Plan Funding

If you've already set up your Automatic Investment Plan, changing the funding source is just a couple of clicks away. And it's just as easy when creating your plan.

Edit Plan Funding Source

1. Navigate to Trade > Automatic Investing (sign in required) and once there, click on the Edit link next to the 'Funding Source'. Or if you are creating your Plan, it will be the third step in Plan Setup process.
2. Select Use my cash balance or Automatically fund via electronic funds transfer.
3. If you select Automatically fund via electronic funds transfer make sure your checking or savings account information looks correct, then authorize the transfer by checking the Transfer Authorization box.
4. Click Next and keep following the steps (if you're setting up a brand new investment plan) or click Save (if you're editing a plan you've set up already).

Tip: Changes to your Automatic Investment Plan need to be done before 5:00 PM ET on the business day before an investment Tuesday (generally Monday at 5:00 PM ET).

And, if you selected cash balance, enough funds need to be available at that time, otherwise, the plan won't execute for the current week

You bet it's possible to pull funds directly from your checking or savings account to pay for your Automatic Investment Plan purchases. If you established a specific investment frequency (weekly, monthly, twice a month, or one-time) for your Automatic Investment Plan, then you can connect your Plan to your checking or savings account.

1. First, you'll need to navigate to Trade > Automatic Investing (sign in required) and once there, click on the Edit link next to the 'Funding Source'. Or if you are creating your Plan, it will be the first step in Plan Setup process.
2. Select the Automatically fund via electronic funds transfer radio button to enable automatic transfers from your checking or savings account. Make sure your checking or savings account information looks correct, then authorize the transfer by checking the Transfer Authorization box.
3. Click Next and keep following the steps (if you're setting up a brand new investment plan) or click Save (if you're editing a plan you've set up already).

How do I enter my checking or savings account information?

Tip: Changes to your Automatic Investment Plan need to be done before 5:00 PM ET on the business day before an investment Tuesday(generally Monday at 5 PM ET). And, enough funds must be available or on the way. Otherwise, it's too late to set up a plan for the current week

Let's say you want to pay for your Automatic Investment Plan purchases by using monies in your ShareBuilder money market cash balance or FDIC Insured cash balance. These steps will help you do that:

1. Navigate to Trade > Automatic Investing (sign in required) and once there, click, on the Edit link next to the Funding Source. Or if you are creating your Plan, it will be the third step in Plan Setup process.
2. Select the Use my cash balance. That's it. Just click Next and keep following the steps (if you're setting up a brand new investment plan) or click Save (if you're editing a plan you've set up already).

Tip: Check out some ways to fund your ShareBuilder cash balance:

• Electronic funds transfer
• Payroll deduction (direct deposit)
• Mailing a check or money order
• Wire funds transfer

Tip: Changes to your Automatic Investment Plan need to be done before 5:00 PM ET on the business day before an investment Tuesday (generally Monday at 5:00 PM ET). And, enough funds must be available in the cash balance at that time. Otherwise, the plan won't execute for the current week.

You have two choices for your Automatic Investment Plan Funding Method: an electronic funds transfer or your cash balance.

With an electronic funds transfer from your checking or savings account, the required funds are automatically requested from the bank account on file the day before your scheduled investment. When setting your funding source as an electronic funds transfer you won't have to remember to set up a separate deposit for each investment, just set it and forget it.

Tip: Although we do not charge for an electronic funds transfer, some financial institutions may have fees associated. Although rare, check with your financial institution to determine if it charges for electronic fund transfers.

If you instead go with the cash balance, you'll then need to create a deposit for each plan investment. There are a few ways you can deposit funds into your cash balance besides an electronic funds transfer:

• Payroll deduction (direct deposit)
• Mailing a check or money order
• Wire funds transfer

All funds deposits into your ShareBuilder account are held in the cash balance until used for an investment.

Tip: Changes to your Automatic Investment Plan must be entered and saved prior to 5:00 PM ET on the business day before the scheduled investment. After 5:00 PM ET it's too late, and any changes apply to future weeks only.

Currently, it's only possible to pick one funding source at a time for your Automatic Investment Plan.

Your choices are:

• Fund an Automatic Investment Plan through the cash balance
• Or, fund your Automatic Investment Plan with a checking or savings account

Tip: Changes to your Automatic Investment Plan need to be done before 5:00 PM ET on the business day before an investment Tuesday (generally, Monday at 5:00 PM ET). Otherwise, any updates you made to the plan won't happen for the current week.

If you fund your Automatic Investment Plan purchases through a checking or savings account, you have the ability to deposit additional cash into your account (view prospectus for money market cash balance preference).

In other words, extra cash gets deposited into your ShareBuilder account, and won't go toward your Automatic Investment purchases. If this sounds good to you, please follow these instructions:

1. Navigate to Trade > Automatic Investing (sign in required) and once there, click on the Edit link next to the 'Funding Source'.
2. Check the Deposit additional funds into your ShareBuilder account box.
3. Type in the dollar amount you want transferred.
4. Check the Transfer Authorization box.
5. Click Save.

Tip: Changes to your Automatic Investment Plan must be done by 5:00 PM ET on the business day before an investment Tuesday (generally, Monday at 5 PM ET). Otherwise, any updates you made to the plan won't happen for the current week.

We offer a few ways to put funds into a ShareBuilder account. Let's check them out:

• Electronic Funds Deposits
• A direct deposit from your paycheck (direct deposit)
• Mail in a check or money order/faq]
• Wire funds transfer

When you make a deposit into your ShareBuilder account, all of the funds get put into your cash sweep preference. Your balance may earn a dividend If your cash is held in the money market fund or interest if held in the FDIC Insured cash balance. For additional details on the money market fund, take a peek at the ShareBuilder Money Market Fund (prospectus).

When funding with your cash balance, make sure you have enough cash to cover the plan's total investment. The deadline for funding your total investment is 5:00 PM ET on the business day (almost always a Monday) before your scheduled investment date. If you do not have sufficient funds in your ShareBuilder account, or a deposit scheduled by 5:00 PM ET to post the next day (your investment date), your order will not be created.