Pay Yourself First®

If you want to help assure your financial security, it helps to have an investment plan to reach your goal.

One way to make your long-term goals a reality is to make a commitment to Pay Yourself First®. That means, before you pay your monthly bills, before you set aside money for vacation or a new car, before you go out to eat or to a movie, your first commitment each month should be to yourself.

Many families find automatic investments make achieving their long-term goals easier. With an automatic investment, you always pay yourself first, thereby keeping your financial future a top priority.

Here's how it works:
Each month, you arrange to have a set amount of money deducted from your paycheck or withdrawn from a bank account and directly deposited into an investment vehicle. The easiest way to stay committed to an automatic investment is if they are made on a regular schedule with a fixed dollar amount. For example, $100 on the 15th of each month to a college account for your child.

Some common methods of automatic investing include: ­

• Deductions from a personal checking or savings account;
• Direct deposits from your paycheck; 
• Direct deposits from other sources, such as military allotments or Social Security payments; 
• Contributing to an employer retirement plan, such as a 401(k), by payroll deduction (this is one of the most common methods of automatic investing).

Pay Yourself First® is a registered mark of American Century Services Corporation