<prompt> Human: My mother is in her mid 50s and only has a very small amount of money saved for retirement. She works a fairly low paying job, so its hard for her to save. Mind you, retirement isnt really my familys style, we generally just keep working until were too old to. I expect shell keep working another 10 years at least.I live pretty frugally and have a good job, I can comfortably put a few hundred a month towards something for her in addition to what I put away for myself.I know Im not gonna be able to set her up for life or anything, but Id like to be able to do something so she has a little bit better safety net or nest egg when she hits 65 or 70.Should I just give her money each month and help her put it somewhere, or is there something I can pay into, or what? Any advice would be welcome.Assistant: Its never too late to start saving. Mid 50s is fine unless she already has serious health issues. If she works until 65 or 67 or whatever it is by then, social security is perfect for a person who has a low income to begin with.It may sound harsh, but you have to keep in mind that saving for her is not your responsibility. In fact, I would bet that if you asked her how much you should save for her retirement, she might be offended.Human: I appreciate that point of view, but I make a decent salary as an engineer and will most likely to continue to make more. Meanwhile, she works fairly menial jobs in retail. I would like to do at least something for her; like I said I dont expect to totally set her up or anything, just contribute a bit to help her manage.Shes my mother, I know her; she would be the complete opposite of offended. Its not a question of responsibility, it would make me happy to be able to help her. Shes very dear to me and I worry about what will happen to her.  <response>: And shes your mother who supported you and worked hard to make sure you could go to college and have a better career than she did. For what its worth, it sounds like she raised a good kid and I think its wonderful you want to help her :Also, Ill second the Roth IRA with Vanguard idea. 