PAYING YOURSELF FIRST
The Most Important Step
in Creating Wealth

Paying yourself first doesn't seem like the right thing to do when we have lots of bills to pay. It is natural to assume that creating wealth would start after we pay all our bills. Anything that's left over, we can then save.

But I'm assuming that you're like most people and anything left over is easily spent either on entertainment, food, clothes or stuff we really don't need.

Or, we may be on such a tight budget that we
think we need every penny to pay for our bills
and nothing can be left over for us to save.

How, then, would we ever be able to accumulate enough for a down-payment on a house, or enough to start investing in the stock market or mutual funds?

Without paying yourself first, you may never be able to save enough money to invest for your future.

A lot of children have never been taught to save their money. The reason for this is that parents have never been taught to save their money either, so how can parents teach their children how to do something they themselves don't know how to do?

Saving is actually super-easy to do, no matter what your situation. It will only take a few minutes of your time to set yourself up to do this, and it will be something that will be done automatically for you every paycheck.

After you set this system up, you never have to think about it again and you'll be amazed at how your money will grow and how easy it is to start creating wealth.

There are no excuses. This is a MUST DO to become financially intelligent and financially set for your future.

If you only teach your children one thing about money, let this be it!

What does paying yourself first mean? All it means is that you set aside a certain amount of money every payday that will go into a separate account.

Most employers automatically deposit your pay cheque into your savings or chequing account. If you're being paid by cheque, ask your employer if they can do an automatic deposit.

The next step would be to go and visit your bank and ask them to automatically set it up where, for example, five, 10 or 15 percent of your pay (you choose) is then automatically withdrawn out of that account and put into a savings account of your choice.

This money doesn't need to be put into a bank account that pays minimal interest. Your money could go into a mutual fund, it could buy shares of a stock or go into a retirement savings plan, etc., You can decide what will give you the best return on your money. If you prefer just a separate savings account for now, that is fine also.

If you're not sure where your money should go, visit a financial planner and tell them what you are planning to do and what your goals are, and they can suggest different ways you can invest your money so you can meet your goals.

They can then set it up on their end to have your money automatically put into the investment of your choice. Or you can do your own research (there are a lot of books at the library that have information on mutual funds, etc.,) and set it up yourself.

For example, if you make $1000 every two weeks, and you want to automatically deduct 5% from your paycheck, then that would be $50 saved; 10% deducted would be $100 saved; 15% deducted would be $150 saved, and so on...

Think of it as paying a bill. You won't see that money in your account since it will automatically be whisked away to be invested the same day you get paid.

You're not going to miss the money either because it's like you never had it in the first place!

Not only will you be saving money, but you will be receiving interest on that money. Every month, your money will grow more and more because you will be getting interest on the money you put away, plus on the interest from the previous month.

One key to financial success is the incredible power of compound interest.

Just wait to see how much this adds up! You might get so excited when you see your financial statements that you may increase the amount you automatically put away.

The earlier you start paying yourself first, the better. That's why, as parents, we want to teach our children the pay yourself first method as the best money lesson ever, and the first step to creating wealth.

Don't wait and put this step off until later. Do it now!

PRACTICAL MONEY SAVING TIPS