J.D. from Get Rich Slowly wrote a very good article today, Personal Finance Made East: Pay Yourself First. The advice that J.D. provides is right on the money. Too often people save money last. This article will explore why you must not save money last.

What I mean by saving money last is that people get their paycheck, pay their bills, buy things for themselves and then maybe have money left over that they put into savings.  When next month comes around, they might find themselves having too many bills and wants and dip into their savings to pay for things.  This saving money last mentality has to stop if you ever want to have savings.

The first thing that you need to do is to open a savings account.  I recommend that you open an ING savings account.  Once you have a high interest savings account, then you need to set up automatic deposits from your paycheck.  You need to make sure that you pay yourself first when you get a paycheck.

By setting up the automatic deposit, you don’t have to remember to put money into your savings account.  Every time you get paid, a set amount will get deposited into your savings account.  You won’t have to think about paying yourself first, it will be done automatically.  By having the money go into your ING savings account, you will get the benefit of compounding interest provided by high interest savings accounts.

So take that first step today.  Go open an ING savings account, set up automatic deposit with your company and start paying yourself first.