Nothing can mess up your finances faster than having your identity stolen. And even if you manage to recoup your losses, you’re going to lose the time you spent trying to correct the matter and you’ll have gone through all that frustration for no reason.

What you need is prevention, not reaction. The following tips will keep your identity safe and your finances on track.

Buy a Shredder

The best thing to do with all those credit card statements, bank statements, and all your other sensitive financial documents is to shred them. If you just put them in your garbage, they could end up in the wrong hands.

You can buy a quality shredder for a decent price, and while it will set you back a little money, it could save you some money and your time in the long run.

Make it a habit to shred anything that contains any information a thief could use against you.

Protect Your Social Security Number

Your Social Security number is used for every important thing you do. Whether you’re filing your taxes or trying to get your retirement benefits, you need your Social Security number. You don’t want it falling into the wrong hands.

Don’t give it out to anyone unless you know it’s absolutely crucial they have it. And never carry your Social Security card around with you.

Guard Your Phone

Most of us do a lot of business on our phones these days. We download statements to take a look at them. We pay our bills using them. Some of us even keep a list of all our other passwords on them. All that sensitive information could do a lot of harm to us if it fell into the wrong hands.

That’s why we need to guard our phones by putting a password on them so random strangers can’t access them as easily.

Make Your Passwords Stronger

If even your grandma could crack your password, you need to put more effort into it. Don’t include your birthdate, your phone number, or your address. Those are all really obvious things to put into passwords, and with a quick cyber search about you, criminals may be able to easily guess your password.

Another thing you should stop doing is using the same passwords for multiple accounts. Every password you use should be unique, even if it requires you to write them all down in a notebook to keep at your house.

Watch Credit Reports

Occasionally, despite your best efforts, you might fall victim to identity theft. If you do, you need to keep your wits about you so you can stop it before it starts to spiral out of control.

You should do frequent checks on your credit report. If you see any accounts you’re not familiar with, it’s time to take prompt action by contacting those companies and explaining you are worried you might be the victim of a theft attempt.

They’ll walk you through the steps you’ll need to take to clean up that problem. Make sure you follow everything they tell you to do.