Every Author Should Make This Resolution

One thing I know for sure is that today each of us is one day closer to taking our final breath than we were yesterday. When we take that final breath, we no longer can make life easier for our heirs.

As an author, you leave behind words. Thousands of words, maybe millions, collected in an assortment of books, stories, blogs, poems, articles, etc. Some you may have published. Others not. Yet copyright laws in most countries mean your words can still have value after you die.

If you’re thinking, oh criminy, my novel isn’t published, this doesn’t apply to me. Let me whisper John Kennedy Toole’s name in your ear. His mother found the manuscript Toole, which had desperately tried to get published, hidden in a drawer. She finally got Confederacy of Dunces published, and it won a Pulitzer. Unlikely? Sure, but hey, you never know.

These days a novel or memoir or non-fiction book is more likely to be on a computer hard drive than printed out sitting in a drawer. Would whoever takes care of your estate know where to find it?

Or if you are traditionally published, where are your contracts? Who gets continuing royalties? If you are self-published, where are your books published? Where are the most recent “final” manuscripts (which if you are like me, may not be the ones listed as “final” on your computer)?

Who is going to decide how (or if) to keep your author business going? Where are the passwords to your accounts?

I could go on, and for a class I’ll be teaching in March, I do go on. However, I’ve covered enough ground to give you the idea. Even if you have everything organized and know where it all is, good luck to the person who must find it and figure it out.

Which brings me back to the resolution all authors should make (and then follow). Create a detailed roadmap so the right people can easily find everything about your creative works they need.

Here’s my promise to my daughter (who will inherit my writing business, including copyrights): I will make it as easy for you as I can. I won’t try to accomplish this in one day or one week. But I will chip away at it day by day. And once I have it done, I’ll continue to maintain it.

That’s my resolution. How many of you authors are with me on this for 2023? (And if you’ve already done it, please crow about it in the comments.)

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James M. Jackson authors the Seamus McCree series. Full of mystery and suspense, these thrillers explore financial crimes, family relationships, and what happens when they mix. You can sign up for his newsletter and find more information about Jim and his books at https://jamesmjackson.com.

Should you post your DNA to publicly accessible databases?

An article about how police in Wisconsin used publicly available DNA to find a killer spurred me to consider whether we have a duty to perform DNA testing on ourselves to provide police with data to track down killers and rapists in cold cases. Or does police use of our data without our permission invade our privacy?

My instincts in approaching questions like is are libertarian.

I’ve asked to be cremated. I’m thrifty, and it’s cheaper to cremate than to embalm and bury. But also, I abhor the thought of future archeologists digging up my casket, measuring my tooth-wear to determine my age or extracting my DNA to discover whether I’m related to Jack the Ripper or Madonna.

As much as I am a libertarian, I also believe we have a responsibility to help each other. That includes helping the police catch criminals. Might preserving a sample of my DNA for posterity help bring a second cousin thrice removed to justice?

Is it a civic responsibility to patriciate in DNA mania?

I have a dilemma. I’m willing to help the police solve crimes. I do not want corporations to have access to my genetic markers. The individuals who run corporations have shown little constraint in using personal data to enhance their profit.

Given access to my DNA, they would surely try to charge me more for health or life insurance if I am more prone to cancer than the average American. They’ll increase my long-term care premiums if I have an elevated risk of Alzheimer’s. And if the government prohibits them from using genetic markers to raise my costs, corporations will find a way to deny me coverage if I’m going to cost them more.

Am I willing to put up with that? Hell no! The libertarian wins over the socially conscious citizen.

Perhaps I could compromise and provide the world my DNA after I die. Then corporations can’t use my genes against me.

Oh, but they could use my DNA against my children, couldn’t they!

I don’t see a simple solution. Do you?

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James M. Jackson authors the Seamus McCree series. Full of mystery and suspense, these thrillers explore financial crimes, family relationships, and what happens when they mix. False Bottom, the sixth novel in the series—this one set in the Boston area—is now available. You can sign up for his newsletter and find more information about Jim and his books at https://jamesmjackson.com.

Grandparents are hiding out until January 1.

Why, you ask, are grandparents hiding out until January 1, 2020?

Is it because they gave their three-year-old grandson that fire truck he loves with the VERY LOUD siren and his parents are steaming mad? While that generational payback may not have been appreciated, the answer is more sinister.

It’s because Congress and President Trump put a temporary target on some older Americans that only lasts until the first clock-tick of 2020.

Only those oldsters with significant IRAs they are leaving to their children and grandchildren need worry. Congress established IRAs (Individual Retirement Accounts) in 1974 to help workers save for retirement. Lawyers did what lawyers are paid to do and found ways for wealthy individuals to use their IRAs as estate-planning devices to minimize taxes and pass on the maximum amount to heirs.

How so?

Under the old rules, if you bequeath your IRA to your grandchild, the minimum they must withdraw each year is based on life expectancies. The rules are complicated, especially with multiple beneficiaries, so I’ll gloss over the details and move right to a simplified example:

Grandma’s IRA is worth $1.0 million bucks. She leaves it to her twelve-year-old grandchild. Under 2019 rules, the kid must take out a minimum distribution the first year of $14,124. And each year thereafter the child will need to take out similar amounts (the amount depending on investment returns). For simplicity, let’s just call it $14,000 a year adjusted for inflation for life. That’s the minimum, the beneficiary can withdraw it faster if they choose.

Under the new rules, non-spousal IRAs inherited after December 31, 2019 must be distributed within 10 years. (There are a few exceptions, one of which is that the ten years doesn’t start until the child of the IRA hold becomes an adult). So, in our example, Grandma dies and our 12-year-old grandchild must take all the money out by the time she is 22! If done evenly, that means $100,000 a year (adjusted for investment returns).

Talk about an early tax bite (which is why Congress added the provision; they wanted to pay for other things they wanted).

But that’s not the only complication: How are colleges going to look at financial aid for a kid with an inherited IRA that they must draw down? Worse, if Grandma structured it so the kid could only take the minimum distribution until they were (say) age 35 (when Grandma hoped the child would be mature enough to have access to all the money) it’s a financial disaster. There is no minimum distribution until the end of ten years and the child must take it all! Uncle Sam is rubbing his fingers in delight because the highest tax rates will apply to most of that $1 million.

But, if Grandma just happened to die before the end of 2019. These problems go away.

So wary grandparents and parents across the land are booking last minute trips to destinations kept secret from the family. Or they’re holing up in that bunker they built in the 1950s to save the family from nuclear attack. Or the new one constructed for the Zombie Wars.

Rather than considering ways to bump off Grandma, it might be prudent to check the estate plan and get those high-priced lawyers working on the next best way to avoid taxes.

Here’s wishing you and yours a terrific 2020.

One Important Takeaway from the CapitalOne Hack

As part of a far-ranging conversation I had with a recent high school graduate, we touched on the CapitalOne hack. That breach did not affect her, but I said that she needed to act as if all her financial information was already available to criminals. Is it, even for one so young?

Doesn’t matter. The point was we all should act as though someone knows our Social Security Number, our driver’s license, our address, has our bank account numbers, credit card numbers, Medicare number, and health insurance ID. We should assume they know our credit score, have our picture, know our immunization status and all our other medical records. They have some of our old passwords (of course we change them frequently—well, maybe we’ve forgotten to do that), know our mother’s maiden name, where we attended school, the names of our first pet and our best friend growing up. They know our cell phone number, favorite usernames, and account numbers for many of our online accounts.

Act as if every important bit (or byte) of information about you is available to crooks, and you won’t be far wrong. If they don’t already have some piece of information, I have no doubt in some future breach they will.

Which means what, throw up our hands in resigned disgust and wait for someone to steal our money, our credit card, our identity? Of course, not. We can’t stop crooks from trying to steal, but we can make it very hard for them to succeed.

Two Steps You Can Take Today

Set up Alerts. Every credit card. bank account, mutual fund and brokerage account I have allows me to receive alerts whenever a transaction occurs. When I first started getting alerts, I chose them to apply for transactions over (say) $100. No more. Now I choose the smallest threshold their system allows--$.01 if they let me. I receive a text alert or email notification of every deposit, withdrawal, credit card purchase, interest credit, etc. It’s my first line of defense. If I don’t recognize any transaction, I go online and check out its particulars. (Note, I never follow a link in a text or email—it might be a phishing attack. I always access the applicable website directly through my browser.)

I’ve caught stolen credit card numbers minutes after the crooks made their first purchase and worked with the credit card fraud department to catch the thieves. A store once entered duplicate charges, which I spotted and had them immediately correct. I even noticed that a restaurant put through a $.10 tip when I had intended a $10.00 tip and corrected that mistake.

Yes, I get more emails and texts than I otherwise would, and this doesn’t stop theft, but it takes very little time for me to verify the transactions, and it limits the damage of a breach. Besides the extra peace of mind the alerts provide, catching a problem early saves time and aggravation straightening out the bad charges. As a bonus, the criminals get very little reward for their time.

Freeze Your Credit. Consider the second step of freezing your credit. I say consider because freezing your credit is a great idea to stop fraud, but it comes with potential inconvenience. Freezing your credit means the company cannot release your credit information. If someone steals your identity and tries to set up a credit card in your name, the issuing entity won’t approve the application because they want to see your credit first. Each of the three major credit reporting agencies, Equifax, TransUnion, and Experian, has a process that allows you to freeze your credit. It’s free to both freeze and unfreeze your credit, but it takes some effort.

The disadvantage occurs because many transactions that require setting up a new account require a credit check. Want a new cell phone line—credit check. Want a store credit card—credit check. Mortgage—credit check. Leasing a new car—credit check. Applying for a new job—credit check. When I moved from Savannah to Madison, I unfroze my credit for a fixed period—long enough for me to set up the gas, electric, internet, etc. accounts—and then it automatically refroze. With a one-off—say you apply for a new credit card—the credit agencies can issue one-time permission for an institution you identify to check your credit during a short window.

It can be a bit of a pain, and it can delay a purchase process, but if you can put up with the hassles, freezing credit provides a strong block to any bad guys setting up fraudulent accounts in your name. [NOTE: at least some of the credit bureaus have set up a premium service to “Lock” and “Unlock” your account that accomplishes the same effects as freezing, for which they will charge money. These plans offer an easier way to lock and unlock your credit reports and provide additional monitoring reports. I haven’t analyzed the specifics of those programs because those benefits are not worth it to me. However, if you think you’ll need to frequently freeze and unfreeze your accounts, you might want to consider them.]

In future posts, I’ll discuss other ways to keep yourself financially safe in an unsecure world.

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James M. Jackson authors the Seamus McCree series. Full of mystery and suspense, these thrillers explore financial crimes, family relationships, and what happens when they mix. False Bottom, the sixth novel in the series—this one set in the Boston area—is now available. You can sign up for his newsletter and find more information about Jim and his books at https://jamesmjackson.com.

A Debit Card Scam

Each of us has our preferred method of paying for things like pizza delivery. Some prefer cash, some credit cards, others debit cards, and a growing number use their smart phones. I’m leery about using a debit card that allows anyone direct access to my bank and only use them to get cash from an ATM. I rarely use cash, don’t trust my phone, and use credit cards with rewards whenever I can, paying off the balance each month. Which makes me a bit of a dinosaur.

If you use debit cards, make sure the cards never leave your sight. This cautionary tale comes from the Toronto, Canada area and involves pizza delivery.

You order your pizza and it arrives on time. You pay with a debit card and there’s a problem with the machine or the driver “left the machine in his car.” He’s apologetic and courteous. “Happens all the time.” He takes your card back to his car where the transaction goes through fine.

Except, the only transaction that happens is the driver takes your debit card and gives you back one that looks the same but is a fake. They leave not to deliver another pizza, but to the nearest ATM to remove money from your bank account.

The “beauty” of this scheme is the “driver” isn’t the real pizza driver. He’s an entrepreneurial scam artist willing to invest a little money in the scheme. He intercepts the driver before the pizza gets to your door, pays for your pizza, and delivers it to you in the hope you’ll fall for his debit card swindle. If you pay in cash, the scam artist is just out his time—although he might collect a tip.

It might be pizza in Toronto or a salesclerk in a convenience store in Oshkosh; the key to preventing this kind of debit card fraud is to never let the card out of your sight.

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James M. Jackson authors the Seamus McCree series. Full of mystery and suspense, these thrillers explore financial crimes, family relationships, and what happens when they mix. False Bottom, the sixth novel in the series—this one set in the Boston area—is now available. You can sign up for his newsletter and find more information about Jim and his books athttps://jamesmjackson.com.