Before I get to the holiday cheer — i need to tell you about a serious SECURITY INCIDENT.  I’m just going to get to the point.  I can no longer faithfully recommend Last Pass as a password manager.  Never putting all the eggs in one basket, I have recommended Last Pass and 1Password over the years as paid password managers to manage your treasured credentials.  Last Pass has now suffered its 2nd security breach in about a month.  The first one was minor, however in the latest incident customer credentials were accessed.  I can’t sugar coat this.  As of right now your passwords were not breached but user names, e-mail addresses,  billing addresses were.  So if the bad guy has  your user name and e-mail address — while they can’t get into your accounts necessarily just yet — they are a lot closer.  Last Pass was a great company when Joe Siegrest ran it.  He sold it about 7 years ago to Log Me In.  They were still good for a while.  It’s gone really off track.

I really haven’t publicized it, but since February I have used a password manager called Bit Warden.   If you are using Last Pass, your credentials can be exported to either  1Password ($36 per year) or Bit Warden ($10 per year).  Don’t make the decision based on price either.  You will want to choose one of these and then delete your info off of Last Pass as soon as possible.  I am available over the weekend, Monday or Tuesday to help you with this.

—

Happy Holidays Everyone!!!

Here Are My Holiday Gifts For you

#1 Alternative Electric Supplier — Look at your last Eversource electric bill.  If you are using 400 + kwh (kilowatt hours) per month right now, you will save money by changing electric suppliers  via the website energizect.com  .  You will still only get one Eversource bill per month.  

– Effective Jan. 1 — the Generation charge portion of your bill will double.  No joke  12 to 24 cents per kwh.

– Eversource does not profit off of generation.  They don’t care if you use an alternate generation company. 

– Unlike the “bad news” you might have heard about alternative suppliers 3 to 4 years ago, it’s a totally different ballgame now after laws were changed in 2020.  We the consumers are in control

-Best rates I was able to find right now are in the 16 to 17 range per kwh with 2 to 3 year guarantees on pricing.   It’s really a 1 way contract with the supplier guaranteeing you.   6 month, 12, or 18 months from now — if you want to change to another supplier or back to Eversource as your supplier — NO PROBLEM.  No penalty.

Examples of savings:

* I’m going to be saving $38 per month (use gas heat) by choosing Xoom as my supplier.

*My brother is going to be saving $50 per month (gas heat) by choosing Direct Energy as his supplier

*A client with electric heat in her condo (yikes!) is going to be saving $120 to $140 a month by choosing Xoom

*Just today – I saved a client $41 a month (oil heat) by choosing Xoom as his electric supplier.  This client’s annualized savings today paid for his Apple Watch. 🙂

And if Eversource’s new rate stays the same or goes up starting on July 1st — you could save even more in the summer months with that AC blasting.

No fees to switch  — one Eversource bill  — energizect.com  – you can do this!!

#2 Gift:  Some of you guys think this is funny or do not cut this page into strips to put on your fridge, near your phone and on your computer.  Please do.  I had several clients  get ripped off this year or near ripped off with infected computers.    Do you think you are so smart that you wouldn’t fall for a scam e-mail or phone call?  Think again.   I am an expert in helping older adults learn.  Older adults need reminders and reinforcement.    I have attached a 1 sheet document to print out — my $1000 Holiday Gift.   Use it  — pass it on.  It’s been updated for 2022 with some newer scams that I’ve dealt with.

In closing….

This may be my last update of the year — so I’ll close with this.   We need to take a lesson from Actor Tim Robbins and simply be kinder to each other.   The past 3 years have been a hyped up, hopped up time with a lot of division and demonization.  We do business together, we shop together, we exercise together, and attend events together.  I don’t exclude clients because of medical choices, politics, signs in the yard or whatever.  Co-existence does not confer agreement, but what I am really saying is everyone around here should do a better job of tolerating others.   Paraphrasing health guru Max Lugavere — eat more protein, less sugar, exercise more, and turn off the news.

Those are my new year’s resolutions!!

Have a joyful Christmas and Hanukkah!