Joe's Money

For Average Joe’s Automatic Investing is the Only Way to Go

When it comes to money and saving, us averages Joe’s tend to procrastinate more than with anything else.  The “I’ll start saving tomorrow” idea isn’t going to work.  Unless you are one of the fortunate ones that manages to do this without thinking about it, automatic investing is the way to go.

You can setup automatic investing for almost any type of account.  401K accounts are among the easiest, IRA accounts, regular savingss accounts, education 529 accounts, and so one.

401K accounts are the easiest.  You set them up with your employer and the money comes right out of your check.  If you start doing this immediately when you start your new job, its almost like the money wasn’t there to begin with so you don’t miss it or even realize it was ever there to begin with.

Roth IRAs, traditional IRAs, and brokerage accounts can be setup online with any major discount brokerage firm like Fidelity or eTrade.  You can set how often the money is transferred, it could be weekly, bi-weekly, or monthly.

Standard savings accounts, including online accounts (which typically have better rates than local branches) can also be setup for automatic saving.  You can have either the bank setup the automatic transfers from your checking to your savings accounts and in many cases you can even setup your direct deposit with your employer to automatically transfer a portion of your check to your new savings accounts.

Education 529 savings plans also usually offer a automatic investment option.  These work very similar to the IRAs and brokerage accounts.

Keep things simple.  Setup your automatic investing and savings.  Its one less thing to think about for your financial well being.