I'm too old" is no longer a valid excuse to avoid the Internet.
I hear it often. Readers call for information on, say, Social Security benefits, freezing credit reports or tax rebates. The answers are readily available at their finger tips, but they say they are "too old" to jump online. Most disturbing, these readers often are only in their 50s or 60s.
If that sounds like you, realize that while you shun the Internet, the world of finances and investing is passing you by. Without access to the Internet, you may pay more for products and services over time and earn less on your money - and not even know it. Only online can you find the wealth of financial information and tools that can make you a smarter investor and consumer.
And with a home computer and a software program, such as Quicken, you can store and organize your records in a way that's far easier and less time-consuming than doing it on paper.
Here's a sampling of financial-related activities that you can only do well or conveniently by computer:
View your bank account balances at any time, pay your bills within seconds or schedule automatic payments so you're never hit by a late fee again.
Check your broker's disciplinary record before risking your money, and get up-to-the-minute stock quotes.
Comparison shop for clothes, books, Medicare prescription drug plans and almost anything else you can imagine. Just think of the savings on gas from not driving around. Check out car prices before going to the dealership, giving you a leg up on negotiations.
Find the best rates on mortgages, CDs, credit cards and savings accounts.
For instance, the major Baltimore-area banks were paying an annual yield of 0.20 percent to 1.76 percent on savings or money market accounts late last week. Search Bankrate.com for offers at other FDIC-insured banks, and the highest rate in the city and one of the best rates around the country was 3.91 percent from WTDirect - an online institution in Baltimore.
File your federal tax return free at www. irs.gov under a government program for low- to moderate-income households. Electronic returns have fewer errors than those on paper. Use direct deposit, too, and you get your refund faster. Plus, while you wait, track the whereabouts of your refund online.
Access to the Internet may also determine whether you land a job, says Donna Macauley-Shoemaker, an instructor at Anne Arundel Community College who teaches "Internet for Beginners" to older adults. A student in her late 50s, for instance, sought a position as a grocery store clerk and was told applications are only accepted online, she says.
Morris Glick is a 74-year-old retired dentist in Carroll County. He resisted the Internet for years, but a few years ago signed up for computer classes with his wife. He has now taken five of them.
Today, he banks online. "I love it," he said last week, before paying two bills on his computer. "In a matter of 120 seconds tops, both bills will be paid," he said. No stamps. No envelopes. No fuss.
Glick also keep tabs on his finances with a software program, and mails an updated statement each month to his accountant. And every few months, he has his wife, Peggy, go through the process so she's aware of their finances, too.
"If something happens to me, all of our stuff is right in front of her," Glick says.
While more retirees are starting to navigate the Web, older adults still make up the smallest percentage of Internet users.
A Pew Internet & American Life Project survey last fall found that 37 percent of those 65 and older access the Internet. That's compared with 92 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds, the largest users. The National Institutes of Health last year raised concern over the low level of older adults online, saying they are missing out on valuable health information.
Fear keeps many older adults away from the keyboard, Macauley-Shoemaker says.
"What they hear on the news is predators and identity theft. They hear all the bad stuff. They hear no good," she says.
Change, too, is a hurdle. Even retirees who used computers on their old jobs aren't comfortable learning a new program, Macauley-Shoemaker says.
She says the goal of her 10-week course is to get intimidated students comfortable with the computer. Her students are age 55 and up. The oldest so far has been 89.
She shows them how to bank online, comparison shop using Google, and spot spam e-mail that should be deleted.
Security and identity theft on the Internet are big concerns. Macauley-Shoemaker tells students how to identify secure sites and avoid being a victim.
Students are excited to learn how to print out store coupons and to find out about high interest rates offered at online banks, she says.
You don't have to buy a computer to get on the Internet. Libraries and senior centers typically have computers that people can use free. Many of them offer computer classes, from the basics and beyond.
People who were good students as youngsters are likely to be good students in their 60s and 70s, says Laurie Powers, who teaches computer classes at Carroll Community College and senior centers. A computer is not much different from a book, she says. If you're willing to listen and crack open the book, you will learn, she says.
Lynda Killmeyer of Pasadena is ready.
For most of her 67 years, Killmeyer never touched a computer. Her husband had worked with computers and he used the Internet to check on the couple's stocks, arrange travel and pay bills. He died last summer, and a few months later she signed up for her first computer class at a local senior center.
"Certainly, it's something I have to learn to embrace if I'm going to be part of today's world. I don't want to be left out," she says. "I remember my grandmother sitting in a chair watching TV and going to bingo on Wednesday nights. That's not where I'm at."
Killmeyer says she was slow to adopt a cell phone, but now can't live without one. The same could happen with the computer.
"I haven't become proficient in it," she says. "I want to be. I will get there."
To suggest a topic or share tips with readers, contact Eileen Ambrose by e-mail at eileen.ambrose@baltsun.com