Financial Goals for 2025

What are your financial goals for 2025? Where do you hope to be financially? Before thinking about all of that, be sure to secure your identity. People are scouring the internet to steal people's identities. I would like to think that this is a small percentage of people but the numbers keep increasing and unfortunately, people are getting greedier. 

Check your credit a few times a year.  Most people check it more than that through apps like Credit Karma and Nerd Wallet.  Your credit belongs to you and not to someone else. Freeze your credit reports on TransUnion, Equifax, and Experian. People cannot apply on your credit for homes, cars, apartments, credit cards, etc. if you freeze your credit. You will also receive an alert that someone attempted to apply for credit.  You must have a monitor service like True Identity, Creditwise, Trusted ID, All Clear ID, Protect My ID or some other credit notifier. The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is also your friend. Sign up for their newsletters. The Federal Trade Commission also has consumer alerts to look out for. The health care industry is also open to scams. Check consumer alerts with the Office of Health and Human Services.

I volunteer with my sorority.  To work with youth, you have to have a background check.  It is an extensive background check. I found out that someone had used my identity to apply for an apartment.  I don't know if they ever got the apartment, but this took place several years before I started freezing my credit. People might say.  You are not that important. Who would want to steal your identity? But you are important because you have an established identity.

Now, I am noticing with these data breaches how our information can appear on the dark web.  Sure, I get emails about this and have to utilize extra layers of protection to secure my identity.  I am even learning that scammers are constantly calling older adults, widows, and other people in an attempt to scam them. Personnel at banks tell stories of how elders have been swindled out of money because no one is really monitoring their affairs.

Scammers feed them some sort of sad story and they end of sending them money and sometimes their life savings.  I have seen the story on the news about this happening to educated people and the like. I have come face to face or rather voice to voice with scammers.  It is a good idea to have scam filters on your phone. If it's that important, they can just send you a letter.

Know how to stop a scam. Subscribe to newsletters.  AARP works hard to keep older people informed. That is the best twelve to fifteen dollars that you can spend in a year. As people get older, they are not working and are missing out on a lot of the social connections that many working or very active people have. Someone can call them and give them attention and talk to them about things they like to discuss over a period. It doesn't take long. They will get sent money. This is money that is meant for bills, groceries, and medical bills. Stay informed.  Stay in the know.  Avoid the scams.

Back to the Future

What is the future of AI, and what will it mean for us? And no, I am not AI. I am actually typing this myself. I know if I need some help, AI would stand ready to assist. Are we becoming too dependent on technology? I live in Memphis, Tennessee, and Elon Musk plans to build a supercomputer in Memphis. It's been in the news. See this article. What does this mean for our city and what does it mean for the future of AI?

Memphis is known for having some of the best drinking water in the United States. We are concerned about that. However, MLGW officials have said that the supercomputer center will use recycled wastewater. I sure hope that this is true. News reports say the supercomputer center will use a million gallons of water a day. You know we will be watching this. We are also concerned about our power grid. There are already too many outages in this town when we have severe weather.  It appears that is being fixed.

There is also the question of the economic impact this company will have in Memphis. Unfortunately, Memphis is known for giving away the store when it comes to tax credits. I hope this is not the case.  We need a company to come to this town and make some major investments.  That money can be used for education, housing the homeless population, or building up the electrical infrastructure. So much to consider.  We are also trying to get the skinny on how many people will actually be employed there. Since it's AI, I am not expecting a lot of people.

At the writing of this article. I have learned that Elon Musk has not sought tax incentives from the Memphis Edge Board for this supercomputer project. That is encouraging news. I will continue to await news updates to see if anything else develops. According to a news report, Atlanta was considering this project.  Perhaps the city didn't think it would benefit them.

The fact remains that there is a big discrepancy in income in the Memphis metropolitan area. Studies show nearly 48% of Memphians make less than $35,000 a year. We need some companies coming into this town to provide some economic opportunities.  Maybe, the crime rate will go down. Right now, Memphis is considered one of the most dangerous cities in the nation. It didn't use to be that way. It appears a lot of this took place over the last few years.

The new Police Chief C. J. Davis brought to light some of the sentencing laws. From what we know, repeat offenders have low bonds and are back on the streets within days of committing a crime.  That is not good. Something has to be done.  So, it is my hope that this supercomputer will bring some super security along with it. Maybe it will help provide some super attention to the poverty rate in Memphis.  Then, most importantly, maybe the computer can be a super supporter of education.