Don't Wait Till Tomorrow

You've heard it all before: Save for your retirement! Start saving early! But do you really appreciate how vital it is to start saving and investing as soon as possible? And if you're already saving and investing, do you appreciate how much more important this year's dollars are than the dollars you might invest a few years from now?

Let's see how a $3,000 investment will grow over time at the market's historic average annual rate of 10%. (That average, of course, could move higher or lower over time.)

Now, here are some things to note:

Understand that you might earn even more than 10%, on average, per year, if you invest in some carefully selected successful stocks or mutual funds. The Muhlenkamp Fund (FUND: MUHLX), for example, has averaged about 13% annual growth over the past five and 10 years. Its top holdings recently included Altria (NYSE: MO), Cemex (NYSE: CX), Caterpillar (NYSE: CAT), Nabors Industries (NYSE: NBR), and Whirlpool (NYSE: WHR).

What to do

So get yourself in gear. It really is important to start investing, and to do so in earnest beginning in your early years.

We'd love to help you plan and save effectively for your future with our Rule Your Retirement newsletter. A free trial will give you full access to all past issues, where you can gather up valuable tips and even read how some folks have retired early and well. The service regularly highlights promising stocks and mutual funds, too.

And keep some money out of stocks!

Before you start socking money away for the distant future, though, make sure you've got some short-term savings in order. Learn why you need an emergency fund and how to best invest that money by visiting our Savings Center. For starters, know that your short-term money should not be in stocks, because over short periods -- even several years -- anything can happen in the stock market. You don't want your emergency money to be cut in half just because of bad timing.