Nurturing Your Financial Virtues by John Addison (NAPSA)—Whenit comes to thinking aboutourfinancial situation, many of us will put off until tomorrow the things we could do today. Unfortunately, this approach rarely works when it comes to your finances. The longer you wait, the more you lose financially. Here are five virtues that can help you improve your financial security: vision, independence, discipline, patience and prudence. Vision. What kind of future do you want to have? How are you going to get _ there? Start thinking Addison about your financial goals—and then create a financial game plan designed to help you achieve them. Independence. It can take courage to say “no” to consumer products advertisers and our friends tell us we need. However, a key step to reaching yourfinancial goals is getting off the revolving debt cycle. Start by paying off high-interest debts and buying only what you can afford. This will free up money that can be saved andinvested for the future. Discipline. Once money is earmarked for saving or investing, it takes discipline to do it on a regular basis. Regular deposits, however, are the key to the investment system knownas dollar-cost averaging. By investing the same amount each month,it’s possible to take advantage of a drop in stock prices. Patience. The race to achieving financial goals is a marathon, not a sprint. Understanding that can help you stay true to your plan when you feel the urge to spend your raise rather than investing it in the future. Prudence.The sooner you start investing, the more you can harness the power of compound interest—the system that uses time to multiply your savings. It can also be prudentto call on the experience of a financial professional for guidance and advice. For example, the financial professionals at Primerica have created a guide that shows you how to take control of your financiallife. To get a copy of “How Money Works,” write to Primerica, 3120 Brekenridge Blvd., Duluth, GA 30099, ATTN: Corporate Relations, call 770-564-6329 or visit www.primerica.com. John Addison is Co-CEO of Primerica, a subsidiary of Citi- group, Inc.
