Tax identity theft can be a devastating blow to your finances, leaving you feeling violated and overwhelmed. Today, we dive deep into this pressing issue, sharing practical steps you can take to protect yourself and your family from becoming a victim. We'll explore a powerful story of Sarah, a small business owner who faced this nightmare, and how she navigated her way from crisis to triumph with faith and guidance. Throughout the episode, financial evangelist Ralph Estep Jr. emphasizes the importance of being proactive in safeguarding your financial identity, offering biblical wisdom and actionable advice. Don’t miss out on these essential insights to help you secure your financial future, find peace of mind amidst uncertainty, and protect yourself from Tax Identity Theft.
Check out the full podcast episode here
Podcast Timestamps:
00:00 Episode Overview
02:21 Listener Question: Maria's Tax Identity Theft
06:05 Bible Verse: Proverbs 22:3
07:00 Today’s Gratitude Statement
07:17 Sarah's Story: From Crisis to Triumph
15:55 Immediate Actions for Victims of Tax Identity Theft
18:06 Critical Business Protection Steps
19:48 Spiritual and Personal Support
20:35 Documentation to Gather
21:54 Essential Strategies to Prevent Tax Identity Theft
27:26 Visit https://www.askralphpodcast.com/blog/ for Free Financial Resources
27:48 Call to Action: Join the Live Community
30:36 Reflection Questions
32:38 Closing
Takeaways:
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00:00 - None
00:13 - Understanding Tax Identity Theft
01:12 - Understanding Tax Identity Theft: A Client's Story
12:36 - Navigating Financial Crises: Sarah's Journey
23:08 - Preventing Identity Theft and Securing Your Information
28:05 - Taking Action Against Tax Identity Theft
Ralph
Have you ever had that sinking feeling when filing your taxes only to discover someone else had already filed in your name? Or maybe you're worried about becoming the next victim of tax identity theft.
Well, today we'll tackle this frightening issue head on and I'm going to provide you with some biblical wisdom. But more important than that, some practical steps to protect yourself from tax identity theft. Join me today as I tackle this.
Tax identity theft: is someone filing returns in your name?
Announcer
In a world where crushing debt keeps you trapped, where living paycheck to paycheck has become your new normal, and where the dream of retirement seems impossibly out of reach, there's hope. Join financial evangelist Ralph Estep Jr. A man who's walked through the fire of financial failure and emerged stronger on the other side.
Welcome to Ask Ralph, the show where real world experience meets biblical truth. To break the bondage of financial despair.
Get ready to take control of your money, break free from the financial stress and align your resources with God's purpose for your life. This is Ask Ralph with Ralph Estep Jr.
Ralph
Well, welcome to the show. Today we're tackling something that could devastate your finances and that's tax identity theft.
And I wish I could say I'd never seen this, but I see it more and more every as we move forward. And if you've ever felt that sick feeling when something's wrong with your finances, I'm going to be sharing Sarah's powerful story today.
Now, Sarah is one of my clients. She's a business owner just like many of you are. And she was the victim of a tax identity theft.
And I'm going to talk about her journey from crisis to triumph. Because here's the thing on the main takeaway from today, there is always hope.
And today I'm going to give you some practical steps that you can take right away to secure your finances and keep those in alignment with your faith. Now, if you missed yesterday's show, I had a powerful episode about whether saving for emergencies means we don't trust God.
It was a really eye openening discussion. I got a lot of feedback from it and I talked about how prudent planning and faith work together perfectly.
So if you missed it, I'm going to encourage you to go to check it out. You can find all of our episodes askralph.com well, today's listener question comes to us from Maria. And this is what Maria wrote.
She said, dear Ralph, I'm writing to you with tears in my eyes and fear in my heart. Just yesterday, I tried to file my tax return for my small business, a boutique shop I've poured my heart and soul into for the past five years.
But the IRS rejected it, saying someone had already filed using my Social Security number. My hands are shaking even as I write this.
I've always been careful with my information, tracking all my expenses and income meticulously, but somehow this still happened. As a single mom of two, I was counting on my tax refund to help catch up on some bills and maybe finally fix our aging heating system.
Now I'm terrified about what this identity thief might do next. Will they try to take out loans in my name? Access my business account?
I've been up all night praying for guidance, but I feel so violated and overwhelmed. The thought of dealing with the IRS while trying to keep my business running and taking care of my kids seems impossible.
Ralph, I need your Christian wisdom. How do I handle this situation now? And what can I do to make sure this never happens to my family again?
I know God has a plan, but right now I'm struggling to see it through my fear. Well, thank you for your question, and I understand exactly what you're saying. There's an immediate financial impact.
You are counting on that tax refund. And like you said, it's for essential needs. You got to get that heating system repaired.
And listen, if you're like most of my clients and most of the people I know running a small business, you've got tight margins. You don't have a lot of extra room to play with.
And add to that, you're a single mother supporting two children, and you've got this huge financial responsibility. And trust me, I've been through this with clients, and there is such fear and anxiety when this happens. It keeps you up at night.
And I hear what you're saying. You're feeling violated and vulnerable and you're struggling to reconcile how this could happen.
Why would God allow this challenge to come into your life?
And as if you don't have enough on your plate, you're trying to manage this while managing your business, and you're worried about what's going to happen next. Maybe you're worrying about, is the daily operations going to cause me an issue? And you've got this fear.
You've got this legitimate fear that your damage is going to happen to your business reputation. And like I said, you're trying to find God's plan in this difficult situation.
You're trying to find that spiritual balance with faith and practical financial manners. And you're looking for Some guidance.
Well, guess what, I've got guidance for you today because the truth of the matter is when this happens to you, a lot of people worry about, well, what's the next step, Rob? What's going to happen?
You're worried about loans or accounts being open in your name, you're uncertain about how to prevent future occurrences of this and you need guidance for protecting both your personal and business finances. Well, guess what, Maria, I hear you loud and clear and I am going to help you today.
And if you're like Maria and you've got a question or you've got a crisis, one of the things I'm going to encourage you to do is if you go to askralph.com I've got a little search icon there.
One of the things that I would strongly encourage you to do is go do search on the situation that you're facing because I've got almost 700 episodes out there on the website. I've got videos, I've got blog posts.
So when you have one of those difficult situations, I'm going to encourage you because maybe it's 3:00 in the morning and you can't reach out to somebody. Go to askralph.com, click on the search icon and see if I've already given some guidance on that.
Well, today's Bible verse comes from the book of Proverbs 22:3. And Maria, I thought this was perfect for the situation you're in because you talked about two things.
You said, Ralph, how do I resolve the immediate issue and then how do I keep from happening again? So Proverbs 22:3 says this. It says the prudence, see danger and take refuge. But the simple keep going and pay the penalty.
And if you think about it, Maria, this is why we need to be proactive in protecting our financial identity. See, that's wisdom right from the Bible. People say, well, Ralph, how did you tie those two things together? Well, think about it.
It says the prudence, see danger and take refuge. Well, protecting our financial identity is that danger and that refuge.
And the best part of this is God gives us wisdom to recognize potential dangers and take appropriate action. Which leads me directly to my gratitude statement for today.
And today I am grateful for the tools and resources God has provided to us to protect our financial identity and, and the wisdom to use them effectively. And that's exactly what I'm going to talk about on today's show. Maria, I'm going to give you the resolution to your situation.
Well, let me tell you about my client, Sarah Now, Sarah is not her real name, but she experienced the exact same situation that you experienced, Maria. Sarah's a small business owner. She's living out her faith. She was managing her finances. And then one day, she had come in to get her taxes filed.
And I put them into our tax software. We got them all put together, and we sent them off to the irs. And, you know, this was a typical Tuesday morning for Sarah.
It was a February Tuesday morning. She was one of these people that got her taxes done early. She had just dropped her kids off at private school, and she was settling into her office.
And this is like, let me tell you about Sarah. Sarah was this person that tracked every single penny. And I've talked about this on other shows.
She was one of these most diligent people that you would ever find. And she had been, you know, in this habit of getting her return filed early.
So I filed her tax return like I always do, and about 24 hours later, remember exactly how. What it. How it was, I got a kickback that her return had been rejected. And unfortunately, I've seen this situation far too often.
We did the tax return, we put everything in, and then the IRS sends it back, and it says to me, Ralph, you know, this particular return has been rejected.
So I open up the computer, I go into the file, and I look at it and says, yeah, someone has already filed a tax return under this client's Social Security number. And I was like, well, this isn't going to be good. And unfortunately, what that means generally is I have to call the client.
So that's exactly what I did here.
I called Sarah, and I said to her, I said, listen, Sarah, I've got some unfortunate news, and that is your tax return was rejected because someone else has filed a tax return with your Social Security number. And I could feel the emotion on the other side of the phone. Her voice was trembling. And she said to me, Ralph, she says, how could this happen?
I'm very careful about my stuff. You know, who else who would have done this? And then she says, rRalph, what do I do now?
And that would have been more the hardest part of the situation. But then it got even deeper.
She said, rob, the thing you don't understand, she said, if you remember, when we met, I had planned on getting this big refund. I had been sort of squirreling away money with extra estimated tax payments, and I was planning on that big refund.
And if I remember correctly, Sarah was getting a refund of over $15,000, which is a whole nother issue for Another show. But this $15,000 refund was going to pay for equipment that she had already bought, and she needed to make this payment.
So this was an immediate crisis for her because not only did she have this payment coming up that she had to pay for, the equipment was literally getting ready to get shipped to her location. She was supporting three employees that counted on her. She's a single mother with, you know, the typical, you know, single mom responsibilities.
And I remember talking to Sarah throughout the process, and she said to me one time on the phone, and this isn't a laughing matter. She said, Ralph, I can't sleep. I'm up at 3am checking my bank accounts. I'm looking at my credit report. I'm doing all of these things.
I just don't know what to do. And then she said to me, she said, Ralph, I knew you're a Christian guy, I knew you're a spiritual guy. She says, but I don't understand something.
Why is God allowing this trial to happen to me? I didn't have an answer for her, but I did have an answer about how we can rectify the situation.
And I told her, I said, this is going to be what I call a dual approach strategy. There's going to be practical things we need to do, and there's going to be some reliance on your faith. And that's what I do.
Like many situations, I've guided clients through this, required both financial expertise and spiritual support. Because here's the deal, this issue can be resolved. So immediately, we put together an action plan. This is what I do.
I meet with a client, we sit together, we brainstorm, we put together an action plan.
So for Sarah, the media, things we did was we identified protection systems and we thought about, okay, her biggest concern was, Ralph, how do I prevent them getting into my bank accounts? How do I prevent them ruining my credit? So right away, and I'll talk about some of those things we did in a few minutes.
But we immediately started looking at how can we protect her identity. The next thing we did, we looked at her business and we got in touch with her IT person, and we upgraded her cybersecurity footprint.
We made sure that she wasn't having any open doors, or whatever you want to call it, back doors into her network. Because the thing I thought about is, like, how did they get her information? We put together new security protocols.
And then one of the big financial things I said to her, I said, sarah, one of the things we got to plan on in your business, we've got to have Some emergency financial planning in order so that these things can happen. You know, maybe we get a line of credit with the bank, so.
So that right away we can handle that equipment financing, but we don't want to be in that position where you're waiting on that tax refund to fund the expansion of your business. It's just not a good financial plan.
And then the final thing we did, which we actually did at the beginning, is we communicated with the IRS to let them know what was going on, because that was the start of that process. When I got that kickback, saying the return had been rejected, we needed to jump on top of that right away.
Now, I would love to tell you that this issue was resolved in a week. I'd love to tell you it was resolved in two weeks or even a month, but it wasn't. The truth is, these things take time.
This particular one, Sarah didn't end up getting her refund for six months, which put a huge strain. Now, in her case, like I said, we were able to go to her bank. The bank gave her a short term line of credit so she could handle that financing.
And what that did, actually, it's an interesting situation, is it made her business stronger. And you might say, Ralph, how did that happen in this situation? Well, let me explain to you why we tightened her cyber security in her business.
We tightened her overall security presence as it related to identity theft. And like I said, we got that line of credit from the bank, which Sarah hadn't even considered before that, she goes, rap. This is such an eye opener.
I can now buy supplies when they're on sale and I can build my business.
And really, Sarah became what I'll call a community leader because she had a testimony about how during this situation, she was able to grow spiritually. When she was asking me that question, you know, Ralph, how could this happen to somebody like me? I'm a faithful person.
I dot all my eyes, I cross my T's, I measure every penny that's going through my business. And I said to her, I said, but you've learned some lessons, haven't you?
And one of the things she said to me, she goes, Ralph, I've learned about God's timing in these trials. She said, when I first talked to you, Ralph, I figured this would be resolved tomorrow.
And she said to me, she said, Ralph, you said to me, it might take a while. So she learned about God's timing and trials. She also learned about the importance of being prepared. She learned about those cybersecurity things.
She learned about how to take a better security footprint with her personal identity to prevent that identity theft, and also how to prepare her business for these emergency situations. Another takeaway for her was the value of professional guidance. She really relied on me, and I appreciated that. But she also relied on her bank.
She relied on the people at the credit bureaus to get her stuff in order. And the big takeaway from her.
And she said this to me, she says, Ralph, I've relied on my faith because you said at the beginning this was going to be a practical and a faith issue. And there were days when I felt like breaking down.
She says, but Ralph, I just went back to my faith and I said, lord, you've got me into this situation. You promised me you'll never leave me or forsake me. And she says, during this process, that's what I was able to do.
Now, the good news about this, because this happened about two years ago, Sarah has a thriving business, her network, which she tells me is bulletproof, it's super secure. In fact, she even pays a company to try to tamper with her network.
And I'll tell you, her faith is stronger and she's living proof that with faith and with proper guidance, we can overcome any financial challenge. And Maria, you're probably asking, Ralph, what specifically did you do? What should I do right away?
That's great that you help Sarah, but you're asking, really, what could I do right now? So I'm going to tell you, here are the immediate action steps that you need to take right now.
Listen, I'm going to talk about what you do if you're the victim of this tax identity theft, and then in a few moments, I'm going to talk about ways to prevent it. But if you've been the victim of this, first thing you want to do, immediate emergency actions.
Number one, call the IRS Identity Theft Protection Unit. Now, I'm going to tell you the number. It's 800-908-4490. I'm going to put that in the show notes as well, and it'll also be in today's blog post.
But you do this before you leave.
As soon as you find out that your identity has been compromised, like when I got off the phone with her, that's the first call that Sarah made was to the irs. Second thing, the IRS is going to ask you to do this, and you might as well get started on this.
You need to fill out what's called an identity theft affidavit. I'll put this in the show notes. As well. But that's IRS form 14039.
Because what this does is once the IRS gets this form, it's going to flag your account for special protection. They're going to take a look at anything that's coming in with your Social Security information on it.
Number three thing, and I've talked about this on this show and I really recommend this is place an immediate fraud alert with all three credit bureaus. Say to them, listen, I just found out my tax identity has been compromised. Someone has filed a tax return in my name.
Get that onto those credit bureaus.
The other thing I'm going to recommend you do, and I talked about this on the show a couple of weeks ago, is put a freeze on your credit and encourage you to go back and check that out because I actually believe you're much better off to keep that freeze on your credit from day to day and then to take it off if you need it. Number four thing, and this is something Sarah learned and Maria, when I encourage you to do the same thing, is document everything.
I mean, literally document everything. Every single thing. Start a detailed, logical who you talk to, what organization, or what's their phone number.
If you're talking with the IRS, what's their badge number? That's a lot of thing people don't know is the IRS. Instead of using a name, each IRS person has a badge number. Write that down.
Keep a log of any correspondence. List all the actions that you take because that is so important. And those are the immediate action items.
If you are a business owner, here's some things I'm going to recommend. And you can do this for your personal situation as well. These are some protection steps.
First thing you want to do, change all your passwords on your financial accounts immediately. Go to every bank account, go to every credit card account, anything that's connected with your finances. Go and change those passwords.
You might be saying, Ralph, I know that's an annoyance. That's a hassle. You're right, it is. But an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. That's what my grandmother used to say.
I'm going to encourage you to do that. Go change every single one of them. If you use a password manager, make sure you're updating that.
Next thing I'm going to encourage you to do, contact each of those organizations. Contact your bank, your credit union, and alert them that you may have fraud on your account.
Now, if you're fortunate, it could just be an isolated situation. And this is the thing you need to understand I'm going to take a little sidetrack here. It could be a very innocent situation.
Let me explain what I mean by that. Someone could have filed a tax return with your Social Security number inadvertently.
Maybe the person they used to do their taxes typed in the Social Security number wrong. There are sometimes reasons why it's not this huge. Identity theft.
Now I'm going to tell you I would operate under the preposition that it is a big deal. But that's one thing I'm going to do. So alert your bank, alert your credit card companies right away.
If you're a business owner, look at your employee access like Sarah did.
Look at your Internet, your, your infrastructure of your computer system and while you're doing it, make sure that you're protecting your customers data at the same time. So those are the two things with the critical business steps.
But one of the things that Sarah learned and Maria, I'm going to challenge you to do the same thing. This is not an easy process.
I'm going to tell you to connect with a trusted prayer partner or maybe there's a group at church or a mentor that you can lean on for support during this challenging time because this is a challenge. Like I said for Sarah, it took six months to get this resolved. And remember this, you don't have to navigate this alone.
One of the things you can do is schedule a consultation with me and I'll give you personalized guidance. You go to askralph.com you'll see an icon at the top screen and says book a call with Ralph.
The other thing you can do is join our Tuesday Night live show.
Like tonight, we're going to be going live at 7pm Eastern Time and maybe you can work with our community to understand like what other people have gone through. Now when you're putting together the documentation for this.
Now again, this is if you've already been the victim of this tax identity theft, you're going to want to have some information at your fingertips when you're calling the IRS. Grab those prior year tax returns. They're going to ask you for information so they can tie you to your information.
Pull your current, your tax documents. If you've got a business, pull those financial records, any IRS correspondence you have.
And one of the big things you're going to want to do is go file a police report and keep that police report in right in front of you because the credit unions are going to need it, the banks are going to need, the credit card companies are going to need it, the credit bureaus are going to need it. So have all those things ready because remember this, taking immediate action is crucial. You can't wait for this thing to just go away on its own.
But at the same time, I want to encourage you. Don't let fear paralyze you.
So I've talked about this many times on this show because there are practical steps you can take, but then you also have to go back and rely on your faith. The faith is what's going to see you through this. Because guess what? Even in the worst possible scenario, God is going to see you through this.
And that is the key to overcoming these financial challenges. Now, maybe you're listening right now and you're saying, but, Ralph, I haven't even been the victim of this type of identity theft.
What can I do to prevent it? And that's what I promise you I'm going to talk about. So that's a great question. So I've got four things to keep in mind.
Real simple things, four things, big takeaways from the show today. Secure your personal information. You might say, Ralph, how do I do that? Well, I'm going to give you some ideas.
Number one, never carry your Social Security card with you. Just don't do it. Put it away, lock it in a safe, but never carry that card with you.
While I'm talking about that, keep all your tax documents in a secure location. A lock safe is great. Don't keep them out on your desk if you happen to be at work or somewhere where somebody can grab them.
You know, maybe you've got people coming in and out of your house to do work for you or something like that. Keep those things locked up. I encourage you to shred or securely destroy any documents containing personal information.
It amazes me how many people don't take the time and effort to shred stuff. They just put it in their trash can. So be proactive. Secure your personal information.
And as I talked about on the show a month or so ago, be extremely cautious in giving your Social Security number to anybody who asks. There are so many people that answer that and just say to them, why do you need this? Why do you need my Social Security number?
And again, what goes without saying is use strong passwords. That's a key to this. So number one thing, like I said, four things to keep in mind. Number one, secure your personal information.
Number two, as it relates to tax filing, these are what I'm going to call my tax filing best practices. The first one is going to, I'm going to say this. File your tax Return as early as possible in the filing season.
And you might say, Ralph, why would I do that? Well, here's a little trick.
If you are the victim of identity theft, the sooner you get your tax return in, number one, the more likely you're going to find out there's an issue. But number two, if you get your return in before a thief, then the thief is going to run into the problem, not you.
So if you file your tax return early, that is a great way to keep track of that. Another thing, while we're talking about taxes, track and maintain detailed records of all your tax accounts throughout the year. That's crucial.
One of the things that Sarah did, she kept track of that stuff.
Now, I'm going to be doing a show next week about this, but I'm going to highly encourage you to get what's called an identity protection pin that's directly from the IRS. And the way that works is you go out to IRS.gov and like I said, I'm doing a show next week about this. And you request this PIN number.
Well, once you request that PIN number, they lock your file down. And nobody can file a tax return without having that PIN number.
So they might have your name, they might have your Social Security number, they might have your date of birth, they might have your address, they might have all of that information. But if they don't have that PIN number, it's not going to let you file.
Now, the dirty little secret about that is once you do that one time, you're going to get one every year. But we'll talk about that next week. And keep copies of all your tax returns and supporting documents for at least seven years.
I'm just adding that right here because I just think that's a really good thing to do. So going back to our four things. Number one, secure your personal information. Number two, we talked about those tax filing best practices.
Well, number three is digital security measures. This one is crucial. Use secure, updated tax preparation software. You know, this kind of goes without saying, but pay attention to the website.
You're going, if you're doing your own taxes and you're going online to do it, make sure you're using a reputable and secure tax preparation software. Make sure that it's one that you've heard of, not some fly by night, hey, here, Free. File with us and we'll get your refund in 24 hours.
That's a whole another issue. And that's a whole another discussion. Another thing I'm going to recommend you do, always Enable two factor authentication on any financial accounts.
That is just crucial. This one I thought about when I was preparing for this show.
And I thought about maybe somebody sitting at a coffee shop or at an airport or using some public wi fi. That is not the place to prepare your taxes.
You don't want to be putting your name, your Social Security number, your date of birth, your husband or your wife's Social Security number, your kids. Don't do it on a public WI fi system. And, and last but not least, monitor your bank accounts and your credit reports.
Don't wait till you've already been the victim of that to go back and figure out what happened. So that's number three, digital security measures. And number four is look for professional support.
It's one of the things I highly encourage you to do. Work with a qualified tax professional who can help you identify red flags. Stay informed about the latest tax scams and fraud tech.
We send these out to our clients through our newsletters or or through our email alerts. I talk about them here on the show. Look for financial advisors to give you guidance about the best practices for your specific situation.
Because everybody's situation is different. And in the end, remember this. Protecting yourself from tax identity theft isn't just about securing your finances.
That's part of it and that's a big part of it. But equally big part of that is it's about being a good steward of the resources God has blessed you with.
So I encourage you implement these preventive measures because when you do that, you're practicing that wisdom that's talked about in the book of Proverbs about seeing that danger ahead and taking refuge. Now, as I mentioned a few days ago, every day when I record the show, I also write a blog post that goes a little deeper.
I share more resources there. I show the telephone numbers and websites. So if you're interested in that, you can always go out to askralphpodcast.com/blog.
There's one out there for every single episode. Again, that's askralphpodcast.com/blog. Well, let me speak directly to you for a minute.
You've listened to this and you're like, Ralph, this is a scary situation. You're right. And the pain of tax identity theft is real. And the emotional toll it takes on families and businesses can be overwhelming.
Unfortunately, every year I probably see five to seven cases of this. But here's the truth. You don't have to become another victim. You can take action today to protect yourself and your business.
So first thing, if you haven't Done it already. I strongly urge you to implement those prevention strategies we discussed. Because remember, being a good steward isn't just about managing money.
It's about protecting what God has entrust to us. And second thing, whatever you do, don't try to navigate this alone. It's not an easy process.
And somebody like me or someone else that you trust, that's a professional can help you. Now, one of the ways you can do that is go to our live show. I mentioned this earlier because we tackle these kind of topics head on.
We share additional strategies, and we answer specific questions about protecting your identity and securing your tax information. Because during the live show, a lot of times people will come up with ideas. They'll talk about ways that this happened to them.
They talk about what we'll call advanced protection strategies that, that I use in my clients. Maybe you've got some specific tax security questions. And the best part of this, I talk about this all the time in the live show.
It's a way to connect with other people who are facing similar challenges. And you can receive spiritual encouragement on your financial journey. So here's what Sarah said. I talked about her earlier.
She shared, after implementing these strategies, said Ralph's guidance helped me secure not just my business, but my peace of mind. And you think about it, that's what we're all in search of. Maria, I know that's what you're thinking about, like Ralph.
How do I get to that peace of mind? So don't wait until it's too late. Go to askralphpodcast.com/live right now. The show is on tonight at 7:00pm Eastern Time.
Set a reminder and don't miss it, because this is about more than just protecting your finances. It's so much bigger than that. It's about being a wise steward of all that God has blessed you with. And if you're feeling overwhelmed, remember this.
I'm here to walk alongside you on this journey.
So if you want to reach out to me, you can go to askralph.com, click on book a call with Ralph and I'll help you create a solid plan to protect your financial future while staying true to your faith. Listen, the time to act is now. Don't wait till tomorrow. Don't wait till next week. If you've not been a victim of this, do the things I talked about.
Let's work together to secure your financial future in a way that honors God and protects your resources. Well, you know, I've added this situation here, this part of the show where I talk about reflection questions.
So I've got three deeply engaging reflection questions that will help you examine not only the practical but the spiritual dimensions of protecting your financial identity. So here we are.
Number one, when you consider that you're stewarding resources that God has blessed you with, how protected are the gates of your financial kingdom? Take a minute, think about that.
Grade yourself, go from 1 to 10 on your current identity protection measures and write down three specific improvements you'll implement this week. So ask yourself, how secure are my gates? Give yourself grades, but then do something about it.
Write down three specific improvements you you'll implement this week. Second thing, just as we're called to be wise builders, what financial walls need strengthening in your life?
So not just the protection, not those gates, but let's talk about those walls. Look at your current budget, look at your security practice.
What specific areas are most vulnerable to identity theft and what's holding you back from fortifying them today? I think you feel that there's a little bit of a theme here. So check those gates, check those walls. That's number two.
And number three, as Proverbs teaches us that the why store up for the future, Ask yourself this. What legacy of financial wisdom are you creating?
How can you transform your personal experience and knowledge about tax identity protection into a blessing for your family and business community? How can you share what you've learned? Maybe you've been a victim of this. Maybe you're like Sarah and she shares what she did and how to prevent it.
Think about three specific ways you can share this wisdom while strengthening your own protection measures. One of the ways you can do that that would help me as well is share this show with other people. Send them a text, send them an email.
Just say, hey, listen, I just heard this show about tax identity theft and you really should check this out. Here's a link to the show. Just go to askralph.com I think we've covered a lot today.
Now tomorrow I've got a special treat for you as I interviewed Dr. Alex Watson. He's with Admire Medical and we're going to discuss whether preventive care really saves you money over time.
That was the central purpose of our interview and you don't want to miss this insightful interview about stewarding both your health and your wealth. He gives us some great ideas about how to do both. So I'm going to encourage you to check that out tomorrow. Remember this.
My passion is to help you achieve financial success. I want to see you live out your dreams and I want to see you grow in your faith.
And I know working together we can master your finances from a Christian perspective. So as I always end this show, stay financially savvy out there. Do those preventive measures protect yourself from tax identity theft?
Because I'm going to tell you, if you ever had a chance to talk to Sarah, she would tell you, prevent this. You don't want to go through this. That was six months of problem after problem. So please, if you don't hear me, listen to me now.
Prevent this from happening to you. So God bless you and enjoy your day.
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