Story by Trisha Hendricks
If you've flown out of Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport, you've probably seen CLEAR, the technology that verifies your identity in seconds. Now that same kind of identity check is showing up at the closing table, where people sign over homes and move large sums of money.
Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company has partnered with CLEAR to verify buyers and sellers as part of the closing process, adding a layer of protection against fraud. "It actually utilizes the CLEAR that's at the airport," said Tonya Lively, vice president of Arizona national commercial operations and escrow operations manager at Commonwealth Land Title Insurance Company in Phoenix. She said the company "has now partnered with CLEAR to make sure that we have the rightful owners of property that are transferring deeds at closing."
Lively said sellers take a selfie and upload a photo of their driver's license or passport, either through an app or in the title office. Buyers go through the same steps. The information is sent through CLEAR's verification process.
Once a person is verified, "we can proceed with closing that transaction, knowing that we've got the rightful seller and the rightful person to execute those documents," Lively said.
Arizona ranks sixth in the nation for money lost to scams and cybercrime, according to the FBI's 2025 Internet Crime Report. Arizonans reported losing more than $630 million in 2025 and filed nearly 29,000 complaints. The ranking is based on total dollars reported, not per capita.
Whitten said another threat is the fraudulent conveyance deed.
"A fraudulent conveyance deed is essentially somebody that does not own the property pretending that they are the owner of the property," Whitten said. "They're usually forging a signature and a lot of times also forging the notary."
The fraudster then files the deed so public records show the property in their name or in the name of a company they control, Whitten said. From there, the fraudster can sell it to an unsuspecting buyer.
"You have a seller who was an innocent bystander, had no idea what was going on, and they've got somebody else claiming that they own their home or their commercial property," Whitten said.
Verify wire instructions by phone. Lively said to call a trusted number and not the one in the email. "Use a Google search that's not just the phone number that's on that email," she said.
Be wary of mid-deal changes. "Wire instructions being changed in the middle of transaction is not common," Lively said.
Check the email address closely. Spoofed addresses can be off by "a dash that's being added, or an S that turns into a Z," she said.
Sign up for property alerts. Whitten said Arizona homeowners can "sign up to get alerts" when something is recorded against their property, whether it's "a fraudulent deed or somebody else gets a mortgage and puts it against your property." Then, he said, "at least you know about it as opposed to finding out about it five-plus years later."
Lean on your circle. Whitten said a good title company and an experienced agent or attorney help buyers know what's normal. "Don't be afraid to pick up the phone," he said.
Don't let excitement or pressure rush you. Whitten said fraudsters often push people to move quickly, and excited buyers and sellers can roll through red flags. Lively said a seller in a big hurry is a warning sign agents watch for.
"It's always better to pause and make sure it's correct," Lively said. She said she would rather see a one-day delay in interest "than be sending out hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars that are going to the wrong place."
Lively called the CLEAR partnership "the new standard" and said the company will keep adapting as fraudsters change tactics.
"We just don't want it to happen on our watch," Lively said. "So, whatever we can do to be preventative."
By Donna Fuscaldo, AARP, Updated August 28, 2026
1. Costco
What you can trade in: Cellphones, laptops, tablets, smartwatches, desktop computers and media players
How you’re paid: Digital gift card
Where: Visit Costco’s website and search for your device. You’ll get an instant quote based on the condition and market value. Print the prepaid shipping label or request a box with prepaid shipping supplies and packing instructions. Once Costco receives and inspects the device, it will issue you a Costco Digital Shop Card. Costco says the prepaid box or shipping materials, shipment to the inspection facility and delivery of the gift card generally take three to five business days each.
2. GameStop
What you can trade in: Video games, video game consoles, controllers, cellphones, tablets, wearables, MacBooks, Apple TV devices and other electronics
How you’re paid: Cash or trade credit, which can be used toward GameStop purchases and may qualify for promotional bonuses.
Where: Participating GameStop stores
Visit GameStop’s trade-in website to look up the estimated value of an eligible product before bringing it to a participating store. Customers may receive cash or trade credit toward purchases at GameStop. With the latter, customers may receive an additional promotional bonus for certain eligible purchases. These offers are separate from cash trades and are subject to specific terms.
3. Amazon
What you can trade in: E-readers, smart speakers, cellphones, media players, home security devices, tablets, wireless routers and video game consoles
How you’re paid: Gift card and additional discounts or rebates toward new Amazon devices
Where: Online and participating drop-off locations. Visit Amazon’s trade-in website, search for your device, answer a few questions about its condition and get your offer. You’ll have 45 days to ship your item for free or take it to a participating trade-in drop-off location. Amazon will determine the item’s final trade-in value within 20 business days after verifying the device’s condition.
Some qualifying trade-ins include a limited-time discount or rebate toward eligible Amazon devices, though the offer depends on the item returned and doesn’t apply to cellphones, video game consoles, accessories and games.
4. Best Buy
What you can trade in: Cellphones, headphones, tablets, e-readers, wearables, computers, computing accessories, gaming equipment, networking devices, smart-home products, cameras and certain health and wellness devices
How you’re paid: Best Buy gift card, credit back on a purchase or credit back on installment billing
Where: In-store or online. At Best Buy’s trade-in website, you can search for your gadget through several categories and get a price based on how you answer a handful of questions. Best Buy says product eligibility can change, so use its estimator to confirm that the specific item is actively accepted.
The electronics retailer does not accept certain trade-ins, such as devices that have suffered water damage or products that have been recalled. You have the option to either bring the device to a participating Best Buy store or mail it within 14 days.
5. Target
What you can trade in: Cellphones, tablets, wearables, MP3 players, video games, video game consoles, smart speakers and hearables
How you’re paid: E-gift card
Where: Online. Target’s electronics trade-in program is available online and provides Target e-gift cards for eligible devices. Search for your device, answer questions about its condition and Target will quote you a price. The trade-in offer is valid for 30 days. If you accept, Target will email you a prepaid shipping label and instructions for mailing your device. You must provide your own packing materials. Once the device is inspected, Target will issue you an e-gift card within seven business days.
Caveat: Target says the processing facility’s assessment is final. If the device’s evaluated condition differs from the condition reported when you requested the quote, the device cannot be returned to you.
6. Staples
What you can trade in: Working desktop computers, laptops, cellphones, smartwatches and tablets
Where: Online
Staples lets you trade in eligible working devices through its online Tech Trade program. First, select your device, answer a few questions and receive a quote, which is valid for 30 days. Staples provides a free shipping label. An e-gift card will be issued within three weeks after the equipment is received and its final value is determined.
7. Sam’s Club
What you can trade in: Smartphones only
How you’re paid: Sam’s Club e-gift card
Where: Participating Sam’s Club locations. The warehouse retailer’s trade-in program lets customers look up an eligible phone’s estimated value online, but the trade-in itself must be completed in person at a participating location. The program’s appraisal tool asks customers to identify the phone’s carrier, but the program’s information does not explain whether or how that selection affects the offer.
Payouts vary by device, and Sam’s Club issues the e-gift card within 30 days of when you accept the offer. To qualify, the phone has to power on and have an intact screen with no cracks or missing parts. It can’t be carrier locked, all passwords must be removed, and Find My iPhone needs to be turned off. Customers then have seven days from the in-store appraisal to ship the device.
Three steps to take before you trade in
Shop around. Trade-in offers can vary among retailers, so take a few minutes to get quotes online from several programs to find the best offer. Also, check the program’s return terms before shipping. Target, for example, says mailed devices cannot be returned if its processing facility’s evaluation differs from the original.
Back up your files. Don’t forget to back up media from the laptop, phone or tablet you’re trading in. This includes contacts, documents, important emails, notes, photos, videos and web bookmarks. You can save the files on an external hard drive or in an online cloud service. For phones, the Federal Trade Commission recommends removing SIM and SD cards, as well as unlinking accounts connected to the device.
Wipe your data clean. Before trading in a device, scrub all of your data to protect your personal information, such as bank account numbers, financial data and password lists. On a phone, restore or reset the device to erase contacts, messages, photos, videos and browsing information after backing up what you need.
When a device isn't eligible for trade-in, don’t put lithium-ion batteries or devices containing them in household garbage or recycle bins. Instead, take it to an appropriate battery or electronics recycling location, the Environmental Protection Agency recommends.
Protect your property from deed fraud.
The Early Real Estate Sales Alert System notifies you when an escrow officer enters pending real estate sales information into the alert system and enables you to notify the Department should you believe the sale to be fraudulent. Register your property for free in minutes.
It is very helpful to have your Assessor's Parcel Number (APN) so you don't have to fill in all the details on the form. Click link below:
Secure your Deed
Text first, talk later
Before an emergency happens, turn on Wi-Fi calling on your phone. If the cell towers are jammed but your internet is fine, your phone routes around the problem.
One person, three states away
Local circuits jam first. So the immediate family doesn’t call each other. Everyone checks in with one relative outside the area, who keeps a list and passes it along. Pick that person tonight and tell them the job.
Then write three phone numbers on a card for your wallet. Nobody has memorized a number since 1998, and a dead phone takes the whole address book with it.
Last one: Charge the battery bank in your closet. The most common communication failure in a disaster is not the network. It is a phone at 4%.
Do it tonight, and you won’t think about it again until the day it matters.
Many investors use tax planning strategies in a retirement income plan, both before and during retirement. Strategies include:
Estimate your tax impact using these strategies
Use this calculator to estimate your taxes for this year or last year. The calculator uses your expected income and taxable activity for the selected year and applies the current IRS tax code to give you a hypothetical view of your tax impact.
This isn't intended to be a recommendation, and isn't tax advice. Results are based on simplified assumptions and don't take all situations into account. As always, before making any decisions about your income plan or withdrawals you should consult with your tax advisor.
By Christa Sgobba
These simple moves can help you maintain mobility and independence as you age. It’s the bane of busy folks everywhere: You know you should set aside time for regular exercise, but your packed schedule makes it tough. And as you reach your 50s and beyond, your body might start feeling the effects of that missed movement. That’s because as you get older, the bodily systems that work together to keep you mobile experience subtle changes, including losing muscle strength and mass and declining balance and proprioception, or your body’s ability to sense where it is in space, said physical therapist Teresa Liu-Ambrose, director of the Aging, Mobility and Cognitive Health Lab at the University of British Columbia.
Movements that you once took for granted may eventually become difficult, and over time, a lack of mobility — the ability to move your joints through a comfortable range of motion — could make it more difficult to maintain independence.
This doesn’t mean poor mobility is a given as you get older, said Annalisa Na, director of the Functional Aging and Mobility Research Laboratory at Drexel University. The best way to maintain it is to keep training it with exercises that mimic the movements of everyday life. Below are five moves that Liu-Ambrose and Na recommend adding into your daily routine to improve mobility and maintain balance and proprioception.
Before getting started, consider having a friend nearby — especially if you already have difficulties with balance — to make sure you’re tackling these moves safely. If you’re unsure if you can do them properly but are interested in working on mobility, ask your health care provider for a referral to a physical therapist, who can be a great resource for getting moving in a way that’s appropriate for your current physical activity level.
Sit-to-stand
How to do it: Standing with your feet flat on the floor facing away from a sturdy chair, hinge forward at your hips to initiate a squatting motion. Lower until your butt hits the seat. Then, push evenly through your heels to stand up tall. That’s one rep; aim to do 10.
The key is to take it slow and control your descent: “Pretend there’s an egg on the chair,” said Liu-Ambrose. “You want to sit down, but you don’t want to squash it.”
Make it easier by choosing a chair with a higher seat, said Na, or more difficult by picking a lower seat.
Dynamic pec stretch on wall
How to do it: Standing in front of a wall facing away from it, rest your butt, back and shoulders against the wall. Walk your feet forward a few inches and bend your knees slightly. With your arms in a goalpost position, try to touch the backs of your forearms to the wall. Reach your arms straight up, then bring them back down to goalpost position. That’s one rep; aim for 10.
If your chest muscles are too tight for your arms to touch the wall, hold them a few inches out in front of the wall instead.
Heel raise
The heel raise — one of the best exercises you can do for healthy aging — is effective at strengthening these muscles.
How to do it: Stand with your feet hip-width apart in front of a chair, counter, table or wall, and rest your fingers gently on the surface for balance. Then, press your weight into the balls of your feet to raise your heels as high as you can off the floor before lowering back down. That’s one rep; aim for 10.
Tandem stance/walk
While heel raises can help strengthen the muscles around the ankle joint, a simple tandem stance or walk, where you line your feet up heel-to-toe, also helps by honing your proprioception, Na said. By narrowing your base of support, it encourages the muscles in your ankle to make quick, tiny adjustments to keep you steady.
Standing hip abduction
The hip abductors — a small group of muscles located on the outside of each hip that allow you to move your leg away from the midline of your body — tend to be weak for many folks, Liu-Ambrose said. Because they play a huge role in keeping your body stable in single-leg activities (walking, running or climbing stairs), weakness there can mess with your balance.
The standing hip abduction exercise helps strengthen these small-but-mighty muscles at home.
How to do it: Stand with one foot directly in front of the other, the heel of your front foot touching the toes of your back. Try to hold this position while you’re doing a task, like washing dishes or brushing your teeth, said Liu-Ambrose. If this position makes you too unsteady, do this in front of a counter, table or other surface that you can gently hold onto for support.
If this stance feels easy, try a tandem walk, which can further hone your balance. “Just be very deliberate so as you’re walking, you’re going heel-toe, heel-toe,” said Liu-Ambrose. “Don’t try to race through it.”
“The key thing is that your toes should always be facing forward, not rotated sideways,” said Liu-Ambrose. This targets the muscles you want to work on.
By adding a few simple moves into your day, you can help set yourself up for successful movement as you get older. Liu-Ambrose said to think of it like you do your retirement plan. “The advice has always been to start early and to invest a little bit throughout the years so that you can retire quite comfortably,” she said. “By taking care of your body on a daily basis, the benefits accumulate,” allowing you to maintain function for the long haul.
Fun fact: The International Space Station is the third brightest object in the sky after the sun and the moon, and there are people living in it.
Get NASA’s free Spot the Station app at spotthestation.nasa.gov, and it’ll buzz your phone before the flying lab passes over your house, then point you at the right patch of sky.
Story by Stacy Johnson CPA
Next Tuesday, Sept. 15, is the IRS deadline for third-quarter estimated taxes. If you’re retired and you’ve never sent the IRS a check outside of April, you may be wondering why I’m bothering you with this.
IRA and 401(k) withdrawals. Every dollar you pull from a traditional account is ordinary income. Your custodian will withhold 10% by default on a one-time IRA withdrawal, or 20% on a one-time 401(k) withdrawal, according to IRS Form W-4R. You can adjust the IRA rate up or down; the 401(k) rate can only go higher. For most retirees, neither default is close to enough.
Social Security. The Social Security Administration says your benefits become taxable once your combined income passes $25,000 if you’re single or $32,000 if you’re married filing jointly. Yet nothing is withheld unless you ask.
Side income. Consulting, a rental, selling stuff online, part-time work paid on a 1099. Nobody withholds a penny on any of it.
Add it up and you can owe several thousand dollars in April with nothing paid in. That’s when the IRS reminds you that we live in a pay-as-you-go system, and April was never the only deadline.
The IRS calls it an underpayment penalty, but it works like interest. The rate is set quarterly. In IR-2026-98, released Aug. 21, the IRS said the rate for individuals stays at 7% through Dec. 31.
Let’s run the numbers. Say you’ll owe $6,000 for 2026 and you have no withholding. Your Sept. 15 installment is $1,500. Skip it and pay everything on April 15 instead, and that $1,500 sits unpaid for seven months at 7%. That’s about $61.
Not ruinous. But do it for all four installments and you’re pushing nearly $250 for the year, for nothing. And I know plenty of retirees who’ll drive across town to save $5 on a prescription. Let’s not hand the IRS over $200 for the privilege of being disorganized. Worse, the penalty is an announcement that you don’t have a system. And without a system, next year’s bill will surprise you too.
You don’t have to hit your tax bill on the nose. The IRS offers two safe harbors. Land in either and there’s no penalty, even if you still owe money in April.
Safe harbor No. 1: You owe less than $1,000 after subtracting withholding and refundable credits. Simple. If your withholding nearly covers you, you’re fine.
Safe harbor No. 2: Through withholding and estimated payments, you’ve paid in at least 90% of this year’s tax, or 100% of last year’s tax, whichever is smaller. If your 2025 adjusted gross income topped $150,000 ($75,000 married filing separately), the prior-year number becomes 110%, per Form 1040-ES.
The prior-year rule is the one I’d point most retirees toward. Look at line 24 of your 2025 return, total tax. Pay that amount in over 2026, in four roughly equal pieces, and the IRS leaves you alone. No guessing what this year’s income will be.
Only caveat: If your income jumped this year, say from a big IRA withdrawal, the prior-year harbor still protects you from the penalty. It won’t protect you from the bill. Set the difference aside.
Here’s what I tell anyone who hates writing checks to the IRS four times a year: Don’t. Use withholding instead.
Withholding and estimated payments are treated differently, and the difference is in your favor. The IRS treats withholding as paid in four equal installments across the year, no matter when the money was actually withheld. Estimated payments count only on the day you send them.
Read that again, because it’s the whole trick. Tax withheld in December counts as if a quarter of it were paid back in April. Nobody withheld anything from you in April? Doesn’t matter.
Two ways to use it:
Withhold from Social Security. Fill out Form W-4V and give it to Social Security, not the IRS. You pick 7%, 10%, 12% or 22% of your monthly benefit, or change it online through your my Social Security account.
Pick a percentage that, combined with any pension withholding, covers your total bill.
The year-end IRA move. If you’re behind in December, take an IRA withdrawal and tell your custodian to withhold a big chunk of it, even 100%, using Form W-4R.
The money goes straight to the IRS as withholding, which means it’s treated as paid evenly all year. Your penalty, if you had one, largely evaporates.
Yes, the withdrawal itself is taxable income. But if you’re taking required minimum distributions anyway, you can direct the whole RMD’s withholding toward your bill. For a lot of retirees, that one December transaction replaces four quarterly checks.
If you’re retired and missed Tuesday, this is your fix. You’ve got until Dec. 31 to make the withholding catch up.
If you’d rather stay on the quarterly system, or you’re too far behind for withholding alone to close the gap, pay by Tuesday.
Skip the paper voucher and the stamp. Use IRS Direct Pay. It’s free, it pulls from your checking account, and you select “estimated tax” and tax year 2026. You can schedule the payment ahead and change or cancel it up to two days before it goes out.
Pay late, and the meter runs from Sept. 15 until the day the money arrives. It’s not a cliff, it’s a slope. Pay a week late and it costs pennies. Wait until April and you’re back to the $61 example above.
Stuck for cash? Pay what you can. The penalty is figured on the shortfall, so every dollar in reduces it.
The IRS isn’t hunting retirees. But the tax system was built around paychecks, and once you stop getting one, it’s your job to replace the withholding your employer used to handle.
You’ve got three defenses: pay estimates on time, aim at a safe harbor, or let withholding do the work. The third one is the one I’d choose. Set a percentage on Social Security, adjust your IRA withholding in December, and you’ll never think about Sept. 15 again.
One last thing. If you retired after age 62 this year or last and underpaid because you didn’t know the rules, the IRS can waive the penalty for reasonable cause. Ask. It’s the rare time the system gives newcomers a break.
September 08, 2026
Maricopa County Elections has announced that voters will have a one-page ballot to complete in the 2026 General Election, different from the 2024 election in which voters filled out a two-page ballot. The 20-inch, one-page ballot is primarily possible because fewer statewide measures will be on the ballot than in 2024.
While there will be one fewer page than in 2024, the number of contests remain similar. The average Maricopa County Voter will have more than 80 contests on their ballot, including:
Per statute, partisan candidates are listed in order of which party received the most votes in that county for governor in the previous general election. Democrat Katie Hobbs received the most in 2022, therefore, the democrat will appear first in partisan contests for office.
The length of a ballot is impacted by the number of contests a voter is eligible to vote in, and this may include justice of the peace and constable contests; school district candidate contests and measures; and city or town candidate contests and measures. Voters can log on to CandidateList.Maricopa.Vote for more information about what will be on the ballot so they can vote confidently in the upcoming election.
For individuals who do not vote early, the county is planning to offer 254 Vote Centers where they can cast a ballot on Election Day. The Board of Supervisors passed a resolution last week outlining proposed locations. Maricopa County offers a Vote Center model that allows people to visit any voting location and receive a ballot printed on-site with the contests they are eligible to vote.
On Sept. 18, Locations.Maricopa.Vote will post all vote center locations and hours of operation. When early voting begins on Oct. 7, the website will offer up-to-the-minute wait times for these locations. On average, voting locations on Election Day are 1.2 miles apart and geographically dispersed throughout the county to maximize voter access and convenience.
The last day to register to vote for the Nov. 3 General Election is Oct. 5. All voters are encouraged to log on to their voter dashboard at BeBallotReady.Vote to ensure their information is up to date. About the Maricopa County Elections Department The Maricopa County Elections Department serves more than 2.5 million registered voters. They are responsible for candidate filings, in-person voting and Vote Centers, hiring thousands of elections workers for each election, as well as the tabulation of ballots. The work supports elections in Maricopa County cities, towns, school districts and special districts.
LOL Laughing Out Loud
OTP One true pairing
WYD What are you doing
WYF Where are you from
HMU Hit me up – Contact me
ICL I can’t lie – used before an honest opinion or reaction
LOML love of my life
IIRC If I remember correctly
DTM Doing too much
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