Watching Your

Pennies Online

M

any people are worried about conduct-
ing any part of their financial lives
online. They worry that the danger of having
their accounts broken into or their identity
stolen is somehow greater online than offline.

In fact, the greatest risk of ID theft is still that
someone might take mail from your mailbox
or discarded documents from your trash. With
a good understanding of creating and using
strong passwords (see Chapter 3), some savvy
about avoiding e-mail scams (see Chapters 5),
protecting yourself against downloaded spy-
ware (see Chapter 15), and the specific advice
we provide about online investing, banking,
and bill paying in this chapter, you can go a
long way towards avoiding ID theft and enjoy
the convenience of safely managing your finan-
cial life online.

Invest Online

Online investing and investment tracking is
fast, efficient, and often less expensive than
using an offline broker. The Internet also
makes it very easy to check the value of any
stock you are interested in. Many online com-
panies such as E*TRADE and Charles Schwab
let you place your own orders for a small fee.

13

In this chapter...

➟Invest Online ....................263

➟Bank Online......................265

➟Protect Your Identity Online 267

➟Understand Medical ID

Theft ................................269

➟Online Personal Health

Records ..........................270

➟Understand the Risk of

Identity Theft by Age ..........271

➟Get Your Free Credit

Reports ............................272

➟Freeze Your Credit ............274

➟Continue Protecting Your

Identity Online ..................275

➟

Chapter