As with many things in our lives, our finances have become increasingly reliant on technology. Instead of receiving paper bank statements or paper bills, we now have e-bills and e-statements. Instead of mailing our tax paperwork, we upload it to a secure online portal. Rather than writing checks, we can easily send money to someone through an app.
And while technology has increased efficiency and saved us time, it also has the potential to create a lot of headaches and frustration. We’re in a never-ending cycle of adopting a new device or software and learning how to use it, only to have the next version render our knowledge seemingly obsolete.
Because of the tech boom and its subsequent acceleration through COVID-19, we’ve become teachers of tech for our clients on many occasions, and we’ve had to do plenty of learning ourselves. We wrote about tech and working from home at the start of the pandemic (how has it already been a year?). Now, with a year of pandemic life under our belts – a year of virtually meeting with clients and finding solutions to all kinds of tech issues – we put together this list of tech tips for seniors and older adults (or people of any age who want to be more in the loop on technology) that we’ve learned these last 12 months.
USE A USB, BLUETOOTH, OR WIRELESS MOUSE WITH YOUR LAPTOP
This first tech tip for older adults might not seem like a big deal – until you try to go back to your laptop’s trackpad after having used a mouse for a while. And if you’ve only exclusively used your laptop’s trackpad, you’re in for a real ‘Eureka’ moment when you use a mouse for the first time. Trackpads can be awkward, finicky, and subject to spills and sticky fingers. Now, using a mouse with sticky fingers isn’t necessarily advisable, but it won’t be rendered completely useless by a small smudge like your trackpad can be. And you can get a solid one for less than $30.
When it comes to selecting a mouse for your laptop, there are a couple of things to keep in mind. If you’re electing to go with a USB mouse, or any type of wired connection, make sure your computer is compatible with it. Newer Apple laptops like the MacBook Pro have what are called Thunderbolt 3 ports (pictured below), so you will need an adapter like this one to be able to use a USB mouse with it. If you have a PC (Dell, HP, Lenovo, etc.), you shouldn’t have to be too concerned about compatibility because most PCs come with a good mix of ports for connecting various devices. The good news about a wired USB mouse is that it doesn’t need batteries because it’s supplied power through the USB port. The downside is that the cord can be cumbersome.
Many computer mice these days are either wireless or Bluetooth. The difference is that a wireless mouse typically uses a USB adapter that communicates with the mouse (sans wire), while a Bluetooth mouse – such as Apple’s Magic Mouse – has no physical connection with your device and communicates directly with your laptop. The draw of Bluetooth is that you don’t have to worry about having a compatible port, and Bluetooth capability is quite standard on most devices manufactured in the last five years (Bluetooth 5.0, the most recent version, was introduced in 2016).
Although we could do an exhaustive piece on mice alone, PC Mag already has this great resource on the subject if you’re in the market for a mouse.
MASTER ZOOM AUDIO & USE BLUETOOTH HEADPHONES WITH IT
On the subject of Bluetooth, let’s (briefly) open Pandora’s box and talk about audio on Zoom and other web-conferencing applications for our next tech tip. There are three common Zoom problems we’ve likely all encountered over the last year:
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- You can’t hear the other people on the call.
- The other people on the call can’t hear you.
- You can’t hear the other people and they can’t hear you.
If you’re in a situation where you can’t hear other people on the call, the issue is likely with the speaker that’s selected, also known as the sound output. For people using wired headphones, unplugging them and plugging them back into your computer, while quite simple, might just solve your problem. You can also leave the call and rejoin it.
This can be a little more complicated if you’re using Bluetooth headphones – headphones without a cord – but it involves two steps. First, check to see if your headphones are connected to your computer. In the event they aren’t, your best bet is to deploy a search on your favorite search engine – Google, Duck Duck Go, etc. Entering the brand of your headphones (ex: Apple AirPods) and ‘how to connect [insert your brand here] to my computer’ should return a quick explanation for how to make this happen. Here are links for some of the top headphones to help get you started: AirPods, Beats by Dre, Bose, JBL.
Once you’ve connected your headphones to your computer, the second step is to select your headphones as the “speaker,” or sound output device, in Zoom, a process shown in the video below. Here’s a written description of the process of connecting your Bluetooth headset:
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- Locate the mute button. This is almost always at the bottom left-hand corner of your Zoom window
- Click the “^” arrow in the mute button box to open up your audio options.
- Under the “Select a Speaker” text, choose what the Zoom audio will play through, in this case, “Beats Solo.”
If other people can’t hear you, you can follow the same three-step process. In this case, you’ll want to choose your Bluetooth headphones under “Select a Microphone.” If that doesn’t help – likely because your headphones don’t have a built-in microphone – you can pick “Same as System” or select your computer as the microphone. Looking for additional resources on this? Here’s a video tutorial from Zoom on audio setup.
SAVE YOUR PASSWORDS WITH A SECURE PASSWORD MANAGER
If we had a nickel for every time we said, “I’ll remember that password later,” we’d have quite a few nickels. But if you’re not using the same password for all your logins – something you should never do anyway – how should you keep track of your different logins and passwords? That’s where this next tech tip comes in.
For many of our older clients, writing passwords down on a piece of paper is the method they’re familiar with. This isn’t a bad option. It’s far more likely that confidential information would be stolen or compromised online versus being taken by someone breaking into your home. The problem here is accessibility. You should be storing this physical document in a safe or locked drawer, so you’ll have to take it out and put it back every time you need to log in.
The better option to combine security and ease of access is through a secure password manager. We have some examples listed below, but first, a couple of things to keep in mind.
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- You (usually) get what you pay for – cybersecurity is a necessity and not something you should try to cut corners on. If you’re using free software for virus protection or password management, chances are there’s a reason it’s free. Not that something you pay for is automatically better, but paid services from trusted companies in this sphere are your best, and safest, bet.
- Do your homework – don’t just go with software because a friend told you about it or the company’s website sounds convincing. Use reviews and trusted internet resources from places like PC Magazine or Wired to do some independent investigating on your own.
Now, here are some recommendations for password managers:
CHECK TO SEE WHERE YOUR DOCUMENTS ARE BEING SAVED
If you’ve ever gone on a wild goose chase for a document you believe is saved on your computer, you know first-hand how frustrating such a hunt can be. The main issue here is that you likely don’t know the exact name of the file. If you do, you can use your PC’s search bar or file explorer, or Mac’s Finder application, to turn up the file in relatively short order. When you don’t know the name of the file, it turns into a bit of a guess and check approach, plugging in possible names until you find it or give up. Here are a couple of options to find a file once you’ve lost it:
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- Open the application you originally saved the file in (Word, Excel, etc.) and locate the “Recent Files” or “Recently Opened” tab.
- Go to Mac Finder and click on the “Recents” on the left side of the pane. On a PC, you can click on the File Explorer icon and then click “Recent Files” once the window opens.
Here are some bonus tech tips for ensuring you can find your files easily:
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- Create specific folders and subfolders inside your ‘Documents’ folder to keep yourself organized, ex.: Taxes > 2021 > Tax Forms for your W-2s, 1099s, etc.
- If you’re someone who likes to have everything on your desktop, create your folder hierarchy there so you don’t have a mess of icons to choose from.
- Click “Save As” when you save a document the first time or anytime you’re unsure of where the document is saved.
- Move files out of your download folder to their respective folders and rename them to something that makes sense. A lot of times automatically downloaded files will have funky names that make it hard to know what the file is based on name alone.
- To the last point, name files in a specific way familiar to you. Including things like dates “040821” or “210408” and being specific “Taxes_2021_1040-complete” will go a long way when trying to find things later on.
Save and Send Your Documents Through Cloud-Based Platforms
An alternative to saving documents directly to your computer, or a great way to back up files so you don’t lose them, is using a cloud-based storage platform. Without getting too far into the weeds, the basic premise of cloud storage is that it allows you to save and send documents from multiple devices without taking up storage space on those devices. It’s like renting a storage container to keep all the stuff you don’t have room to store in your own house. Below are some of the key cloud storage providers to choose from.
Cloud Storage Platforms
Two things you should keep in mind when it comes to electronic files. First, always back up your files in a location separate from the original location, i.e. an external storage device if the original location in the cloud service. Second, encrypt any files with confidential information using Microsoft, Adobe, or another service. You can upload encrypted files to a cloud server, which gives you another layer of protection if there’s a security breach.
A key part of our philosophy at Walkner Condon is embracing change, including embracing new technology to streamline our clients’ experience and financial journeys. As part of that, we’re also here to help educate our clients on these new technologies, so they can maximize them to their fullest potential. Hopefully, these tips will help you or a friend or family member maximize the technology in your life.
If you have anything you’d like us to cover in the future, feel free to let us know by sending an email to us here.
Disclosure: this blog post is written as informational only by Dan Corcoran and is not an offer to purchase or sell securities, nor should it be construed as investment related advice. Dan is not registered as an investment advisor, and any securities related inquiries should be directed to an investment advisor representative (IAR) of Walkner Condon Financial Advisors.