Financial Friday

10 Money Saving Ideas

1. Do it yourself,
2. Find someone to talk money with,
3. Actually eat your leftovers, 
4. Pack a lunch,
5. Wait until things go on sale,
6. Sleep on it before buying,
7. Negotiate,
8. Cut up credit cards,
9. Take out cash, when the cash is gone stop spending money,
10. Start an auto draft to a savings account.

Doing it yourself is always overlooked when trying to save money.  We are in the golden age of media.  You can find a how-to video for anything on YouTube. 

Recently my sister took her SUV in for an oil change.  The dealer wanted to charge her $50 to replace the air filter.  A quick look on YouTube showed her how easy it was.  Then she went to an auto parts store and asked the guy at the counter for one.  Total price, $19.95.    It took about the same time, she saved almost 60%, and learned something new.

The next time you need something done, do a quick Internet and YouTube search and see if you can do it yourself.  You may be able to save big.

Next week we’ll talk about finding someone to talk money with.

Stay Safe,

Ben

Who’s the Good Guy?

If you are reading this, it’s probably you.  The problem is everyone doesn’t know that, especially the cops.  So what can we do to make sure the good guys know we are the good guys?

The first thing is to call the police.  Generally whoever calls first is the victim, and by default the other person is the bad guy.  So if something happens, call the police and report it.  Sometimes they might not even send a police officer, just let them know something happened.  Criminals are getting smart.  If they lose, they may call 911 just to keep from going to jail.  They are criminals, so they will lie to get what they want.

Once police arrive things get harder.  Start by doing what they tell you to.  If the cop runs on the scene and you and a bad guy are standing there.  He will yell something like freeze.  The one that runs is always the bad guy, ask any cop.  Just remember the bad guy may take a cheap shot if you look away.

If you are in the middle of a struggle this becomes even harder.  An off duty ATF agent in New York had this go terribly wrong and was killed by an off duty New York Cop while struggling with a robber (Story Here).  There is no right answer that will work every time, but start immediately talking to the Police Officer that arrives.  You want to stay things that will get the officer thinking.  Remember the police officer will be excited and scared.  State the obvious first (I’m the good guy, help me), and then start talking to the cop.  This is supper hard while you are in the middle of a fight, but the alternative is to become the bad guy in the cops’ eyes and have them attack you.

During any encounter with police when there has been a crime, be patient.  The first thing the police will do is “secure the scene.”  In other words, make the area safe for them.  This may include handcuffing, searching, and putting everyone in the back of squad cars, or holding everyone at gun point until more officers can get there to sort out what happened.

Do remember that cases like the New York ATF Agent above are rare, but do happen.  When the police first arrive you could be in just as much danger from them as a bad guy.  So the three things you can do to mitigate this danger are, be the first to call police, start talking to the police once they arrive, and obey the commands given by police.

Stay Safe,

Ben  

Should You Listen to a 911 operator?

Yes and no.  Some operators are very well trained and some not so much.  Some will have your best interest in mind.  Some will have their own liability in mind.  

On New Years Eve a woman had this question come crashing down on her in Oklahoma.  Her husband died the week before and a creepy guy had been hanging around since.  New Years Eve the creep returned with a friend and a 12-inch knife trying to break into her house.  She put her three-month old son in the crib, got her shotgun and pistol and called 911 (read the transcripts and story here).  The phone call goes on for 21 minutes.  She is asking the 911 operator if she can shoot the guy if he comes in.  The operator says she can’t tell her that.  Later the operator reveals that she wanted to help the mother, but because of policy couldn’t tell her to shoot someone.  The poor mother had to shoot the creepy guy to protect herself and her son.  The creep ended up dying.  My heart goes out to the young mother that had to kill someone, but I’m glad she and her son are okay.

There are two reasons you shouldn’t trust everything a 911 operator is telling you.  The first is the story above.  Obviously if someone is stocking you and breaks into your house with a 12-inch knife he isn’t there to help you.  Most of us would say that shooting the creep was necessary.  The 911 operator was limited to her policy, which was set to limit the liability of her department and then help people.

The other reason you shouldn’t always trust everything a 911 operator says is because the operator isn’t there.  No matter how well you describe what is going on the operator will not have the complete picture.  The operator will give you the best answer they can with the information they have.  No one can say what you should do, except you. 

Learn what you should and can do to protect yourself.  If you intend to have a gun for self-defense you should get training from multiple sources.  Continue to read blogs like this one and ask people that are more knowledgeable then you.

Stay Safe,

Ben

Buying Your First Handgun

You made the decision to buy a gun, now what?  There is about a million different types and styles to chose from.  We are in a great age of guns.  Almost everything on the market is excellent.  So much of the choice is personal style and preference.

Be prepared to spend $300 at least.  Sometimes you can find a steal of deal below that, but normally anything below that number is not worth buying.  You can find some good used guns for that price and can get something new for around $500.  These prices only go up.  There are some great handguns on the market for $3,000, but that is like giving your teenager a Ferrari so he can learn to drive.

Picking a handgun is like picking a vehicle to drive.  We start with what you want the vehicle for.  So what are you going to use the handgun for?  Since this is a self-defense blog, I’m assuming you want one to protect yourself. 

What caliber should I chose?  There are millions of pages of print on this, but I’ll make it super simple.  Get a 9mm for your first gun.  It’s enough of a round to be serious in self-defense, but it kicks less, has less noise, and is cheaper the other popular or not so popular self-defense rounds.  

What type of gun?  Generally we think either auto-loading pistol or revolver.  Auto-loading pistols are what most people are using now and I suggest you get one.  It has less recoil and a little less of an explosive feeling in your hands.  With a revolver there is a little gap that allows some of the powder to escape out the sides when fired.  The auto-loader has everything go out the end of the barrel.  Neither is dangerous.

Where is the gun going to stay? If you are going to leave the gun in the house for protection there, you want a full size or duty gun.  Something a police officer would carry.  It’s a little big to carry concealed, but the bigger the gun generally (to a point), the easier it is to shoot, the less felt recoil there will be, and the more ammo it holds.  If you are going to carry it everyday go with something that is compact.  They look kind of like a duty gun’s little brother.  For your first gun stay away from the subcompact, pocket size, or mini guns.  They are extremely hard to shoot well, recoil a lot, are really loud, and hard to hang onto while shooting.  They are nice to carry because of their size and weight.  After you have been shooting a while and want something else then you can figure one of these tiny guns out.

Make and model comes down to personal preference and hand size.  Every gun has a little different feel when you pick it up.  The best way to test this is go shoot a bunch of guns.  If you can buy some instructor time or take a beginners class that would be best.  Most instructors have lots of guns for you to try.  If you can’t get a class and want to buy one first, ask the gun store clerk how to hold a handgun.  A proper grip is as high up as you can so the top of your hand is stopped by the bump that comes out.  If the gun fits right, when you put your finger on the trigger your forearm and the gun will be in a straight line.  There will be multiple guns that work, pick up everyone in the 9mm area and find out which one feels the best for you.

A little warning about gun store clerks, some of them are extremely knowledgeable and good at their job, others are like used car salesmen.  Just trying to get you to buy whatever they have in the case.

If you have any questions or want some more help, e-mail me or leave me a comment and I’ll answer them all.

Stay Safe,

Ben 

Craig’s List Home Invasion

Last week at church a couple shared their story of a different home invasion robbery.  A “normal” home invasion robbery, the robbers knock on the door and as soon as the door is opened they rush through.  This one was different.

The couple was selling puppies on Craig’s List and had one left.  A guy called them and wanted to see the last puppy that night because he wanted to buy it for his girl friend but was leaving town the next day.  Even though it was late, he wanted to come over that night.  The couple are night people so they said yes.  The guy showed up with a male friend. 

They played with the puppy for about an hour.  The original guy was on his phone the entire time taking pictures and texting his girl friend.  He finally said he wants the dog and was going out to get the money from his van.

The guy returned with a 9mm pistol and pushed the couple and their adult bulldogs into the bathroom and spent about 5 minutes ransacking the house taking anything of value.  They took all their computers, phones, and even the puppy.

The robbers left without hurting anyone.  The homeowner worked for an ambulance company and used his radio in his vehicle outside to call for help.  His wife went to the neighbor’s house and had to wake them up to get some help.

A bunch of cops showed up, someone from his ambulance company, and lots of onlookers.  Fortunately the not-so-bright criminals were caught an hour later sitting in a parking lot in their van.  When the cop drove by to investigate the van, both criminals ducked trying to avoid being seen.  The cop made an easy arrest, and the couple got all their stuff back including the puppy.

The couple’s biggest suggestion was to write some phone numbers down.  Once their computers and phones where gone, they didn’t have the number of friends to call.  A couple of their friends found out and went to their house a little later and helped them calm down and deal with everything.  The couple said having friends there made a huge improvement to the situation.

Here are a couple things we can learn from this experience.  Don’t let people in the house you don’t know.  Meet them at a busy parking lot with friends, or outside on the lawn.  Use their experience to help you if anything happens.  Write down phone numbers so you can call friends to help.  Friends can calm you down and help you deal with police and/or media. 

Stay Safe,

Ben

P.S. Apparently their bulldogs don’t make good guard dogs. 

Financial Friday

Do You Have Credit Cards?

Credit cards can be good and bad.  The obvious down side it that you can spend way more money then you have.  And there are upsides to a credit card besides airline miles (insert sarcastic font). 

The down side of a credit card is running a balance.  If you are running a balance from month to month (meaning you pay interest), you are wrong.  Even 0 percent cards shouldn’t have a balance.  If you have a balance that means you are not managing your money well.  Your money is managing you.  If you always have a balance and don’t know how to pay it off, check out Dave Ramsey.  He is the “get out of debt guy.”  He will tell you to cut up your credit cards, they will bring you nothing but trouble.  Credit card companies are sharks.  They sit around inventing ways they can take money from you.  If you think I’m wrong just try reading the cardholder agreement some time.  There is stuff in there that you won’t believe is legal. 

The up side to credit cards is not the airline miles.  In fact most miles are never redeemed.  The only gimmick you want is cash back, even then it’s not a good reason to use a card (most of the time it’s so complicated you will spend more time figuring out the program then it would have taken you to earn the couple bucks you’ll get back).  The true value of a credit card is when something goes wrong.  First you have legal protection and are only responsible for up to $50.  Debit cards don’t have the legal protection, only the cardholder agreement (read it and it says they can change the agreement at anytime for any reason). 

I also enjoy that if something goes wrong it’s not real money.  If someone steals your debit card, they drain your account.  If someone steals your credit card, then you have no loss yet.  When it comes to getting your money back a bank has no skin in the game.  It’s your money that is gone, out of your account, so they’ll get to it when they can.  A credit card company has to put up the money, so they are more inclined to help you.

Lastly is the charge back option.  You can legally dispute any charge up to 60 days for any reason and the credit card company has to investigate.  On a debit card it goes back to the cardholder agreement.  If you order something from the Internet and it doesn’t come, simply go through the process with your credit card and they will credit your account.  Try and get a bank to put their money in your account.

I use a credit card for online purchases and any auto monthly charges.  I also used a Capitalone credit card while I was traveling overseas because it had a 0 cost of conversion.  My bankcard wanted to charge me a currency conversion fee and a doing business overseas fee.   I also don’t allow utilities, gyms, or anyone for that madder, to directly debit my bank account.  There is way too much fraud and the banks haven’t even tried to put in any safe guards.  Once again, if there is something that goes wrong, try and get the bank to put money in your account.

Stay Safe,

Ben  

Information Protection

Part 2 of 2; Your Phone and Emails

Personal information is more available, and we give it out freely.  I’m like any modern American.  I have an iPhone, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Linkedin, Blog, Google+, Web site, and e-mails.  You need to learn how to use your security/privacy settings.

Your iPhone will give you away every time.  It logs where you are and what you are doing.  First go to iTunes and change your back up setting to encrypted, then (if you are using the cloud) make sure your backups are encrypted in the cloud too.  When you take a picture, by default, the phone tags the time, date, and location as part of the file.  If you post the picture on the Internet people can get that information from the picture.  Check out your phone settings and learn how to turn on/off the location services.  The iPhone can turn the location service on and off for individual programs.  Anytime I’m taking a picture for the web I turn off my location services first.  If you have an Android or Blackberry phone learn those setting and how to use them.

To keep my personal life personal, I have three phone numbers and multiple e-mail addresses.  My first phone number is the one on this site.  It’s a voice mail service and doesn’t ring anywhere.  When you leave a message I get an email with a .wav file attached with the message.  My next number is a Google Voice number.  Google Voice is awesome!  I can forward it to anywhere I want.  I can use the computer or my smart phone to make calls from it.  I can turn it off during certain times and can block any number I want (very useful for sales and collection calls).  Then I have my actual cell number.  My voice mail number is posted everywhere, my Google Voice number I give out to everyone and is on my business card.  My actual cell number I only give it out to certain people. 

A close friend started changing his number every year because of the people at work that got his number and used it inappropriately.  Now he has a Google Voice number and doesn’t have any issues.  He simply turns off his Google Voice number when he isn’t working.

I also use Google for my emails.  Keep in mind that Google data minds everything for advertising information.   So if you have something that needs to be private, use something else.  I have three personal emails.  An AOL account that I’ve had forever and is forwarded to my Google account.  I use this one to fill out forms on and off line.  I have a Yahoo account that I give to my friends, and it also is forwarded to my Google account.  This way emails go through two different spam filters and I don’t see any of it.

I have a couple business accounts, one for this site and one for the company I’m working for right now.  It sounds super complicated, but it’s easy.  Everything goes to my phone and I only have to check three different things.  Having different accounts keeps my life separate, and well organized.  This works well for me, and keeps my personal life personal and off the web.  The amount of crap you will get if you post an email account on line is mind blowing (that’s why this site has a service instead of my email address posted).

Remember, don’t put anything on the web that you don’t want people to see.  And, that once something is on the web, it really never goes away.

Stay Safe,

Ben  

Information Protection

Part 1 of 2; Your Social Networks

                   

Personal information is more available, and we give it out freely.  I’m like any modern American.  I have an iPhone, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Linkedin, Blog, Google+, Web site, and e-mails.  You need to learn how to use your security/privacy settings.

Facebook is the most popular and drives me the craziest.  It always changes, so keep an eye on it.  Anyone on Facebook can see your profile name and picture.  Everything else you can control, including things you post.  Check out this link to read more about Facebook security features. PC World did a good overview of advanced settings and 10 things to look out for on Facebook.  Or what I do is simply not post anything that I wouldn’t want others to see.

I like Twitter.  It’s so much simpler.  It’s old-school open source.  Whatever you put on Twitter, everyone can see.  Don’t post anything personal you wouldn’t give to the world.  Your current location may be the most dangerous thing to give out.  Be careful. 

Linkedin is something I have, but don’t use a lot.  I have an automatic system that updates from my Facebook account.  People can still send me direct messages, or the like.  Check out the setting here and know what people can see and what you are posting.  Don’t put your complete address or Social Security Number on Linkedin.  A company doesn’t need that information until they are going to hire you or do a background check.

Google+ is the new kid on the block.  I kind of like it and hope it keeps going.  Their big thing is you can create groups of people to talk to and to listen to.  Just remember Google likes information.  They get as much information as they can and then sell it for advertising.  Google is generally not malicious, but kind of creepy when you think about it.  Check out your own Google profile here.

Flickr is only dangerous if you are posting drunken pictures of yourself.  Most companies will now do a Google search on you before they hire you.  So don’t make the crazy photos public.  Also look at the tags your camera is putting on the pictures.  If you use your iPhone it automatically tags your photos with data, time, and location.  If you post them directly to Flickr people can easly get the tag info from them.

If you want to know what the web knows about you, Google your name, or check out Zaba Search.

The bottom line with everything on the web, don’t post things you don’t want others to know.  Think about your personal situation and who might be after you as to what you are posting.  A single Mom in a bitter custody dispute should not be posting where she is or “I just dropped my kid off at …” from her mobile phone.  When I was working in Iraq, I didn’t post anything.  I was a dreaded security contractor and had an automatic price on my head from things Blackwater did while I was there.

Think before you post.

Stay Safe,

Ben

Trained Observer

Ted BundyIn a past post I talked about looking around at a security checkpoint in the airport to determine who was who.  This is a skill that is easily developed and once you have it, it doesn’t go away.

My wife and I went on a cruise for our first anniversary.  On the ship was some wealthy guy that brought aboard his bodyguards with him.  For me they stood out like a soar thumb.  They did a good job of fitting in, as my wife didn’t see them.

Start studying people.  As you start categorizing people you will start seeing the dangerous ones, or the ones that may bring danger to you. 

The easiest way to start is picking out cops.  Look at how they act, walk, and stand while in uniform.  They act the same when out of uniform.  It’s part of who they are.  You can pick out criminals the same way. 

Then you can start picking out dangerous people on both sides.  There are good people, former soldiers, cops, and self-defense people that can be dangerous, but not to you.  Learn to pick these people out, they are the people that can give you the most help if you need it.  The other dangerous people are criminals.  Start by picking out gang members. They are the easiest and some time the most dangerous.

Then keep looking at how criminals act on the news.  Then you can start picking them out in real life.  When you find one of these in the real world, go the other way.  Easiest way to stay safe, don’t be there when things go bad.

Stay Safe,

Ben

Flying with a Gun

I’m still thinking about the travel I did last week.  I didn’t fly with my gun this time but normally do.  Of course I declare my firearms to the airlines and follow (to the best of my abilities) the TSA rules to carry the weapons legally. 

There has been a lot written in the last year about firearms theft in airports.  Unfortunately a lot of them are supposedly done by TSA and the airlines.  It seems when the firearm goes missing during transit, the TSA blames the Airlines and the Airlines blame TSA, and no one will give up the tapes from the cameras that are supposedly monitoring these areas.

So what can we do? Politically TSA needs to go or be restructured.  It was a good idea to have a set standard for all security people at airports, and a good idea to get them extra training.  But now they are above the law and they answer to know one.  They can do what ever they want in the name of anti-terrorism and the people don’t have a say.

Next we can simply choose not to fly, which I do as much as possible.  I’d rather drive anyways.  If you can get there in less than 8 hours of driving it will take you the same time to fly as drive.  I proved this on a trip from Phoenix to LA.  We had plane tickets and our friends drove.  They dropped us off at the airport and then left.  We got there at the same time (yes I know we should of drove with them, but it was unplanned for us all to be going the same place at the same time).

Lastly, I disable my firearms when I travel.  I have no idea if that is legal or not, but I do it.  I don’t want someone to use my firearm to commit a crime.  I simply take a piece of the gun and put it in another part of the bag.  Not a major piece, but something the gun needs to function.  Things I’ve taken out are firing pins, take down pins, recoil springs, or on an old Ruger pistol I put the weapon on safe and then used a screw driver to take the safety lever off so the weapon couldn’t be put on fire with that piece.  If you don’t know what to do with your firearm, send me an e-mail and I’ll help you, or just Google it.  This way if the worst happens at least you will have peace of mind to know that your gun can’t hurt anyone without someone buying parts.

Stay Safe,

Ben