Selecting First Transaction Per Person

Hi

In a transactions table, I need to get the record for the earliest transaction date for each person or account. So far I've been doing it in 2 steps (below). Is there an easier way to do this?

Thanks

Dannie

--------------------------

SELECT

Person_ID
Earliest_Transaction_Date = MIN( Transaction_Date )
INTO

Earliest_Transaction_Dates
FROM

All_Transactions
GROUP BY

Person_ID

SELECT

b.*
FROM

Earliest_Transaction_Dates a
LEFT OUTER JOIN
All_Transactions b
WHERE

a.Person_ID = b.Person_ID
and b.Transaction_Date = a.Earliest_Transaction_Date