Preparation helps to avoid investment disruptions

To achieve any long-term financial goal, such as a comfortable retirement, you need to invest consistently. But that's not always easy to do. A lot of things can disrupt your ability to invest, so it's best to be prepared.

As for what preparations you should make, you can start by putting away enough money to pay for six to 12 months' worth of living expenses. Keep the funds in a liquid vehicle, such as a money market ac-count. Because interest rates are so low now, you won't earn much of a return, but that shouldn't be your chief concern with this money.

You just want to make sure you have enough to tide you over in case you lose your job or need to make a major purchase.

Without this emergency fund in place, you might have to dip into your investments to make ends meet.

Your debt load is another threat to your investment capability. Simply put, the more you owe, the less you have to spend on investments.

That's why you may want to contact your tax professional about the possibility of debt consolidation. By rolling over your high-rate credit card debt to a low-rate home equity loan, for example, you may be able to save thousands of dollars per year which you can then invest. Furthermore, a home equity loan may be tax-deductible, unlike your credit card debt. (Make sure you can afford the payments, though; if you default on a home- equity loan, you run the risk of losing your house.)

You also can free up money for investing by refinancing your mortgage to a lower rate.

Another way to protect your ability to invest is to make sure you have adequate insurance.

You may think you're protected with life insurance, but the fact is that during your working years, you are far more likely to become temporarily disabled than you are to die.

If you have a good disability insurance policy, you can replace some of your lost income.

Without this coverage, you may be forced to tap into your investments. Your employer may offer disability coverage as a benefit; if so, take it.

But be aware of how much coverage you're getting from your employer's plan.

If it's not enough, you may have to supplement it with an individual policy.

Here's one more way to sustain your investing over time: Know the reason for each of your investments. Your 401(k) and your individual retirement accounts are designed to help you retire comfortably.

You may have some investments that you hope will help pay for your children's college educations or that will finance a vacation home.

As long as you're focused on what your investments are supposed to do, you'll be less tempted to raid any of them for "impulse" purchases or other short-term needs.

But if you're just investing for the sake of investing, you're more likely to dip into your accounts whenever you need some money.

We've seen what obstacles can impede your investing. But with discipline, patience and careful planning, you can overcome all these roadblocks and stay on the path to long-term investment success.

(Betty J. Neal, certified financial planner, is an investment representative with Edward Jones Investments.)