Somewhere many years ago I read an article written by a millionaire. I feel if you want to make good pastry read all you can from the great pastry chefs or whatever you want to know go to an expert. You wouldn't ask for financial advice from a bum, would you. Anyhow he taught me that you should ALWAYS PAY YOURSELF FIRST So for many, many years I would take 1/3 of my salary and put it into an IRA. When I wanted to move to Nevada and buy a home I had $61,000. saved after about 10 years of saving. I bought this home cash...Now and for many more years I have paid myself FIRST and have a nice little nest-egg for when I am no longer able to work or for investing in something stable. It isn't hard to do either. Just take a certain amount and deposit it and forget it (into savings) too easy to get at it in checking accounts. Even if its only $5.00, save it....It's amazing how fast it adds up. You have to be strict and never touch this money. It doesn't exist....