Here's a frightening news tidbit: Seniors who rely on credit card debt to help them cover expenses have seen their balances rise a whopping 26% over the past four years.

According to a study cited in The Washington Postthis past weekend, the average credit card debt "among low- and middle-income Americans 65 and older carrying a balance for more than three months" is now $10,235, up from around $8,100 in 2005.

The Postarticle goes on to say that debt among near-retirees is way up as well, and quotes a few older folks who have run up significant debts -- mostly due to medical expenses -- with no real way to pay them back.

I have great sympathy for those folks. I don't think we can dismiss this as irresponsibility: If you're on a fixed income, with no real way to increase it, you do what you have to do to make ends meet, especially if your health or that of a loved one is at stake.

But while I'm sympathetic, I don't want to join them.

This is why we invest
For most of us, whatever our shorter-term goals, investing starts at a more fundamental level: with the retirement portfolio. First and foremost, most of us are concerned with building nest eggs to see us through later life without having to worry about how to pay for basics like food and prescriptions.

If you haven't been saving aggressively for retirement lately, that's understandable. The economy stinks, credit lines have been shrinking, and everyone seems to be trimming spending -- including such "spending" as IRA contributions.

But to my mind, IRAs aren't a luxury item. Used wisely, your IRA can be the difference between a comfortable retirement and just getting by.

Why your 401(k) isn't enough
Don't get me wrong; 401(k)s and other workplace savings plans are great. They're designed to keep you saving despite common human weaknesses, and they work. Hopefully you're contributing to your 401(k) -- at least enough to collect all of your employer's match, if not more.

But with a few exceptions, your returns in a 401(k) aren't going to shoot the lights out. The best long-term options in most 401(k)s are big, diversified stock mutual funds that usually look like these:

Fund Name

Recent Top Holdings

Lifetime Average Annual Return (Since Date)

American Funds Growth Fund of America (AGTHX)

Oracle (Nasdaq: ORCL),
Coca-Cola (NYSE: KO),
Philip Morris International (NYSE: PM)

13.6% (Dec. 1973)

Fidelity Disciplined Equity (FDEQX)

JPMorgan Chase (NYSE: JPM),
Pfizer (NYSE: PFE)

9.4% (Dec. 1988) Continued...