<prompt> Human: Using a throw-away because Im not sure I want to share all this on my normal profile. Ill be 53 this year ,I have no retirement working yet and Im starting to panic. What I do have is about 2k a month after expenses to out of which which Ive managed to put 20k aside recently. I make 106k yr, I have no debt besides a mortgage I own my cars. My monthly net is 6700 and my current monthly expenses are around 4100 half of that is the mortgage. My employer does not have a retirement plan I can participate in so Im on my own. Im looking for a vehicle to put 20k in and to be able to put at least 1k a month in.I have spent time on sites like eTrade and Merrill Edge but frankly Im overwhelmed. I consider myself a reasonably intelligent person but this is like reading ancient sandskrit to me. I know I need to get started on this yesterday but I just cant seem to pull the trigger. The anxiety has almost got me in tears. If anyone can ELI5 some baby steps Id be so grateful.Edit: In case youre wondering, this isnt the first time in life Ive tried to plan for retirement. I was a poster child for the economic collapse circa 2010. I had a small business, real estate investments and retirement accounts that were washed away. It took 6 years years to clean up the wreckage and get back to where I am now. But where I had help before managing these things, I am currently on my own.Edit2: Thank you everyone for such great responses. Youve lifted the fog a little for me and Im inspired to make my move Monday morning! today is a holiday here. Im getting my hands on the Boggleheads guide and Ill be reading all of the links you sent me. You are awesome all of you, thanks!Assistant: If you havent seen the prime directive wiki page and the flowchart within, Id start there.Id suspect youre on the step where you need to open an IRA Since you dont have an employer retirement plan at work then you would be eligible to deduct traditional IRA contributions. The IRA wiki page has some great info on IRAs.Once you decide whether a traditional or Roth IRA is right for your situation, you can open one up at a brokerage of your choice I suggest Vanguard, Schwab, or Fidelity. And then you can contribute 6500year 5500 regular contribution 1000 catch-up contribution to that. You still have until tax day next month to make 2017 contributions, so dont delay too much.Human: It definitely sounds like my first move is to put 13k in an IRA, based on consensus. Thanks to all for naming what you feel are the best choices. Im an engineer by trade and Ive never felt as helplessly ignorant about anything as I have this in the last year. Everyone here is awesome.  <response>: Just so that you are aware, and a lot of people make the same mistake, just opening an IRA and putting the money in it is not investing. Once you have the money in the IRA, probably in some sort of money market fund with the bank through which you choose to do your investing, you need to then choose an actual fund in which to invest. Investment banks will have hundreds to choose from. But dont set yourself even further back by just putting the money in your IRA. As soon as your deposit clears you need to move it into an actual fund, whether its a mutual fund, an ETF, etc. 