“Rick, what are some interesting activities that others are doing that bring joy to their lives?” This is a question that many of my older clients often ask me. I suggest family vacations, volunteering at a charity, and being with your grandkids.

I would now like to recommend something that was never on my bucket list until COVID forced me to spend more time indoors – writing a book about my life!

This process started when my son gave me a Christmas gift in December 2021 called StoryWorth, a website that simplifies writing and publishing a book. Every week for 52 weeks, I received an email with a question. I then would answer that question. I could also eliminate their suggested questions and ask ones I felt were more relevant to me.

Below are some questions asked by StoryWorth:

–  Tell me about your parents and grandparents.

–  How is life different today compared to when you were a child?

–  How did you meet your wife?

–  What advice would you give to your children and grandchildren?

I added some of my own questions, such as:

–  Why was a trip to Russia on your bucket list?

–  What factors do you feel attributed to your long, continued marriage?

–  What is one of the scariest situations you’ve faced in your life?

You can add pictures throughout the stories. This motivated me to go through stacks of old photo albums, many of which were in black and white, of my parents, grandparents, and my younger self.

 My wife and two children were my editors. They added additional information and accuracy to my stories and added more pictures. The book is now 307 pages and includes many priceless photos.

Challenges of my experience:

• Takes time, especially for me, because I tend to write in bullet points, not paragraphs. However, there is no deadline to complete the book…it took me 18 months. The support group at StoryWorth was very helpful in answering my questions.

Benefits of writing a book:

• My grandkids and future generations will know more about my life stories, including several stories that were new to my wife and children,
• The book contains the “greatest hits” pictures rather than losing them somewhere in the basement or on someone’s iPhone,
• Immense personal satisfaction from having written a book.

My takeaway:

I wish my parents and grandparents had written a book about their lives and advice for me and future generations. Now, with current technology, writing a book is much easier. Being older is an opportune time to tell one’s life stories while we still remember them. This is also a perfect gift for parents and grandparents. If you want information on writing a book using StoryWorth, I would be glad to talk with you!

It’s no secret we love Morgan Housel. We reference him time and time again because everything he says is spot on. If you don’t know, he has a new podcast and we’re enjoying hearing Morgan every bit as much as we love reading him. In the episode “The Power of Staying Put,” Morgan says, “There are so many times in life where what you do is less important than how long you’ve been doing it for.” It sounds a lot like taking the long view.

Listen here.

In today’s digital landscape, knowing what cyber risks to avoid and which red flags to look for are essential to protect you from evolving cyber threats. We’re sharing our top ways to protect yourself this summer.

3 steps you can take today to protect your email 

• Enable two-factor authentication. This is our top bang-for-your-buck recommendation: easy with a big security benefit. Two-factor authentication adds an extra layer of security to protect you even if your password gets compromised. For those of you who use Gmail – here is a link that shows you how to set it up.
• Don’t share private personal information. Opt for a good old-fashioned phone call if you ever need to share passwords, social security numbers, or bank details. Our team can help you create secure links if you need to share these over written communication.
• Have a long, strong, and unique password. We’ve said it before, and we’ll say it again – keeping your email (and banking) passwords ~15 digits long and unique from other passwords are simple ways to protect yourself. Why? Criminals will grab the username and password combinations from retailers and test them at banks and email providers. Unique passwords help prevent this technique from working. Here is an independent review of good password managers that can help you store your info securely.

A discussion of email security would be deficient without a mention of phishing. We think this is so important we’re highlighting three additional tips to help you identify phishing when you encounter it. What is phishing? Email phishing is a cyber-attack where scammers attempt to trick you into revealing your private information through email. They often use a combination of social engineering or malicious links to get you to share information. This is, unfortunately, becoming more common, and it’s important to know how to protect yourself.

3 tips to spot a “phish” in your inbox

• Suspicious email addresses. Phishing emails often mimic legitimate organizations but have slight variations or misspellings in the sender’s address. Check if the email matches the official domain, and be cautious of misspellings or unexpected differences.
• Urgent language and misspelled words. Phishing emails use urgency to create panic and pressure you into immediate action. They may threaten account closure or penalties. Beware statements like “Your account will be deactivated in 24 hours” or “Legal action will be taken if you don’t respond soon.” Misspellings are easy to spot and often indicate a phish.
• Requests for sensitive information, suspicious links, or attachments. Phishing emails ask for sensitive details like passwords or credit card numbers, which legitimate organizations rarely request via email. Avoid sharing personal information through email unless you’ve verified the request independently. When you see an email that you think is a phish, we recommend calling the institution directly to verify (using a phone number you look up instead of the phone number in the suspicious email).

At HIG, we work daily in the background to protect your information by raising awareness within our team, identifying vulnerabilities, evaluating security controls, and fostering a security culture. We have developed a comprehensive cybersecurity program that includes quarterly phishing testing of our team to fortify our internal defenses for your protection. Curious to learn more? Give me a call at 314-448-4023.