Monthly Archives: June 2018

Cyber Security for College Students

So you think you’re all set for your first day of classes. Backpack, books, IPad and smartphone in hand – you think you have everything you need for success this semester. However, learning proper cybersecurity habits are just as important to your college success as the friends you make or the assignments you accomplish.

You’re well acquainted with technology and internet scams, and think you are far off from being duped or scammed online. However, technology is ever changing which means the tactics hackers use to access your personal information can be even sneakier. In 2014, there were 13,500 burglaries reported in on campus crimes across the US. Here are some basic tips to keep in mind while on campus or use as a refresher, you smarty pants!

Keep Your Friends Close and Your Devices Closer

You’re constantly sharing a workspace with your peers. From the dorm room to the library, you’re devices are always accessible to others. Never leave your devices unattended. Always have a passlock on each screen, and make sure no one is lurking over you when you enter the pin. Look into purchasing a laptop lock to secure the physical safety of your device.

The Value of a Number

If you’re like most college students, you’re eating ramen and shopping at the nearest thrift store. This might be why you haven’t been worried about cyber security in the past. You can barely afford proper nutrition, so you don’t have anything worth stealing. WRONG. Your social security number is incredibly valuable to a hacker who can sell it on the dark web. They can use this to open various credit accounts in your name or hold other precious online information like family photos hostage until you pay their ransom.

Back, Back, Back it Up

We know you have a million other things on your plate right now, but be sure you are backing up your data on a secure cloud system or an external hard drive. Consistently setting a time to backup all of your important documents will help protect you against ransomware and file corruptions.

PDA: Public Displays of Access

Who doesn’t like free stuff? One of the perks of college is that you are probably going to have a lot of freebies thrown at you. This means free WiFi that you can gulp down without having to dry out your data usage while catching up with friends back home. However, even your dorm WiFi can be infiltrated by hackers who access the network’s router, create fake login pages to steal your information or take data from your device. You can protect yourself by not using public WiFi, or purchasing a VPN.

Shhh, Mums the Word

Although it might be easy and sweet to use fido in your password, make sure to keep your password on each account different and complex. You don’t want to allow a hacker to open Pandora’s box after they figure out your one password. Keep your password private and unique. We recommend incorporating special characters, acronyms or even sentences at random.

We hope that these tips will be helpful in keeping your identity safe in your college adventure!

The Lessons of a Lemonade Stand – Teaching Your Children the Fun Way

Warm, sunny weather calls for a glass of ice cold lemonade. Now that the kids are out of school and looking for activities to entertain them, now is the perfect chance to teach them a little about finances. Here are a few quick tips to help teach your children how to be fiscally responsible.

Have them buy the materials.

When deciding to have a lemonade stand, it is important that your children know the value of money. By having them calculate the cost of the lemonade, sugar, cups, sign, sunscreen and pitcher, they will begin to understand the importance of the dollar. You may help them out with costs if they haven’t begun to save from chores, but teach them with our next tip that money isn’t just handed to them.

They can ask you to lend or invest.

If your child is looking for a little cash to start up their business, feel free to teach them about lending and investing. Show that mommy or daddy can lend you $10.00 for ingredients. When you make $20.00, you owe them $10.00 and get to keep the rest – no matter how much you make! Mommy could also invest in your stand with $10.00. If you make $30.00, Mommy gets half and makes a $5.00 profit. However, if you make $16.00, then mommy gets $8.00 and loses money.

Show them how to take inventory.

Teach your child how to track their items and what each ingredient costs. They will be able to see how much each cup of lemonade costs and the profit they make from selling. They can learn about accounting by subtracting their total expenses from their sales to see the profit they accumulated. Remember to send an email or call the neighborhood before the launch of the stand, so your child can feel like a success. Helping them accrue a little extra business will excite them for their next business venture.

Review the sales.

Going over how well you did and what can be changed for next time is a great way to learn about business. Cover a few positives your children did well, and then hit on one or two improvements that could be made.

Let them decide where the proceeds go.

Giving your children the opportunity to choose where their money goes is a great way to allow them the feeling of independence. They can decide to give it to a children’s hospital, pet shelter or into their own savings account. If they choose to save, then you have the opportunity to segway into different approaches to saving!

A lemonade stand is a perfect way for your child to learn about money without boring them. Creating a lawn mowing business or other summer activities can also be an option if lemonade stands aren’t exciting to them. Give us a call to discuss different savings options for your children and their lemonade money!

The Brief Beginner’s Guide to Boosting Your Car’s Value

Your car is your baby, but have you really been treating it as well as you should? If you’re in the market for a new vehicle or just looking to make your automobile look its best, then you’ve come to the right place! Iowa State Bank & Trust Company offers wonderful ways to boost your car’s value on the inside and out.

Shine Bright

Dull headlights seem to be a recurring problem with cars. Luckily, there are many cheap products you can purchase to make those lights shine bright again. By giving your car a little love, it’ll look years newer. This means you can ask more for your fresh vehicle if you’re looking to sell.

Fancy Floors

Buying new floor mats or paying to have them cleaned can make all the difference in the world. You can also invest in the heavy duty rubber mats, so stains will be a thing of the past. Freshening up your interior will make your ride feel new and improved.

Quick Fixes

Any little issues that can be improved will help heighten your car’s value. Replace a burned out taillight, change the oil, make sure no warning lights are flashing and so on. If you’re looking to sell, this will be a big attraction to the next guy who will feel like no work will have to be done after buying. People are willing to spend more in order to start fresh with no troubles ahead.

New Shoes

Replace your car’s tires to give it the update it needs. Buyers will be willing to pay more if they know they won’t have to be buying new tires right off the bat. The buyer will often expect a significant discount ($300-$700), depending on the model, if the tires are old and worn.

Scratches and Dents

Don’t think fixing a dent or scratch won’t do you any good. Paying a little now to buff out that scratch and pop out the dent will make your car much more valuable. Just one or two dents/scratches can mean the difference of a fair payout or big bucks. A paintless dent repair specialist can usually buff out the issue for a small price, leaving your potential buyer willing to pay more since you’re saving them the headache of going to a body shop.

If you’re looking to make your current car last longer or sell it for top-dollar, use these simple strategies. Giving your baby the attention and love it deserves will help stretch its value higher. If you’re looking to buy, give us a call – we offer great auto loans to help you buy the vehicle you want!

Regulatory Relief Bill

Thanks to the power of grass roots advocacy and the support of pro-community banking elected officials, Washington has approved a very much needed regulatory relief bill.

The landmark Economic Growth, Regulatory Relief and Consumer Protection Act provides regulatory relief to our nation’s community banks, so they can continue financing and supporting the dreams of Americans in local communities like ours. For far too long, local community banks like Iowa State Bank and Trust have been hand cuffed by ever-increasing federal regulations that have raised costs, reduced local credit availability, promoted the decline in new bank formation, sparked bank consolidation, and lowered consumer choice while not providing any meaningful abatement in overall risk in the financial system.

By unleashing the economic power of community banks, lawmakers are providing greater access to financial services closer to the people of our farms, businesses, families, and organizations, and with banking institutions that truly puts customers first. This can only help continue our nation’s economic recovery and the growth of our local areas.

There is still more to do to right size financial regulation and scale it to bank size and focus. Bank’s like Iowa State Bank and Trust continue to labor under onerous requirements while trying to compete with government subsidized credit unions and agencies. Our industry will always fight to keep local community banking viable!

– Dave Eastburn, Chairman of the Board