What to invest in and how much will be dependent on your income, age, risk tolerance, and investment goals. If you are adverse to risk or prefer to include investments that are less volatile than stocks, you will have to lower your assumed rate of return, which will require you to increase the amount you invest. Saving money is the process of putting cold, hard cash aside and parking it in extremely safe, and liquid meaning they can be sold or accessed in a very short amount of time, at most a few days securities or accounts. Above all, cash reserves must be there when you reach for them; available to grab, take hold of, and deploy immediately with a minimal delay no matter what is happening around you.