• Tax documents exposed onyour desk (home and work)
• Private information thatsits unprotected in your tax-preparer's office
• Improperly mailed, emailedand digitally transmitted or filed records
• Photocopiers with harddrives that store a digital copy of your tax forms
• Copies of sensitivedocuments that get thrown out without being shredded
• Improperly stored and lockeddocuments once your return is filed
• Tax-time scams that takeadvantage of our propensity to do whatever the IRS says (even if it'snot really the IRS asking)

• Choose your preparer wisely.How well do you know the person and company preparing your taxes? Didthey come personally recommended, or could they be earning cash on theside by selling your personal information. Do they have an establishedrecord and are they recommended by the Better Business Bureau?
• Interview your preparerbefore you turn over sensitive information. Ask them exactly how theyprotect your privacy (do they have a privacy policy?). Are they meetingwith you in a room full of client files, or do they take you to aneutral, data-free, conference room or office? Do they leave files outon their desk for the cleaning service to access at night, or do theylock your documents in a filing cabinet or behind a secure office door?Do they protect their computers with everything listed in the nextsection?
• Asking professional taxpreparers these questions sends them a message that you are watching!Identity thieves tend to stay away from people they know are activelymonitoring for fraud. Remember, losing your identity inside of theiraccounting or bookkeeping business poses a tremendous legal liabilityto their livelihood.

• Strong alpha-numericpasswords that keep strangers out of your system
• Anti-virus and anti-spywaresoftware configured with automatic updates
• Encrypted hard drives orfolders (especially for your tax preparer)
• Automatic operating systemupdates and security patches
• An encrypted wirelessnetwork protection
• A firewall between yourcomputer and the internet
• Remove all file-sharingprograms from your computer (limewire, napster, etc.)

• Make your default answer,"No". When someone asks for your Social Security Number or otheridentifying information, refuse until you are completely comfortablethat they are legitimate. Verify their credentials by calling them backon a published number for the IRS.
• If someone promises you (byphone, fax, mail, or in person) to drastically reduce your tax bill orspeed up your tax return, don't believe them until you have done yourhomework (call the IRS directly if you have to). These schemes flourishwhen the government issues economic stimulus checks and IRS refunds.
• If anyone asks you forinformation in order to send you your check, they are scamming for youridentity. The IRS already knows where you live (and where to send yourrebate)! By the way, the IRS will NEVER email you for any reason (e.g.,promising a refund, requesting information, threatening you).
• To learn more about IRSscams, visit the only legitimate IRS website, which is www.irs.gov. Ifyou are hit by an IRS scam, contact the IRS's Taxpayer Advocate Serviceat www.irs.gov/advocate.

• Walk the envelope inside ofthe post office and hand it to an employee. Too much mail is stolen outof the blue USPS mailboxes and driveway mailboxes that we use foreverything else to make them safe.
• Send your return bycertified mail so that you know it has arrived safely. This sends amessage to each mail carrier that they had better provide extraprotection to the document they are carrying.
• Consider filingelectronically so that you take mail out of the equation. Make surethat you have a well-protected computer (discussed above).

1. Make a list of issues youknow you can compromise on that your partner is displaying. "She's lateall the time, but I can live with that."
2. Make a list of issues thatyou know you can't compromise on. "He says he's going to call me andeither doesn't or calls much later than planned. He always has anexcuse, and I want someone who keeps his word 99% of the time. I can'tsee living with this much inconsistency."
3. Make a list of issues youwould compromise on within yourself for another person. "I know I'mmessy, so I'd either get an organizer to help me with this or bewilling to hire a housekeeper."
4. Make a list of issues youcould not and would not compromise on. "I am an independent woman, andcould not be with a partner who wanted me to give up my work or myfriends for him."
5. If you're not sure whichcategory your red flags falls under, ask yourself this question: If this behavior never changed, could Ilive with it? You have to assume it may never change and thatalone should help you determine if it's a negotiable or non-negotiable.

Members of the Class of 2009:

I was sorry to hear that the children's TV show hostwho was to have been your commencement speaker today had to bow out atthe last minute due to an attack of terminal cuteness. I wasdelighted, however, when the Trustees called me about an hour ago andasked me to fill in.

Now, I've never done this before, and I wasn't givena whole lot of guidance, except that I was told to tell you to "followyour dreams" and "reach for the stars", since there's a federal lawrequiring those statements to be included in all graduation speeches[pause for laughter].

While I know some of you already have jobs and some,OK most of you, do not, I know that all of you are wondering today whatyour lives are going to be like. I know I did when I sat in oneof these chairs back in 1975. Let me tell you something it'sgoing to be a lot different than you think it will be. As JohnLennon once said, "life is what happens to you when you're making otherplans."

I have two pieces of news for you, and neither ofthem are fun to talk about, but I feel they must be said, and no bettertime than today. First, whatever dreams most of you hope toaccomplish in your lives, you won't be able to achieve them until youhave achieved some measure of financial security for yourself and yourloved ones. Like many generations before you, unless you wereborn wealthy (and sometimes even then), finding and keeping thatfinancial security will be the primary, if not the only, thing you willspend time on for the next 50 years.

It gets worse. The second thing is that it hasnever been a more difficult time to make a decent living inAmerica. I'm not just talking about the collapsing banks,bankrupt auto companies, or global warming. I'm talking aboutsome mega-changes in our economy.

Many of the career paths your parents andgrandparents enjoyed working for large corporations are no longerthere. Oh, many of the corporations are still there, but they'vegot a different outlook than they did in my day. To them, peoplecost money, and you have to keep your costs as low as possible to stayalive. So if you can buy computers to do the work of lots ofpeople, you buy the computers and fire the people. If you musthire people to do a job, because no computer is good enough, you hirethe cheapest people you can in Asia and Latin America. And if youreally must hire Americans, you "outsource" them as independentcontractors rather than employees. That way you don't have to paytheir health insurance.

The Government won't be there to bail you outeither. Social Security, Medicare and other government programsthat helped your parents and grandparents either won't be there whenyou are ready for them, or they will be so scaled back that only themost poverty-stricken Americans will qualify for them. Hopefullythat won't include any of you [pause for murmuring/dodge vegetables].

And if you think you can scale back yourexpectations and work in a small, simple business, there's a massivewave of immigrants from Asia, Africa and Latin America who are only toowilling to take the jobs we Americans are too proud to take.

The terrible truth about your future, ladies andgentlemen, is that there is only one person you can rely on to help youbuild your future and success, and that is you. Sooner or later,you will find yourself running your own business, and you had betterstart preparing for that day now. It may happen next year, it maynot happen until you turn 50. It may be a part-time business,

Many of you, I'm sorry to say, are totallyunprepared for the challenge. While the American educationalsystem is still, for my money, the best in the world, the sad truth isthat most of you are totally clueless about what business isabout. Far, far too many of you, including even a few Phi BetaKappas and Rhodes Scholars, don't know the difference between revenueand profits, can't balance your checkbook, and couldn't tell thedifference between a balance sheet and an income statement if your lifedepended on it. To be successful in this brave new world, youwill have to learn how business really works on the job, with lots ofself-study, practical experience, and by making a few mistakes.

Now before you business students start thinking youhave a leg up over your liberal arts classmates, let me tell you thatyour education has been grossly deficient as well. You know a lotabout numbers and spreadsheets, but you don't know diddly about thehuman heart. Make no mistake to be a success in business, youmust be a keen observer of human nature above all else. To knowwhich customers are more willing to buy than others, and whenperceptions of your products and services are changing, is a lot morevaluable to a business than knowing the difference between "accountingprofit" and "economic profit".

What is probably worst of all, many of the best andbrightest of you have a dim view of business, period. Like manybefore you, you think you are too good for a business career, or thatone has to be unethical, greedy and unscrupulous to be a success. Sadly, it's hard to blame you for that, given all of the recentfinancial scandals, grossly overpaid executives and business' totaldisregard for the environment. But let me assure you that youdon't have to be ruthless, obnoxious, devious or even Republican tosucceed in business [pause for laughter/applause/murmuring/vegetables].

For those of you who think a business career isn'tchallenging, let me remind you that any activity that generates incomefor you and your family, is a business. If you are a collegeprofessor, getting published and being granted tenure is yourbusiness. If you work for a corporation, staying employed andimpressing the right people every day is your business. If youare an artist, creating works that you know will sell quickly (andpreferably have been paid for in advance) is your business. Whileit's admirable to look at what you do as a calling, if you neglect the"business side" of what you do, you are taking the first baby steps tofailure and ruin.

I have had the pleasure of working with over 15,000business owners in my career, and they are a more diverse group eventhan you are. They come from all walks of life andbackgrounds, and their personalities are all over the map. Contrary to what you may believe now, there is no such thing as a"success type". The beauty of this wonderful country ofours is that anyone - I mean anyone - can succeed in business with theright training, the right outlook on life, and the determination to dowhat others are too squeamish or hesitant to accomplish.

So by all means reach for the stars and follow yourdreams, for without faith, hope and passion your business will neversucceed, even if you're as smart as Einstein.

Just whatever you do, don't run out of money.

Cliff Ennico (cennico@legalcareer.com)is a syndicated columnist, author and former host of the PBS televisionseries 'Money Hunt'. This column is no substitute for legal, tax orfinancial advice, which can be furnished only by a qualifiedprofessional licensed in your state. To find out more about CliffEnnico and other Creators Syndicate writers and cartoonists, visit ourWeb page at www.creators.com.COPYRIGHT 2009 CLIFFORD R. ENNICO. DISTRIBUTED BY CREATORS SYNDICATE,INC. Permission granted for use on DrLaura.com.

More >>