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Print this page and check  each action step below as it is completed.
Unit 1: Before You Invest
 Develop financial management skills and knowledge (e.g., record-keeping, budgeting)
- Reduce expenditures to free up money to achieve financial goals
- Complete an annual financial check-up, including net worth and cash flow statements
- Review financial management strategies periodically and revise when necessary
- Determine/establish an adequate amount of emergency fund for your individual situation
- Evaluate current insurance policies and shop around for additional or replacement coverage, if indicated
- Check your income tax withholding level and adjust, if : Maximize tax deductions (e.g., using home equity credit lines versus non-deductible consumer interest)
- Set written short-, medium-, and long-term financial goals following the SMART goal format
- Obtain a copy of your credit report to see if it is accurate and complete
- Establish and periodically evaluate wills and estate plans
Unit 2: Investing Basics
- Review the places where you are currently holding money and determine if your holdings are in savings or investment vehicles
- Determine the rate of return for current financial holdings
- Complete the What Are Your Investment Preferences? exercise to identify your characteristics and needs as an investor
- Set aside time each week to read one of the personal finance magazines recommended in Unit 9
- Assess your interest, skill, and time to make decisions about your investment plan and portfolio. Proceed on your own or seek assistance
Unit 3: Finding Money to Invest
- Develop a plan to insure that you save the money needed to fund your goals
- Set up a regular savings program, if you do not already have one
- Identify two strategies you could implement to help you accumulate funds to invest
- Identify a money-consuming habit that you would be willing to change
- Calculate the amount of money you can realize in one year by changing this habit
- Change your behavior, save the appropriate amount of money, and invest it
- Track your investment and watch it grow
Units 4 and 5: Equity and Fixed-Income Investing
- Read about equity and fixed-income investments in "the financial press"
- Investigate equity and fixed-income investments available through your employer plan, if available
- Obtain additional investment information from Cooperative Extension or financial services firms
- Identify equity and fixed-income investments that match your goals and available cash flow
- Research these investments and compare at least three specific products (e.g., stocks)
- Calculate the percentage of your portfolio allocated to equity and fixed-income investments
- Determine your marginal tax bracket (see Unit 7) to see if tax-exempt investments such as municipal bonds are cost-effective
Unit 6: Investing In Mutual Funds
- Investigate mutual fund investment choices (e.g., stock funds) available through your employer plan
- Decide upon your selection criteria (e.g., minimum deposit, low expense ratio)
- Identify specific mutual funds that match your investment goals
- Call at least three mutual fund firms for a prospectus
- Do further reading on those mutual funds and mutual funds in general (e.g., prospectus, books)
- Do follow-up research using Morningstar or Value Line
- Complete a mutual fund application and make an investment
- Track the progress of your funds at least quarterly
Unit 7: Tax-Deferred Investing
- Inquire if your employer has a tax-deferred retirement plan (e.g., 401(k))
- Find out what investment choices are available within the employer plan
- Find out if your employer matches your investment dollars and, if so, by how much
- Set a date to start contributing or to increase contribution- either a dollar amount or a percentage of your salary
- If you are self-employed, determine the type of retirement plan you could start, set an amount to save, and begin making contributions
- Investigate IRAs and determine which is best for your age and income level
- Increase contributions to your tax-deferred plan each time your pay increases
Unit 8: Investing With Small Dollar Amounts
- Investigate inexpensive investment options available through your employer, if available (e.g., 401(k) and savings bond purchase plans)
- Attend an employer-sponsored investment seminar
- Identify at least three "shoestring" investments that match your goals and available cash flow
- Research these investments and compare at least three specific products (e.g., three large company growth funds). Use the Shoestring Investment Comparison Worksheet to record the key features of each
- Dollar-cost average mutual fund purchases and/or enroll in an automatic investment program
- Investigate the initial minimum deposits required for specific investments and ways that they can be reduced (e.g., automatic investment plan)
Unit 9: Getting Help: Investing Resources
- Start reading the business and financial pages in the newspaper on a regular basis
- Subscribe to a personal finance magazine
- Find out if an investment club meets in your area and ask to visit one of their meetings
- Read business and finance news on the Internet at Web sites www.usatoday.com/money, www.wsj.com, and www.quicken.com/investments
- Read a business or finance magazine on the Internet (e.g., www.smartmoney.com)
- Investigate mutual fund information online at Web sites www.morningstar.com, www.mfea.com, and www.lipperweb.com
- Set up a "portfolio" online of stocks you own or are watching
- Research a company or industry online (e.g., search the SEC’s EDGAR database)
Unit 10: Selecting Your Team of Financial Professionals
- Develop a financial plan to guide your investment choices
- Read at least one financial planning resource and decide if you can prepare and execute a plan yourself
- Match your financial goals with the professional adviser best suited to help you achieve them (e.g., lawyer, financial planner)
- Use the six-step plan described under Choosing Your Team of Financial Professionals in this unit to select the right professional for you
- Become familiar with resources on investing and consult them often
- Stay involved in the process—stay educated enough about investing to ask hard questions and closely monitor a professional’s work. Balance your trust in a professional with a healthy amount of consumer skepticism
Unit 11: Investment Fraud
- Get a copy of a form for taking notes, so you remember what questions to ask when someone calls to sell you an investment from the SEC Web site www.sec.gov/complaint/callform.htm.
- Keep notes of your conversation when you talk to a financial professional who makes recommendations
- To learn more about telemarketing fraud, get a copy of Swindlers Are Calling from the National Futures Association www.nfa.futures.org/investor/SAC.shtml. Also read Cold Calling Alert from the SEC: www.sec.gov/investor/pubs.shtml.
- Download and print out information about investment opportunities you read about online if you think you want to consider investing. If you later decide to invest, you’ll have proof of the offer
- Maintain a filing system to keep all confirmation slips, statements, and notes about each investment
- Ask to be put on the "do not call" list if a salesperson’s calls are annoying you
- Report any suspicious sales activity to your state securities regulator and to the SEC
- Read about How the SEC Handles Your Complaint or Inquiry at the following Web site: www.sec.gov/investor/pubs/howoiea.htm.
- Get the name of your state securities regulator from www.nasaa.org/nasaa/abtnasaa/find_regulator.asp and put the phone number in a handy place
- Call your state securities regulator and check the central registration depository (CRD) file for your broker to see if there are any disciplinary problems on file
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