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Online Community & Resource for Active Silver Surfers

The Silver Life

Online Community & Resource for Active Silver Surfers

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It’s summer, wow the open road, top down on the convertible, picnics, barbecues, the beach. As they say, “the living is easy”.

What could be better than a car filled with gas and our destination is ……..wherever.

Remember when the gas station was called a “filling station”? I’m old enough to remember that you pulled into the filling station and a man came out in a uniform and a hat. He began filling the car with gas and then, unbelievably, asked if he could check your oil, check your tires, and then began to wash your windows.

If there was a noise in the motor, you pulled your car into a bay and there was a real mechanic to look under the hood and see what the noise was. Today, I need a trained technician to tell me how to open the hood.

The gas stations of today are mini marts. You put gas in the car and go in and buy hotdogs. There are 25 pumps and some days it looks like a parking lot at a first run movie theatre. There is no man or woman in a well-worn hat that asks to check the water and oil…. the reality is that no one knows how to find the water and oil in the car anyway. Have you ever looked under the hood…it’s busy under there.

There is something else that is new these days…. the skimmer and shimmer. Why is it, that great ingenuity is spent on scamming people out of money? We have become so used to putting credit cards into machines for convenience. The problem is that the “perp” knows that and has placed an electronic device in the machine to take down our personal information.

So as my client asked me the other day, how will I know if this device is in there? The answer is, you probably won’t, but here are some tips. First, when you pull into the station, try to fill your car up with the bay that’s closest to the mini mart entrance. At least from this position, most skimmers and shimmers are not placed in such proximity to where they could be seen.

Next, and this is most important, pay for your gas inside the store. You have a better chance of not losing your life’s savings by paying inside. And one last thing, if you can, pay in cash…. remember paper money is still legal tender although it seems to be worth less at every visit to buy gas.

Enjoy the open road, but by all means, be careful out there, as the great, late comedian Rodney Dangerfield once said, “it’s a jungle out there”.

Take my advice for what it is… It’s just AS I SEE IT

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About the Author: Leonard F. Baer

Leonard Baer's practice focuses on Elder Law, and Estate Planning. His previous experience was in the area of complex criminal litigation, serving as Deputy Chief of the Major Crimes Division for The United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida. Mr. Baer was recognized by the Office of The Attorney General, as one of the top prosecutors in the country during his tenure. He has been included in North Carolina Top Rated Lawyers, a distinction awarded to those lawyers recognized by their colleagues as leaders in their field. He has also been recognized by the Florida Bar, for his efforts in representing seniors and their families, who are victims of scams and fraud. Mr. Baer is an AV rated lawyer listed in Martindale-Hubbell, and has been selected for inclusion in their Bar Registrar of Preeminent Lawyers, which for over 90 years, includes only those select law practices that have earned their highest rating. He has been designated by Martindale-Hubbell as preeminent in his field, and in the top 5% of all lawyers practicing in the United States. Mr. Baer has also been ranked by AVVO, an online Legal Directory of over 200,000 lawyers nationally, as Superb, their highest rating. He served as adjunct professor of Sports Law at The University of Miami, and is a frequent lecturer on the topics of Elder Law, Estate Planning, Asset Protection and Fraud Protection. He has been a columnist for several newspapers for over 13 years and currently has a nationally syndicated blog, “As I See It” with a readership of over 25,000. Leonard is a Guest Contributor of The Silver Life and has recently launched a new service called SuddenlySolo1 - https://www.legalbaer.com/services/suddenly-solo/

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