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SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2015 Call: (803) 774-1226 | E-mail: pressrelease@theitem.com
New, familiar faces: Cohabitating couples need a financial plan 5 join newspaper BY HAMLET FORT hamlet@theitem.com The Sumter Item is excited to announce new hires to the newsroom and a reshuffling of coverage assignments. Konstantin Vengerowsky is a new reporter and will cover stories in and around Clarendon VENGECounty for ROWSKY the Clarendon Sun and The Sumter Item. He will also cover schools in the region and all stories related to education and Sumter School District. Vengerowsky was born in Ukraine but considers himself a native of Manning because he moved there when he was 8 years old. He graduated from the College of Charleston and Manning High School. Vengerowsky received his master’s degree in journalism and public affairs from American University and has worked for the Clarendon Citizen in Manning, USA Today and the Post and Courier in Charleston. “I am thankful for the opportunity to cover community news, something I’m very passionate about,” he said. “There are so many important stories in Clarendon County that I look forward to exploring and sharing. The Sumter Item has a rich history of providing the news to the residents of Sumter,
Clarendon and Lee counties, and I am looking forward to being a part of the team.” Adrienne Sarvis is a graduate of Sumter High School and received a bachelor’s SARVIS degree in communication from the College of Charleston in December. She held an internship position at The Sumter Item and became a fulltime staff writer at the end of 2014. “I thought The Sumter Item would be a great place to start my career,” said Sarvis. “When I graduated, I did not know if I wanted to get into journalism, but I decided that since I had already done an internship, I would apply for a staff writer position.” Sarvis covers city and county government for The Sumter Item, and local college and university stories. Hamlet Fort is an intern from Hartsville. Nearing his degrees in English and FORT mass communications from Washington and Lee University in Lexington, Virginia, he is excited to contribute on features, breaking news and live coverage of weekend events. Damian Dominguez will join The Sumter Item as an intern throughout the legislative season, producing
two stories per week on legislative topics in Sumter County and across the state. Dominguez is originally from Miami, Florida, and when he was 12, he moved to Anderson with his family. He is a journalism student in his senior year at University of South Carolina. Trevor Bauknight started on his second stint at The Sumter Item BAUKNIGHT in December as a copy editor, having previously worked as a sports writer and copy editor in the graphics department from 2001 to 2009. Keith Gedamke is the newsroom photographer GEDAMKE and photo editor, also on his second stint at The Sumter Item after working for the paper for 15 years. As a result of these new hires and intern additions, more long-standing Sumter Item employees will see their beats shift and responsibilities alter. Jade Reynolds, a reporter for almost five years, will move to the design and editing desk. Jim Hilley will take on a variety of beats not taken by new hires and interns, including nonprofits, business, politics, health care and stories concerning Shaw Air Force Base.
NEW YORK (AP) — Budgets are not romantic, but unwed couples who want to live together should break out a calculator. Creating a financial plan can help prevent arguments and unpleasant surprises and protect each person from costly financial missteps. And if they merge their finances carefully, couples can make living together a big money saver. “It’s easier to have these conversations before you’re under the same roof,” says Nancy Skeans, a partner at Schneider Downs Wealth Management Advisors in Pittsburgh. The number of unmarried couples choosing to live together continues to grow. More than 7 million U.S. households were led by unmarried couples in 2013, up 1.7 percent from the year before, according to estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau. Alexandra Gambale moved into an apartment with her boyfriend, James Murad, about a year ago. Together for three years, the 24-year-olds decided to keep their bank accounts separate but split groceries and other monthly bills evenly. “I’d like to think we moved in together because we love each other, but yes, money was a part of it,” says Gambale, who works at a public relations company in New York. “We live in a much nicer apartment because we split the rent so we can afford more.” Here are some financial tips for couples who plan to live together:
HAVE THE TALK Schedule a time to have a conversation about money. Try a Saturday morning or another day when the both of you don’t have other obligations, says Alexa von Tobel, CEO of financial planning website LearnVest.com. Discuss exactly how much you earn, and don’t let debt be the elephant in the room. Although you may not be responsible for paying your partner’s debts, you may be impacted if his
or her credit card bills or student loans are so large that your partner can’t be relied upon for regular joint obligations. “Sitting down and figuring out your finances is a smart way of getting ahead of problems,” von Tobel said.
SET RULES Decide exactly what and how much each of you will be responsible for. Bills don’t have to be split evenly. If one person makes more than the other, maybe he or she can pay a larger portion of the rent and the other pays for groceries. When living together, the ideal situation is to live off one salary, says John Sweeney, an executive vice president of retirement and investing strategies at Fidelity. That’s not always possible, but setting a budget close to that amount can help. Both of you will have lower expenses and the ability to save more. And if one of you is laid off, you’ll know that you can keep up with expenses with just one salary, says Sweeney.
PLAN FOR BREAKUP Even if you think your relationship is solid, plan for what happens if it ends. Who will stay in the residence? If you’re renting, consider if you should both be on the lease. See what terms the lease outlines if one person leaves, as you don’t want to be on the hook for a place you can’t afford by yourself. If you plan to buy a home together, couples should first hire an attorney and draw up a purchase contract beforehand.
TO COMBINE ACCOUNTS OR NOT? Merging all bank accounts is not a good idea. But a joint checking account to pay bills or buy groceries can be a good start to test how you both handle it. If you’re in a more committed relationship, you can try opening a joint savings account for specific goals, such as an upcoming vacation or wedding.
Are you a hack waiting to happen? Your boss wants to know BY BARBARA ORTUTAY AP Technology Writer NEW YORK — The next phishing email you get could be from your boss. With high-profile security breaches on the rise, from Sony Pictures to Anthem, companies are on the defensive. They want to make sure their employees are not a hack waiting to happen. Data show phishing emails are more and more common as entry points for hackers. Unwittingly clicking on a link in a scam email could unleash malware into a network or provide other access to cyberthieves. So a growing number of companies, including Twitter Inc., are giving their workers a pop quiz, testing security savvy by sending spoof phishing emails to see who bites. “New employees fall for it all the time,” said Josh Aberant, postmaster at Twitter, during a data privacy town hall meeting recently in New York City. AP FILE PHOTO Falling for the fake scam offers a Users browse the Internet in an underground station in Hong Kong. As hacks abound, teachable moment that businesses hope will ensure employees won’t suc- some companies are testing workers’ security savvy by sending spoof phishing emails to see who bites. cumb to a real threat. It’s even a niche industry: Compaty such as sending a large number of or a notice about President Obama nies such as Wombat Security and undeliverable messages. warning you about Ebola. PhishMe offer the service for a fee. At the bottom there’s a link that, The phishing tests recognize that Phishing is very effective, according were this a real phishing email, would to Verizon’s 2014 data breach investiga- many security breaches are the result infect the recipient’s computer with of human error. tions report, one of the most compremalicious software or steal password A recent study by the nonprofit Onhensive in the industry. Eighteen perand login information. line Trust Alliance found that of more cent of users will visit a link in a If you click? Up pops a web page: than 1,000 breaches in the first half of phishing email which could compro“Oops! The email you just responded 2014, 90 percent were preventable and mise their data, the report found. to was a fake phishing email. Don’t more than 1 in 4 were caused by emNot only is phishing on the rise, but worry! It was sent to you to help you ployees, many by accident. also the phish are getting smarter. learn how to avoid real attacks. Please Fake phishing emails are indistinCriminals are “getting clever about sodo not share your experience with colguishable from the real ones. That’s cial engineering,” said Patrick Peterleagues, so they can learn too.” the point. son, CEO of email security company It also offers tips on recognizing susIn one sent out by Wombat, the subAgari. ject reads “Email Account Security Re- picious messages. As more people wise up to age-old In the 14 years since PhishMe CEO port – Unusual Activity.” The email inPayPal and bank scams, for example, and co-founder Rohyt Belani has been forms the recipient that his or her acphishing emails are evolving. You count will be locked for unusual activi- in information security, he says the inmight see a Walgreens gift card offer
dustry has changed from something a “geek in the back room” was supposed to take care of to something companies now handle at the highest level of management. The nature of the intruder also has changed, from pranksters to criminal organizations and nation-states. As the security industry developed, he said, so did the idea of the user as “stupid” and the “weakest link,” destined to continue to fall for phishing attempts and other scams. Belani disagrees with that, faulting the security industry for not better training workers. “We posted posters in hallways, gave out squishy balls, (made) screen savers,” he said. “When was the last time you changed your password because of a squishy ball?” While phishing training emails are a “good cautionary measure,” they aren’t “actually going to strike at the core of the issue,” thinks Agari’s Peterson. He, along with large Internet companies such as Facebook Inc., Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp., support establishing a standard that makes it impossible for scammers to impersonate your bank, social network or other business in an email. Think of it as a verification system for emails. For now, though, this seems a long way off. So, at Pinnacle Financial Partners in Nashville, Tennessee, employees will continue to receive fake phishing emails, about one a quarter. The results are reported to the company’s audit committee and board of directors, said Chief Information officer Randy Withrow. Since the 800-employee company started the Wombat program Withrow said it has seen a 25 percent drop in successful phishing attempts. Workers “take it very personally” when they fall for it, he said. “They become apologetic and wonder, ‘how did I miss it?’”