Financial Wellness Isn’t Just Budgeting: Why Website Safety Matters Too

*This is a collaborative post on why website safety matters

When most people think of financial wellness, they immediately think of debt, savings, and how best to build a budget to live comfortably. What most people don’t think about is how being online can directly affect our financial wellness, as stolen bank details, purchases from fake stores, and phishing attacks can all impact our personal finances. It only takes one purchase from a scam website to lose not only money but also our credentials. To enjoy a comfortable life and truly succeed in achieving financial wellness, digital safety is of paramount importance.

Why digital safety is essential to financial wellness

There are countless blogs and articles that swear by the standard financial wellness tips. They rarely teach the importance of cybersecurity awareness. Online scams don’t just affect our devices’ security; there are threats beyond malware that we need to be wary of. The threat to our savings accounts, credit cards, subscriptions and investment platforms, all because of having our online credentials stolen. Now, financial security and protection from online threats go hand in hand.

How to check website legitimacy

The primary method that cyber criminals employ to steal our credentials is the use of fake websites. So rather than always having to ask ourselves, “Is this website safe?” Here are a few tips that will help ensure legitimacy. Firstly, we should ensure that HTTPS is secure. After which, we should be vigilant towards suspicious URLs, any spelling mistakes or any deals that are simply too good to be true. Finally, by using online website authenticators to check if a website is a scam, we can ensure that we never input our credentials into a dangerous portal. Online authenticators verify HTTPS security to ensure that we don’t visit any scam websites.

How to know we are getting scammed

According to the FTC, $12.5 billion was lost to online fraud in 2024, with online shopping scams ranking second among the most common reasons. Yet, most everyday users don’t pay attention to the URLs. They search for a product, see a good deal and immediately click on that link. That behaviour should be corrected, but it’s not such a quick fix. However, by understanding how scammers try to manipulate us, we can at the very least build up another line of defence.

Scammers use fake links and try to create urgency. They use countdowns or limited-time offers to force us into action. We may be prompted with a notification to ‘buy in 15 minutes to receive 50% off’. Seems too good to be true? Well, it probably is. They use this pressure to force us into action without allowing us the time to verify. That is why simply being aware of how they trigger impulsive purchases can help us feel more secure in our online shopping and support our financial wellness.

Simple habits for the everyday user

By remaining consistent with a handful of simple habits, we can ensure that we are protected from not just online scams but most cyber threats.

Always search independent website reviews before purchasing any items. Of course, it makes sense that we should know how to make sure if a website is legit before we purchase any expensive items, but the amount of money we spend has little to do with our credentials being stolen from a fake website. So always double-check the website and verify that the payment portal is secured reliably.

Also, using strong, unique passwords and enabling two-factor authentication for all our accounts ensures that a single weak link does not bring down the entire network. 

Furthermore, avoiding public Wi-Fi for banking and other transactions that require payment processing helps ensure that our credentials cannot be stolen through network hacks. Finally, by always updating our devices and browsers, we can make sure that we remain protected by the developer’s constant security patches. We also avoid becoming a victim of malware created to break through outdated application and browser versions.

Conclusion

Originally, financial wellness was only about saving and managing debt. However, in this new online world we live in, online scams, fake links and scam websites are all dangers to our financial wellness. Following financial wellness tips must now include awareness and action towards cybersecurity, as reliable digital habits are essential for financial security. Remember, awareness is the best defence against the threats we now face, but action is the best offence.