Start 2014 with a Simple Investment Practice: Automatic Investment Plans for Environmental Investors

As you begin the New Year, probably with at least one resolution concerning your finances, we want to remind you about a simple practice that can help you achieve your financial goals: making systemic investment purchases.Making monthly investments, such as through automatic transfers from your checking or savings account to buy mutual fund shares, helps you regularly build your investments, cross off an item on your “to do” list, and take the anxiety and guesswork out of trying to “time the market.”

While almost everyone needs more time to manage their investments, the all-too-common reality is that saving for our future, often falls victim to the pressing day-to-day demands of work and family. As a result, investors often scramble to meet important deadlines to catch up. We see this at Green Century, where the largest number of investments often occurs around December 31^st and the IRA deadline of April 15^th.

But what if you could stop worrying about missing these deadlines and take the stress out of meeting your annual contribution goals? And what if this practice also provided you a way to purchase shares closer to the average share price for the year? That would be a win-win situation – and this option is currently available when you open an account with The Green Century Balanced Fund or Equity Fund. Or, if you’re already invested with Green Century, you can use this form to start an Automatic Investment Plan.

Stop Worrying About “Timing” Your Investments

The stock and bond markets are constantly in motion and performance moves up and down. But when you use systematic investments and even out share purchases over time, you can reduce your likelihood of falling into the market trap of buying high and selling low. Systematic investments of stocks, bonds, or mutual funds, also called “dollar cost averaging,” help you take the guesswork out of when to buy investments.

Buying a fixed dollar amount of a specific investment on a regular schedule helps you buy more shares when prices are low and fewer shares when prices are expensive. As a result, you lower the total average cost per share of the investment. This practice relieves you from looking into a crystal ball and trying to “time the market,” which even investment professionals cannot successfully and consistently do.

Enjoy Lower Minimums

Another advantage of making systematic investments is that investors who use the Green Century Automatic Investment Plan (AIP) can get an added benefit of lower minimum investments. For instance, the regular account minimum of $2,500 is lowered to only $1,000 for investors signing up for the AIP with at least $100 per month investment in either the Green Century Equity Fund or the Green Century Balanced Fund.

How to Get Started

To streamline meeting your financial goals, we encourage you to implement effective financial practices, including systematic investment purchases. Learn more about starting Green Century’s automatic investment plan here.