Ok, I know....this blog is supposed to be about the financial risks in our lives.  It's about protecting our financial security and helping ensure that what we have built, earned and saved for our families .... stays with our families.

But what if we keep our finances, but lose our family? What then?  What is the focus of our lives?  Who or what do we strive for in what we do on a daily basis.  What if we lose what is important to us...that is outside of us?  

While we have always had the ability to screw up our lives, social media has given us new tools that are far more powerful than anything we have had before. That power can be used in many ways.  Yes, there are some social redeeming aspects of social media outlets, but I suggest that they pale in comparison to the destructive aspects of social media when it has gone awry. In most cases, people don't even realize how powerfully destructive social media can be.  You can be on social...

It seems like there are a whole lot of people who document everything they do on social media.

Going to a movie? Tweet it.
Having desert? Facebook it.
Hang-gliding in Mexico? Instagram it.
Rock climbing in Utah? Tweet it.
Smoking a hooka with a friend?  Post it.

Hmmm....You want the world to see everything ...except when you don't.  And when might that be?  Perhaps your mom on line.  A prospective employer.  Or an insurance underwriter. 

Yes, social media is everywhere, and the truth is that once something is posted online...it's NEVER going away.  You can do whatever you want to try to erase those images of you running with the bulls or cliff diving, but once they are posted, they are there.  Forever.

While most of the items posted are innocent, some are not.  

If in the future you are looking to get a high dollar figure insurance policy, do you think that pictures of you skateboarding behind a semi-truck will get you great...

Are you in Information Overload?

I know that I am.

Yes, I confess it…I am overloaded with information.

But I have to also say that it’s not all the time.  And most of the time I like where I am at with all of this new information coming at me.  It creates a buzz (not an illegal buzz).  It’s exhilarating.  But it can also be exhausting. And it’s my own responsibility to manage the information “feeders” that sometimes inundate me.

Where is it all coming from?

Back in the 60′s and 70′s there was a promise that these “new” advances…computers, cell phones, pagers, fax machines, voice mail, answering machines, etc. were supposed to help us work more efficiently and work less.  Yeah.  Right.

Now we are seeing other new sources of information…Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Linkedin, and on and on (There are hundreds of social media outlets with more coming on daily it seems), the amount...