels to human reactions
to fear and uncertainty.
Our stewardship of
wealth model seeks to
combine several factors
toward achieving re-
sults. Among them are a
thorough knowledge of
financial history and
emotional discipline.
These principles were
built into your portfolio
well before the Brexit
issues occurred and will
be there long afterward.
Domestic Equities: As
noted, U.S. stocks were
buffeted by various extra-
neous factors throughout
both the latest quarter and
the year-to-date period.
This is nothing new.
Since the recovery from
the 2009 lows, the mar-
kets have been beset by
the Greek debt crisis, the
Ukraine invasion, the
Ebola scare and many
others. In the end, domes-
tic equities carried on.
The S&P 500 advanced
2.5% for the quarter and
is up 3.8% through June.
Recovering from general
weakness last year, small-
er stocks did even better:
the Russell 2500 index
rose 3.6% for the quarter
and is up 4.0% for the
year.
Quarterly Market Commentary (cont. from p. 1)
Continue on page 5
% Return as of 06/30/2016
Equity Indexes 2nd Q YTD 3 Yr
S&P 500 2.5 3.8 11.7
Russell 2500 3.6 4.0 8.6
MSCI EAFE -1.5 -4.4 2.1
Emerging Market 0.7 6.4 -1.6
Wilshire REIT 5.6 11.1 13.6
Bond Indexes
TIPS 1.7 6.2 2.3
Aggregate 2.2 5.3 4.1
Governments 2.0 5.2 3.4
Mortgages 1.1 3.1 3.8
Investment Corporate 3.6 7.7 5.4
Long Corporate 6.6 13.9 8.6
Corporate High-Yield 5.5 9.1 4.2
Municipals 2.6 4.3 5.6
Cash Equivalents
3-Month T-Bill 0.1 0.2 0.1
Consumer Price Index 0.7 0.6 1.1
International Equi-
ties: Obviously, inter-
national equities faced
significant challenges
during the first half.
The threat of weakness
in China during the
first quarter and all of
the Brexit uncertainty
dominated the head-
lines. The actual num-
bers to date are not
nearly as bad as the
headlines might imply.
Even considering the
significant Brexit-
related sell-off, the
MSCI Developed In-
ternational Index
edged down just 1.5%
for the second quarter.
For the year-to-date
period through the end
of June, the index was
down 4.4%. A consid-
erable bright spot was
seen in the emerging
markets. As you likely
recall, due to China-
related fears, the
emerging markets un-
derperformed other in-
dexes by a considera-
ble margin last year.
As is sometimes the
case when an asset
class becomes out of
favor, emerging mar-
kets snapped back. In
spite of the troubles
Page 5
Quarterly Market Commentary
(cont. from p. 4)
with international mar-
kets, the Emerging
Markets Index man-
aged to eke out a 0.7%
gain for the quarter
and is up 6.4% year-to
-date.
Recently, we have
heard, “given the chal-
lenges to international
equities, why include
them in allocations at
all? Why not just put
all of the money in the
best-performing asset
classes and call it a
day?” The answer is
diversification. Histo-
ry has shown that di-
versification often
leads to less volatility
for the overall portfo-
lio with the same re-
turn opportunity over
the long run.
Fixed Income: When
things get scary, mon-
ey often flows to as-
sets considered a safe
haven. Bonds, particu-
larly U.S. bonds, are
often where the money
lands. This, coupled
with the Fed’s appar-
ent softening stance as
to future interest rate
hikes, all added up to a
strong performance for
us. Some see the
world as suddenly
filled with risk and un-
certainty. We know
the world has always
been this way. Fortu-
nately, there are things
we can and have done
about it. We know it is
our job to listen to
your goals. Then we
use the principles of
mathematics,
knowledge of history
and intelligent alloca-
tion to prudently pur-
sue your goals. We
remain committed to
this approach in all
market environments.
Please call if you
would like to discuss
anything. We are al-
ways here to talk.
CRN-1546986-071416
DROUGHT - San Diego
last won a profession-al sports title in 1963 (AFL football title). Between the Padres, the Chargers and 2 former NBA fran-chises, San Diego has gone 109 sport sea-sons without another title, the longest stretch in American sports now that the Cleveland Cavaliers have won the 2016 NBA title (source: ESPN).
bonds. The Barclay’s
Aggregate index rose
2.2% for the quarter
and 5.3% for the first
half of the year. Mu-
nicipal bonds also
turned in a solid per-
formance, increasing
2.6% for the quarter
and up 4.3% year-to-
date. While these re-
turns are strong, bear
in mind that interest
rates are at all-time
lows.
Looking back over
2016, one is reminded
of a quote from famed
investor, Warren Buf-
fett. He once said,
“Investing is simple
but it is not easy.” We
certainly agree. Inves-
tors are bombarded
with information. This
will likely increase as
the upcoming elec-
tions will only add to
the volume. While
some of this infor-
mation is valuable,
much of it is often
laced with speculation
and fear.
It is likely the volatili-
ty will be with us for a
while. These move-
ments are not new to
The European Union is
a political/economic
union of 28 member
states located primarily
in Europe. Current Eu-
ropean Union mem-
bers represent about
7% of the world’s pop-
ulation. Member coun-
tries seek united poli-
cies to help promote
common stances on
trade, capital and de-
velopment. Legislation
and regulations are in
place that govern eco-
nomic interaction
among members, re-
sulting in a single mar-
ket objective. As a re-
sult, the U.K.’s gov-
ernment and economy
are intertwined with
other member coun-
tries in very complex
ways.
Has the U.K. left the
European Union?
No, not yet. The elec-
torate has voted on a
non-binding referen-
dum to exit. For now,
the U.K. remains a
member but negotia-
tions will begin lead-
ing to a possible with-
drawal. It is possible
that given the agree-
ments that are neces-
Page 6
Brexit
sary for a withdrawal,
the separation could
take months or even
years.
What happens next?
Frankly, it is too early
to tell with certainty.
The somewhat surpris-
ing result of the vote
was only announced
late Thursday night. It
is too soon to put for-
ward reliable esti-
mates. This situation
will go on for a very
long time and certain-
ly have many unex-
pected twists and re-
versals. However,
there are some things
we do know. While
the U.K. is a major
world economy, it rep-
resents just 4% of
global GDP. Also, if
the exit does proceed,
the U.K. will not have
to withdraw from the
euro currency as they
have continued to use
the British pound.
That is not to say that
this should be ignored.
An event like this war-
rants attention and we
are continuing to mon-
itor it.
responsibility of help-
ing you, through good
times and bad, very
seriously. We stand
ready to help and are
willing to discuss your
portfolio at your con-
venience. Please call
with any questions or
concerns you may
have.
The content of this material
was provided to you by Lin-
coln Financial Advisors
Corp. for its representatives
and their clients.
Source of data – – Morn-
ingstar, U.S. Department of
Commerce, ECB, The Feder-
al Reserve.
CRN-1533094-062416
IMPACT OF BREXIT - 71% of economists surveyed after the 6/23/16 UK referen-dum vote believe that the United King-dom will slip into a recession within a year (source: Bloom-berg).
ELECTION YEAR 2016 –
16 of the last 18 presidential election years have produced a positive total return for the S&P 500 stock index. The on-ly “down election years” dating back to 1944 were in 2000 and 2008 (source: BTN Research).
Regarding your goals
and your portfolio
It is likely that there
will be considerable
volatility over the near
term. While some will
be happy to react to
uncertainty with fear
and speculation, you
deserve better than
that. It is important to
have a strategy during
times like these. That
is what we do here. As
the fall and recovery
from the sub-prime
crisis and other crises
have shown, panic is
not a strategy. It is of-
ten a recipe for magni-
fied losses. Any altera-
tions to our strategy
and portfolio should
be weighed rationally
and with restraint. As
stewards of your
wealth, we intend to
continue to rationally
evaluate the challeng-
es and opportunities
that uncertainty in the
capital markets pre-
sents. We will work
with you to make any
needed adjustments to
your investment port-
folio, always focusing
on your long-term
goals and personal sit-
uation. We take the
Happy official start of
summer! Vacation may
be on everyone's mind
but it's important to re-
member these cybersecu-
rity tips when traveling.
Think twice about what
you post on social
media. Hackers and
thieves may be lurk-
ing online and waiting
to attack your ac-
counts while you are
away. Knowing that
you are out of town
can also tip off home
thieves. It may be best
to share your fun pho-
tos after you return
from your trip.
If you need to connect,
think about a VPN.
If you need to get
some work done or
access sensitive ac-
counts (such as your
email or online bank-
ing account) while
you are away, be sure
you have a secure and
private connection. A
VPN (Virtual Private
Network) creates a
private, encrypted In-
ternet connection for
you on the go.
Read on to learn more
about cybersecurity news
from this month, includ-
ing:
Page 7
The trouble with re-
using passwords
New skimmers at
Walmart
Sites to change your
password at immedi-
ately
And more
Wave of hacked ac-
counts stems from
password reuse Websites, like Twitter,
Carbonite, and GoTo-
MyPC, have noticed an
uptick in hacked ac-
counts following last
month's news of a 2012
LinkedIn breach. These
sites, among others, say
the hacked accounts are
not from a breach of its
networks but rather an
effect of people reusing
passwords from other
hacked sites, such as
LinkedIn.
This wave of password
resets raises a serious
cybersecurity problem.
We have so many online
accounts that it becomes
impossible to remember
a unique username and
password combination
for each, so we end up
using the same password
on countless accounts.
But, as we can see, that
causes a problem. We
make it easy for the
hackers. If you use the
accomplish in the near
future and turn it into a
password!
Let’s say you want to
drink more water every
day. You can make your
password, Dr!
nk>W@+er or Dr!
nk8gl@$$e$. That’s a
pretty tough password
and it will remind you of
your goal every time
you type it.
Be sure to have unique
passwords for any ac-
counts that contain sen-
sitive information. Reus-
ing passwords make the
hackers’ job easy and
makes your information
even more accessible.
Emerging Threat: Mo-
bile phone account
identity theft
Scammers have found a
new target: your mobile
phone account. The
number of mobile phone
account hijacking vic-
tims has nearly doubled
in recent years. In Janu-
ary 2016 alone, 2,658
people reported a case of
cell phone account hi-
jacking to the Federal
Trade Commission
(FTC).
The scam involves a
person purchasing new
same login and pass-
word combination for
many sites, they can ac-
cess many facets of your
life by knowing one
password.
Coming up with a pass-
word strategy that works
for you is a personal de-
cision. One method we
recommend is creating a
mnemonic password. A
mnemonic uses a phrase,
song lyric, or poem. You
take the first letter from
a line you can remem-
ber, add some numbers
and symbols, and you
have a strong and mem-
orable password.
For example, say you
pick “Jack and Jill went
up the hill to fetch a pail
of water.” Take the first
letters and get: Ja-
Jwuthtfapow. Now, add
strength by using sym-
bols in place of some
letters:
J&Jwu+h+f@pow. Last-
ly, sandwich the pass-
word with a memorable
date (but not your
birthdate):
09J&Jwu+h+f@pow17.
The goal setting meth-
od
Another way to create
memorable passwords is
by using your goals.
Take a goal you want to
Cybersecurity Update-June 2016
Continue on page 8
mobile phones or tablets
on your mobile phone
carrier account. You are
charged for the devices
and the thieves either use
the devices or quickly
sell them to make mon-
ey. Lorrie Cranor, FTC
Chief Technologist,
found herself a victim of
this scam earlier this
month. After her cell
phone stopped working,
she investigated and was
told that two new
iPhones had been added
to her account—and that
her phone had been de-
activated.
Her mobile carrier gave
her little information on
how the theft occurred.
So, Cranor requested her
account records from
identitytheft.gov. She
soon discovered that the
thief used a fake ID with
her own photo but
Cranor’s name.
You can protect your
account by adding a se-
curity PIN or password,
which will make it more
difficult for someone
else to make changes to
your personal infor-
mation. Each mobile car-
rier is slightly different
but you can learn more
about the process (and
Cranor’s story) here .
Page 8
Cybersecurity Shorts
Cybersecurity reports
obtained by Reuters
say the U.S. Federal
Reserve detected over
50 breaches from 2011
to 2015, four of which
were deemed acts of
"espionage." The re-
ports, redacted by offi-
cials before public re-
lease, did not mention
any hackers by name.
Security analysts believe
that foreign govern-
ments are in a position
to gain from obtaining
inside Federal infor-
mation. The National
Incident Response Team
found that no infor-
mation had been dis-
closed, but the Federal
Reserve continues to be
under assault.
Lawmakers are con-
cerned about a possible
cyberattack on the So-
cial Security Admin-
istration (SSA). In a
recent test, an external
auditor succeeded in ex-
tracting large amounts
of information from the
agency’s networks.
While its acting admin-
istrator argues that the
SSA is continually ana-
lyzing and testing its
networks, these actions,
according to the agen-
cy’s Inspector General,
Sixty-five million Tum-
blr accounts found for
sale online. The infor-
mation is believed to be
from a 2013 breach that
exposed emails and
passwords. The pass-
words were salted and
hashed by Tumblr, mak-
ing them nearly impossi-
ble to use. Salting and
hashing passwords is a
form of cryptography
that better protects pass-
words. Hashing means
your password is not
stored in plain text, ra-
ther an algorithm is used
to disguise your pass-
word. Salting random-
izes those hashes, mak-
ing brute force attack
even more difficult.
Tumblr users are en-
couraged to change their
passwords regardless,
and to look out for
phishing emails in the
near future.
Mark Zuckerberg's
Twitter and Pinterest
accounts hacked. Our-
Mine, a Saudi Arabian
hacker group, found
Zuckerberg's account
information in the latest
LinkedIn breach. Zuck-
erberg repeated his
LinkedIn password—
"dadada"—at the other
social media sites. Tsk,
are not enough.
Skimmers hit Walmart
self-checkout lanes. The skimmers found in
Walmart stores in Vir-
ginia and Kentucky are
known as "overlay skim-
mers." The devices are
placed over the actual
card reader and only
take minutes to install.
At quick glance, the
skimming device looks
just like a payment card
reader. Consumers with
EMV cards should dip
their card rather than
swipe whenever possi-
ble. However, according
to the Mercator Adviso-
ry Group, only 60% of
credit cards in the US
have the EMV chip.
House passes a bill to
help prevent tax identi-
ty theft. The Stolen
Identity Refund Fraud
Prevention Act of 2016
would: create an office
within the IRS to help
victims, stop the use of
Social Security numbers
on W-2 forms, and re-
quire that the US Treas-
ury Department notify
consumers of unauthor-
ized use of their identi-
ty—among other things.
The bill will be voted on
by the Senate.
Cybersecurity Update-June 2016
(cont. From p. 7)
Continue on page 9
tsk, tsk,
Average enterprise
stores over 200 unen-
crypted password
files in the cloud. A
new report by Skyhigh
Networks analyzed
cloud data usage for
over 600 companies
and found that the av-
erage firm stores 204
files with the word
"password" on Mi-
crosoft OneDrive. Se-
curity experts warn of
the dangers in storing
unencrypted files con-
taining passwords ei-
ther on your computer
or in the cloud as they
could be accessed. Us-
ing a password manag-
er is a safer option.
University of Calgary
pays $15,000 ransom-
ware. More than 100
computers at the uni-
versity were affected
by the hack—all files
were locked and en-
crypted. Since paying
the ransom, the univer-
sity has been working
on decrypting the files
with the key but it has
been time-consuming
and difficult. Police
warn that the decryp-
Page 9
tion keys do not al-
ways work
Facebook chat logs
could have been
changed by hackers.
A researcher at Check
Point Software Tech-
nology discovered a
flaw in the messaging
app that would have
made it possible for a
hacker to modify or
delete past messages.
For example, they
could change a link
going to a YouTube
video to a ransomware
link. They could also
incriminate users by
changing details in
conversations. The
changes would have
also been made on Fa-
cebook’s servers. Fa-
cebook has fixed the
flaw.
Software Updates
Adobe: If you use
Adobe Flash, stop
reading this and up-
date to version
22.0.0.192 immediate-
ly. This version closes
over 30 security
holes—one that is al-
ready being exploited.
If you do not need
Flash, you should un-
(source: Social Secu-rity Trustees 2016 Re-port).
LONG-TERM ISSUE - The estimated Social Se-curity shortfall today (i.e., a present value number) between the future taxes anticipat-ed being collected and the future bene-fits expected to be paid out over the next 75 years is $11.4 tril-lion. The entire $11.4 trillion deficit could be eliminated by either an immediate 2.58 percentage point in-crease in the com-bined Social Security payroll tax rate (from 12.40% to 14.98%) or an immediate 16% reduction in benefits that are paid out to current and future beneficiaries (source: Social Security Trus-tees).
MEDICARE - Per a 6/22/16 report, the trust fund supporting Medicare Part A (hospital insur-ance) is projected to be depleted by 2028. The long-term (75-year) present value shortfall in the trust fund could be correct-ed by an immediate 0.73 percentage point increase in combined Medicare payroll taxes (from its current 2.90% to 3.63%) or an immediate 16% reduc-tion in Medicare ex-penditures (source: Medicare Trustees 2016 Report).
install or disable it. If
you do, you can down-
load the update here .
Microsoft: This
month, Microsoft
pushed 16 bundles
closing nearly 50 se-
curity vulnerabilities
in Internet Explorer,
Edge, Microsoft Of-
fice, and more. A
handful of the holes
are labeled, “critical”
and you should update
immediately. You
should be prompted to
update your software
but you can learn more
here .
CRN-1550331-071916
IN THE YEAR 2035 - Social Security trustees an-nounced on 6/22/16 that the trust fund backing the payment of Social Security benefits (OASI retire-ment benefits) would be zero in 2035. A zero trust fund does not mean the payment of Social Security benefits would also go to zero, but rather would drop to 77% of their originally prom-ised levels through the year 2090. When the trustees released their report in 2007 (i.e., 9 years ago), the Social Security Trust Fund was projected to be depleted in 2042
Cybersecurity Update-June 2016
(cont. from p. 8)
Page 10
Ira’s IRA TIP
Ira's IRA TIP
The maximum contribution to an IRA in 2016 is
$5500. You can add $1000 “catch-up contribution if
you will be 50 or older and under 70 ½ by 12/31/16.
You may not be able to contribute to an IRA unless
you have “compensation” in an amount at least equal
to your contribution. Compensation includes earned
income (from work) and taxable alimony. It may not
include investment profits and gains – even if that is
your “work”. You should speak to your tax advisor
to see if your income qualifies.
Finally, nothing above addresses whether or to what
extent your IRA contribution may be deductible. An-
other reason to talk with your tax advisor.
Ira, the IRA man
CRN-1550346-071916
Page 11
The Milkmaid, a good girl, was carrying her milk on her head to market. All the while she was dreaming about the eggs she would buy, the chicks that would hatch and grow and lay more eggs and the money she would make as a result. She continued dreaming about the hat she would buy with the money and the boys that would notice her and how she would toss her head…when suddenly her practice head toss caused the pail of milk to fall and spill all of its contents on the ground. Goodbye to the eggs, chickens, money, hat and boys.
The Moral of this Fable is: Don’t count your chickens before they are hatched.
The fable’s moral suggests that it is imprudent to count on daydreams as reality. This has been a common theme in stories about poor people daydreaming about future wealth. We all do it to some extent. Have you ever thought about what you’d do if you won the lottery?
From a planning perspective, perhaps there is a lesson to be learned about understand-ing that dreams of success are great, but dreams are not plans and generally are not sufficient, by themselves, to facilitate the dreamed of success.
What are your dreams for the future? What specific actions have you taken to “move the needle” in that direction? Have you thought about engaging an advisor to assist with this?
CRN-1550349-071916
AESOP’s CORNER
Page 12
We continually try to offer some basic education
to professionals as well as to our clients and others
who are interested.
Please examine the topics below and sign up for
any presentations that interest you. Refreshments
will be served at each presentation.
You may sign up by calling Beth Tinelli at
516-682-7564. You may also email her at
[email protected] or contact her
on our website:
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If you would like to arrange for a private or closed
educational event, please contact us.