Having my father get laid off from his state government job a few weeks back has kept me busy. He's not what I'd call tech-savvy, although he's learning along the way. So I've spent quite a bit of time with him over the last two weeks: setting him up with one of our extra notebook computers, getting fast Internet service, and sorting out plans for the future. It hit me that right now there's quite a number of folks in the same boat as the economy has been in a slump for the past eight months or so. Long time readers and fellow geeks can probably bypass the rest of this post, but I've gathered some mobile tech tools and tips for the more mainstream consumers in our audience. All of these are the direct result of helping my Dad get organized and empowered...
1. Never, never, never rely solely on a work e-mail address. The few online accounts that my father had used his work e-mail address for credentials. As a result, when he couldn't remember passwords for his stock portfolio, online bills and work pension website, all he could do was attempt to reset the password. Sounds great in theory, but the password reset instructions were sent to his work e-mail address, which of course, he no longer has access to. As a rule of thumb: unless you have to use a work e-mail address for a website (like your company's internal 401k site, for example), always use a personal e-mail address. This way, if you lose access to the work-specific e-mail, you can still access your accounts.
