Establish Deductions To Pay Into Your Savings and Investment Plans 
- Let’s start with the retirement plan. Many individuals who are working for a company have retirement plans available to them. Often in these scenarios money is “automatically” deducted from each paycheck and deposited into your retirement plan. However, if you are responsible for your own retirement savings outside of work then you should set up an automatic payment/transfer directly into your IRA account each month.
- Create this same automatic payment plan for your other savings and investment goals. For example, if you are saving money for your child’s education, that money can be deducted automatically from your savings or checking and invested directly into the educational account.
- If you want to be more strategic with your saving goals, transfer 1% of your monthly income from your checking to your savings account each month. Or Move $25.00 per month into a vacation fund, etc. It’s all about strategizing to meet your goals!
How Does this System Compare to Mint.com or Bill Payment Software?
Of course there are many interesting systems that provide complimentary services, such as Mint.com or Quick Books. Most of these services provide a central place that will automatically gather your information, help you budget, and analyze & graph your total financial picture for all your accounts. However, they do not actually make transactions for you. Paying the bills or transferring money is still your job and that’s what automating your finances will accomplish for you. So, if you are very savvy you might not only automate your finances, but you may utilize one of these money-management tools to help you tie everything together.
Pay Your Bills & Yourself First!
So, what are you waiting for? Put your finances on autopilot and always pay your bills and yourself before you are tempted to overspend! Remember- by including savings as one of your fixed monthly expenses, you will be pleasantly surprised to see how fast your money grows. Now that’s Fab & Fru!
Michael Hardy is a Certified Financial Planner and partner at Mollot & Hardy Inc. in Buffalo, NY. It is often very cold in Buffalo so he has a lot of time to sit inside and think about financial issues facing his peers today. He is a 30 something himself who pursues art on the side to decrease the stress he faces from trying to convince his peers to plan for their futures. If you would like to contact Michael feel free to call his office at 1(800)659-0754 or via e-mail Michael@mollot.com.
Securities and Investment Advisory Services offered through FSC Securities Corp., Member of FINRA/SIPC and a registered Investment Advisor. Additional investment advisory services offered through Mollot & Hardy, Inc., a Registered Investment Advisor not affiliated with FSC Securities Corporation.
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