Nowadays, e-mail inboxes are routinely flooded with scams—from missing pet and child notices, to official-looking IRS refund communications, to the infamous Nigerian money solicitations. Social media has opened up private lives to public viewing and also significantly aided identity thieves. I field numerous calls on this topic every week. In fact, I received an inquiry from a Vanguard crew member just the other day related to what has become a very common e-mail scam. Read more »
Many of us—myself included—recently received alerts from banks and major retailers notifying us that our names and e-mail addresses had been “hacked” as a result of an attack on a third-party service used by these businesses to handle e-mail distribution. (Vanguard was not one of the companies affected.)
I wasn’t happy when I was informed, of course, but at least I’m not helpless. And neither are you.
I recently attended a conference in Washington on the question of retirement income—how baby boomers will generate income from their 401(k) accounts once they retire. Read more »
Anytime I forget something, I rationalize that what I’m really doing is clearing out space to allow new information to be stored in my brain. It’s a bit like cleaning off my desk or deleting cookies from my computer.
I’ve written about financial fraud involving seniors before, and it remains a serious concern. Unfortunately, there’s not much we in the investment industry can do beyond warning our clients to be vigilant and working through issues when they arise. As with any sort of fraud, the best defense is an educated and skeptical investor.
Let me share a recent situation encountered by one of Vanguard’s client-service phone groups.
