3 Financial Goals You Can Put on Autopilot

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You can take a passive role in making these happen. 

Chances are, you have different financial goals you’re looking to meet. Maybe you want to build an emergency fund and a solid nest egg for retirement. And saving and investing your money is a great way to get there.

Of course, the more thought and effort you have to put into your goals, the more daunting they might seem. But what if there were a way for you to take more of a hands-off approach to meeting your goals?

The good news is that there is. Here are three goals you can tackle by putting the process on autopilot.

1. Building an emergency fund

A recent Federal Reserve survey found that 32% of Americans could not cover a $400 emergency expense from savings. If that’s the boat you’re in, then building an emergency fund should really be a priority for you. And a good way to do so is to put the process on autopilot.

Rather than do your best to manually put aside money to save every month, arrange for an automatic transfer from your checking account to your savings account at the start of the month. That way, you won’t be tempted to spend money that should really be going into your savings.

2. Building a nest egg for retirement

Seniors who retire on Social Security alone often struggle financially. That’s why it’s so important to steadily fund a retirement savings plan. And you have two options in this regard.

If your employer offers a 401(k) plan at work, all you need to do is sign up. Just tell your employer how much money you want deducted from your paychecks, and they’ll do the rest.

If you don’t have access to a 401(k), you can save for retirement in an IRA account instead. And once again, you have the option to automate the process. Just set up an automatic transfer from your checking account so money lands in your IRA every month off the bat.

3. Building a solid investment portfolio

Maybe you want to invest your money outside of a retirement plan. If so, many brokerage accounts allow you to not only set up automatic transfers so you have funds to invest with, but also, automatic investments.

You might, for example, decide that you want to buy a certain number of shares of a given stock once a month. That’s something you can set up within your brokerage account so you don’t have to think about it. And if you own stocks that pay dividends (which usually happens on a quarterly basis), you can set yourself up to have those dividends reinvested automatically.

There’s no rule stating you have to actively spend time on your finances every month. Granted, it’s always a good idea to track your spending and keep tabs on your different goals. But if you want to build yourself an emergency fund, a retirement nest egg, and a thriving portfolio of investments, you can actually take a more passive role and still meet your goals.

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