Getting Started

Whether you're graduating from school, starting your career, or just looking to get your financial life on track, these simple steps can go a long way toward helping you build your financial future.

• Lay the Groundwork
• Define Your Goals
• Build Your Portfolio
• Manage Your Portfolio

Lay the Groundwork

It's important to assess your current personal finances and ensure that you have a plan for expected and unexpected events.

Steps to Consider

• Commit to start saving early.
• Create or adjust your budget.
• Save a minimum of 10-15% of your gross income annually.
• Invest over the long term.
• Simplify your finances by consolidating accounts . For many investors, consolidating old workplace savings accounts into an IRA offers the most compelling benefits for managing one's retirement savings.

Fidelity Solutions

• Look for savings opportunities using our Budget Snapshot.
• Learn about Fidelity Rollover IRAs

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Define Your Goals

Steps to Consider

• Identify your financial goals and set your investment priorities.
• Determine how much money you will need for each goal, and when you will need it.
• Consider saving for retirement a top priority.
• Enroll in your workplace savings plan as soon as you are eligible.
• Take full advantage of any employer match.
• Next, reduce or eliminate bad debt such as high interest credit card debt and establish an emergency fund as a safety net, while still contributing enough to workplace savings plan to capture employer match.
• Save more for retirement and other goals using tax advantaged savings. Increase your contribution in your workplace savings plan to the maximum allowed. Then, contribute to an IRA or another tax-advantaged retirement savings vehicle. Address other savings goals (e.g. 529 college savings plan or Coverdell Education Savings Account for child's college).

Fidelity Solutions

• Open a SimpleStart^SM IRA
• Fidelity^® Retirement Rewards American Express^® Card
• Roth IRA or Traditional IRA?
• Use the IRA Evaluator^SM to learn which IRA account may be right for you.

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Build Your Portfolio

If you are younger and there are many decades between you and your retirement, it might be difficult to envision how you would want your future to be. Getting started early will allow time for your investments to potentially grow.

Steps to Consider

• Understand the basics of investing and financial markets.
• Become familiar with the importance of diversification and asset allocation.
• Select appropriate investments for your portfolio based on your asset allocation strategy.

Diversification/Asset Allocation does not ensure a profit or guarantee against loss.

Fidelity Solutions

• Learn the basics of investing
• Consider Fidelity's Lifecycle and/or Lifestyle funds for diversification.
• Open a Fidelity Account to help meet your savings goals and gain a comprehensive view of your investments in one place.
• Commit to regular investing made easy with Fidelity's Automatic Investing Plan

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Manage Your Portfolio

You've developed and defined a comprehensive plan for your personal investing goals and built a diversified investment strategy. Now you can begin to put your plan into action and monitor it regularly to help ensure that it's still on target.

Steps to Consider

• Become familiar with your investments and monitor your portfolio's performance.
• Recognize that your goals may change over time and be prepared to modify or adjust them as required.
• Review your investments at least once a year and rebalance as necessary.

Fidelity Solutions

• Log in to view your Fidelity accounts
• Receive electronic statements/confirmations, as well as a periodic reminder to review your Fidelity accounts.
• Sign up for Fidelity Alerts to get periodic updates sent to your e-mail, PDA, or cell phone.

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