Saving is good...But it's not investing

It’s a good thing to have some savings. When you put the money in a low-risk account, you can be pretty sure it will be readily available when you need it. Nonetheless, “saving” is not “investing” — and knowing the difference could pay off for you far into the future.

Think about it this way: Saving is for today, while investing is for tomorrow.

You need your savings to pay for your daily expenses, such as groceries, and your monthly bills — mortgage, utilities, and so on. In fact, you might even want your savings to include an emergency fund containing six to 12 months’ wo...