The Entrepreneur Forum | Financial Freedom | Starting a Business | Motivation | Money | Success

Welcome to the only entrepreneur forum dedicated to building life-changing wealth.

Build a Fastlane business. Earn real financial freedom. Join free.

Join over 80,000 entrepreneurs who have rejected the paradigm of mediocrity and said "NO!" to underpaid jobs, ascetic frugality, and suffocating savings rituals— learn how to build a Fastlane business that pays both freedom and lifestyle affluence.

Free registration at the forum removes this block.

Decentralizing your important stuff, smart phone dependence

alexkuzmov

Gold Contributor
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
130%
Sep 20, 2019
1,014
1,318
Bulgaria
So yesterday I almost lost my phone.

Long story short, I went to the mall to get a massage on those massage chairs and left my stuff beside it.
When the massage was done, I stood up, took my pack and went about my business in the mall.
15-20 minutes later I notice my phone is gone, went back up wasnt beside the chair, and then the realization hit me like a ton of bricks.

I just lost access to all my important accounts, the pictures and clips of my son which arent backed up yet, possibly a third of my money since I have a bank app which works with 2FA and mail verification which are both on the same phone, phone contacts, work notes and audio, I cant even name them all.

Stopped strangers which were kind enough to let me call my phone, first attempt, no answer, second attempt, phone turned off.
Shit, I thought, 100% stolen, people who find phones dont just shut them off when they ring.
Turned out, one of the cleaning ladies picked it up and delviered it to security later by their request.

The absolute hilarious part is that I`ve been getting more and more in to stoicism and one of the reasons I was in the mall is that I bought the book Marcus Aurelius Notes to self seconds before I realize that my phone is gone.
While waiting for any news from the security people (which did an awesome job finding my phone by checking the cameras) I just stared at the book and though: "Well shit, I didnt expect a test to my fortitude to come so soon after buying the book" and started laughing and reading.

Lessons.

1. Dont use your everyday phone for account verifications.
Just dont.
Make sure to have a separate phone for banks, emails, brokerage, exchanges and so on.
Too many platforms now require verification by phone to keep all of that imporant access on the same device.
Just keep it at home, you dont really need to do any banking while on the go, right?

2. Put a password on your phone.

3. Always set the settings on your imporant account to automaticall log off so you dont worry.

4. Enable automatic backups where you can.
 
Dislike ads? Remove them and support the forum: Subscribe to Fastlane Insiders.

mdot

Always Improve.
Read Rat-Race Escape!
Read Fastlane!
Read Unscripted!
Speedway Pass
User Power
Value/Post Ratio
190%
Dec 24, 2020
245
465
Ontario, Canada
Funny story (in retrospect of course!). Glad you got your phone back.

I've been slowly moving my digital life a password manager. Some managers can generate authenticator codes, which removes the reliance on using an authenticator app on your phone and means you don't need to use SMS verifications. I 2FA the manager with multiple hardware USB security keys (primary and a few backups).

I'm trying to reduce my reliance on Google for syncing everything else like contacts and photos, but for now those are taken care of if I lose my phone.
 

Post New Topic

Please SEARCH before posting.
Please select the BEST category.

Post new topic

Guest post submissions offered HERE.

Latest Posts

New Topics

Fastlane Insiders

View the forum AD FREE.
Private, unindexed content
Detailed process/execution threads
Ideas needing execution, more!

Join Fastlane Insiders.

Top