How Do I...

Build an Investment Plan

8 Steps to Help You Achieve Success

A well-thought-out financial plan is critical to your financial future. Taking the time to plan and make decisions now can make all the difference in the years ahead. And it doesn’t have to be hard. Here are 8 simple steps to help you on your way.

	Set Clear Goals Defining your objective and understanding your own tolerance for risk is your first step. Think about where you want to be, and work backwards to determine what it will take to get there. This can help motivate you and keep you focused on your strategy.

	Establish a Strategy A sound and realistic financial plan is your roadmap to your goals. Talk through your objective and the time horizon. Set intermediate markers with your financial adviser to help you monitor your progress. Review your investments and choose a mutual fund family that can work for you today and adjust to your future needs. The MTB Group of Funds offers a breadth of choices and exchange privileges to help your portfolio change as you do.^† ^†Exchange privileges may be modified or discontinued at any time.

	Start Early Once you have identified your goals and developed a strategy with your financial adviser, it’s best to put your money to work as soon as possible. Procrastination can be costly. Our Systematic Investment Plan* can help you make timely periodic investments into your selected fund choices. Smart investing is a matter of commitment and diversification, not timing. This graph illustrates the potential advantages of investing early. It assumes an investment return of 8%, and the reinvestment of all dividends. It is not indicative of the performance of any particular investment or mutual fund. The value of an actual investment and the rate of returns will vary. * Systematic investing does not assure a profit or protect against loss in declining markets.

	Pay Yourself First Many investors find it difficult to make a commitment. One of the easiest and surest ways to get started is to invest a set amount on a regular basis through the MTB Funds Systematic Investment Plan.* Regular investing helps you take advantage of a simple concept called dollar-cost averaging,** in which a set amount invested buys more shares when share prices are low, and fewer shares when prices are high. As a result, your average cost per share is lower than the average price per share. * Systematic investing does not assure a profit or protect against loss in declining markets. ** Because dollar-cost averaging involves continuous investment regardless of fluctuating price levels, investors should consider their financial ability to continue making purchases during periods of low price levels.

	Help Protect Against Inflation and Taxes Every successful financial plan includes a strategy to reduce the impact of inflation and taxes. If your investments earn less after taxes than the rate of inflation, your purchasing power will decrease over time. History has shown that equity investments are the best hedge against inflation because of their potential for higher returns. Of course, equity investments are also subject to greater risk than other types of investments. An MTB Funds IRA is a great way to save on current taxes and to shelter investment growth and income from annual taxation until your money is withdrawn.*** The MTB Funds has a wide selection of equity and bond mutual funds suited for regular or IRA investments.

	Stay Focused Establish your time horizon for investing and stick to it. Avoid getting caught up in the day-to-day shifts in market performance and your funds’ share prices. For longer-term investments, use time as a valuable ally and learn to look past short-term fluctuations.

	Diversify A mutual fund offers investors the opportunity to pool their money to own shares in a portfolio of dozens, or even hundreds, of securities. But there’s more to diversification than simply investing in one mutual fund. The best type of diversification occurs when you spread your investments across a mix of “asset classes,” or financial markets, such as equities, bonds and money market securities. This strategy, called “asset allocation,” can help you capture the combined performance of several markets—and smooth out downturns in any single one.^† Your financial adviser can assist you in properly diversifying your portfolio and can help explain the broad array of choices offered by the MTB Funds. If you’re looking for immediate diversification among different financial markets in one fund, MTB offers Managed Allocation Funds. ^†† These Funds offer aggressive, moderate or conservative opportunities to pursue investment growth by investing in strategic combinations of MTB Funds. *** Distributions of deductible contributions and earnings form Traditional, SEP, and Simple IRAs are subject to income tax when withdrawn and may be subject to a 10% penalty if the withdrawal is made before the age of 59 1/2 ^† Diversification does not assure a profit or protect against loss. ^†† Due to their strategy of investing in other mutual funds, the Managed Allocation Funds may incur certain additional expenses and tax results that would not be present with a direct investment in the underlying funds.

	Rely On the Experience of Professionals In a specialized world, investing can seem complicated. That’s why we’re here to help. Along with your financial adviser, the MTB Funds has a dedicated team of professionals working behind the scenes for you. When you choose an MTB Fund, you acquire the experience and expertise of professional money managers working full-time to take care of your money.

Meet with a financial adviser today to discuss an investment strategy that can uniquely meet your needs.

MTB Investment Advisors, Inc., a subsidiary of Manufacturers and Traders Trust Company ("M&T Bank"), is the investment advisor to the MTB Group of Funds.

The MTB Group of Funds are available from M&T Securities, Inc. (member FINRA/SIPC), a broker-dealer subsidiary of M&T Bank, and other authorized broker-dealers. ALPS Distributors, Inc., which is not affiliated with M&T Bank, is the distributor of the MTB Group of Funds.

For more complete information, please download the funds' prospectuses available on this website or call 1-800-836-2211 for copies. You should consider the funds' investment objectives, risks, charges and expenses carefully before you invest. Information about these and other important subjects are in the fund's prospectus, which you should read carefully before investing.