Teach Kids A Simple Secure PIN Strategy (VIDEO)

Here’s a video version of the post: Teach Kids A Simple Secure PIN Strategy.

Video Transcript

Hey, Bill here. As always, thank you for the nice mentions on social media.

Remember this phrase: Colby the dachshund rocks!

More on that later...

Meanwhile, the world is going cashless. So it won’t be long before your kids are using PIN-based payment methods like prepaid cards or bank debit cards.

Using them responsibly includes learning how to pick a secure, but memorable PIN.

Parents definitely need to step up the education here. How do I know? In the last 30 days, the third and fourth most common reasons for declines on kids’ FamZoo cards are PIN related.

So, here’s a simple recipe you can teach your kids for making secure and easy-to-remember PINs:

1. Pick a memorable four word phrase. Maybe a song title, part of a favorite lyric, a statement about your beloved pet, whatever. Just make sure it isn’t something someone else can easily guess.
2. Map the first letter of each word to a number using a phone keypad. Bring up the dial pad on a cell phone, and look up the number for each letter. For example, 2 corresponds to A, B, or C. So, the phrase “My Dog Has Fleas” maps to 6 3 4 3. You’ll notice 1 and 0 don’t have any corresponding letters, so you could make up your own mapping there. So 1 could be an exclamation point capping off a three word phrase.
3. Repeat until secure. If your phrase maps to something too obvious, like too many repeated or consecutive numbers, just try a different one.
4. Keep a keypad cheat sheet. Print out a keypad image to keep in a wallet or purse for times when a phone isn’t handy.

That’s it! No more bad PINs. No more forgotten PINs.

So, what’s my secure dachshund PIN? You got it! 2 8 3 7.

Don’t worry though. Colby the Dachshund still rocks, but I changed my PIN.

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