I just read your post about investing in precious metals(skipped it as I thought it was part of your signature). I would advise staying away from commodities as well, simply look at the charts in the past few years and you'll see what the financiers/crazy hedge fund managers have done to the commodities market. It is true that precious metals can hold their value, i.e. Gold will never fall to $1 per troy ounce. However, the volatility these days is pretty scary if you're looking into savings and not so much of high returns.

Someone had recommended to me recently that I look into getting an account with T. Rowe Price. They have several different investment options including both Roth and traditional IRA and then there's the Automatic Asset Builder which you place a $2500 opening deposit and then add to it $100 a month. Assuming a hypothetical average 7% annual return, you'll have $22k after 10 years, $62k after 20, $142k after 30. That one isn't going to keep you from touching it, but the growth is pretty good.

Look at the current economic indicators and you'll very quickly realize that fiat currencies are HIGHLY inflated and waiting to crash.

By extension, you'll also realize that putting money in paper-based vehicles such as mutual funds (which are usually the 1st to tank hard), certificates, etc. are NOT the way to go. Derivatives are also out of the question - do a little research and you'll realize that the American public has been signed up without their consent to bear the FULL brunt of the derivatives market crash that's just around the corner.

The American government would have you believe that its debt is now frozen and not increasing. How is this possible without cooking the books? Simple mathematics would tell you that these are outright lies.

History has proven time and again that FIAT instruments do not work. Neither does the accumulation of DEBT. Ever wondered why the BRICS insist on using gold as their backing? And ever wondered WHY the world was taken off the gold standard in the first place?

Buy gold and silver. PHYSICAL metals. Forget numismatics at this stage. What you want is bullion. None of this paper bullcrap because we all know how easy it is for someone to pull a fast one where paper is concerned.

Next is where you store it. Keep it secure, close and easily accessible to you. DO NOT STORE IT WITH A "TRUSTEE."

Do some research and see what comes up.