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The secret to successful investing part 4: Automation (Sunday, January 01, 2006)

Hello everyone, I hope you had a happy New Year. Sarah and I just returned from a day at the Grand Canyon. Pictures to come soon... Meanwhile back to our fire-side chat about investing...

Automation. It's so simple and yet so many people easily overlook it. Whatever your investment strategy (buying stocks/bonds, or even stashing cash away in a savings account), if you automate it, it works a lot better. Think of it as "paying yourself first."

Huh? What do you mean "pay myself first?" Well it's simple. If you don't, chances are you won't reach your goal. Did you know that until 1943, the government relied on us taxpayers to magically come up with the money for our tax bill every April. At that point, the government realized that we couldn't be relied upon to do this, and began taking automatic deductions from our paychecks for taxes. Did you catch the key word in that sentence? Automatic.

If your employer offers a 401(k), participate. And max our your contribution. I don't mean all at once. Gradually work towards it. For instance, I currently am contributing 2%. My goal for 2006 is to be up to at least 5%. And for 2007, it'll be 10% or more. It especially makes sense if your employer offers some sort of contribution match. That's free money right there. If your employer doesn't offer a 401(k), don't despair. You can open an IRA through most banks and brokerages, which is better than nothing.

If Savings is your particular investment vehicle of choice (which is not really an investment, but hey whatever works), then have I got news for you. Not only does ING Direct offer one of the highest savings rates around (currently 3.8%), they make it very easy to set up automatic transfers to your savings account! It can't get any easier than that!

If government securities (bonds, etc) are what you're interested in, TreasuryDirect has what you need. I personally have an account there (and invest in series I bonds), and it's just super simple to invest in government backed securities. They also have an automatic buy program available, so go ahead and check them out!

If you're more interested in stocks/ETF's, then ShareBuilder is for you. They offer automatic dollar-based investments every month or week (and anything in between). With no minimums, it just makes sense. And if you send an email to my first name (aaron) at this domain (aaronandsarah.net) then I can send you a special invite worth $25! So what are you waiting for? Get started today saving for tomorrow!

- Aaron

posted by Aaron and Sarah at 11:15 PM   
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