In today’s times, there is an increased struggle in our quest to obtain the “Desires of our Heart”, financial success, or what some term “wealth”. Of the numerous desires normally professed such as to be happy, to be healthy, to be physically fit, to find true love/companionship, there is one that normally connects them all and that is the overall desire to survive. True survival has a price.

• To be Happy – Happiness usually is a bi-product of having all of one’s needs met which takes money.
• To be Healthy – Health usually is the result of eating nutritious foods, which have a monetary price.
• To be Physically Fit – Fitness comes from getting adequate physical and mental exercise and for some who pay for gyms, or special equipment it takes money.
• Finding true love – Finding true love from someone else requires first loving oneself, but even after that most potential partners want to be with someone who can bring something to the table.

Those who are able to obtain all of these are considered Successful. However, these days most tie the term “Success” with being financially fit or wealthy as most things in life require money. Money is needed for survival and in today’s times, due to the rise in the cost of essentials, survival has become increasingly difficult. In other words, people are struggling to survive as the prices of basic items such as food, housing, transportation, and education are continuously increasing.

The result for many is the risk of depression and for others it spawns desperate actions to obtain wealth such become like a sheep following a herd, hence increasing the risk of falling victim to cyber-crimes.

Due to the increased use of social media, depression is increasing as people are viewing the displayed lives of others and comparing them with their own circumstances, sometimes causing negative outcomes. People are getting increasingly depressed, having negative self-images in that they are comparing their lives with the lives of others. Social media draws many people who are chasing their dreams of success by copying the advice of others in hopes of quick financial gains by investing in stocks, cryptocurrency, real estate, or other markets that are highly competitive and unlikely to offer the same benefits to latecomers. This opens the door to crime as breached security is becoming another impact on survival as we are being targeted by scammers at every turn (social media, email, phone calls, solicitors) All of this affects the emotional, mental and physical wellbeing.

There is a popular saying that “Your Health is Your Wealth.”

We not only should strive to be healthy in our physical and emotional realm. We all should also strive for intellectual wellness such as ensuring that we gain the knowledge needed to practice Healthy habits online, in regards to the web. Keeping web security in the back of our minds as we strive to obtain our financial desire of success is a must.

Some examples of healthy online practices are:

• Keep personal info personal – Ensure that your digital footprint is small and avoid providing Personally Identifiable Information (PII) on the internet public sites, to minimize identity theft. Utilize the privacy settings to minimize the information shared with the public such as your birthdate, address, etc. Why you might ask, this is because people can take this data and steal your identity opening up accounts in your name or even worse, stealing assets that you already own. Also, if you like posting photos of your home and other assets, be sure to turn off the location on your camera before taking and uploading them to websites as this information can be extracted and used to get your location and could lead to being targeted by thieves. I have read about numerous people who had come home to discover a loss in belongings after posting on social media that they are away on vacation.
• Be careful who you chat with- Stay diligent about confirming the validity of any Personal messages initiated by friends on social media sites. Ensure that they are the actual person that they profess to be as hackers take over or clone profiles and target the people in the friends list utilizing the trust factor to scam people out of their hard-earned money.
• Thoroughly review people, such as those who profess large returns on investments, before engaging with them to prevent loss of money. Remember, “if it sounds too good to be true it probably is …”.

All in all, everyone is chasing the dream of financial success, and many are preying on the desires of those wanting to get rich quickly. So, before you start your journey on the world wide web on your quest for success, ensure you keep yourself safe and secure. Remember lack of health prevents wealth.