It is good that you plan to save your money but according to me you should invest invest 5k in a Roth IRA

I'd stay away from stocks. Prices are not "low" considering that the financial system's capital base has taken a 40% haircut thanks to an illiquid debt securitization market.

I'd plop a few thousand into an IRA, keep $5K or so in a basic savings account as your emergency fund, and put the remainder into a 24 or 36 month CD.

When the CD matures, you can revisit opportunities in the stock market. Even if there is a general economic recovery, it won't be a very robust one as retiring baby boomers are generating a net OUTFLOW of money in stocks... there is a large soon-to-be retiring segment of our population that is moving its money out of stocks and into more safe investments.

We've had a bull market in stocks for roughly two decades, and I don't think the bear reversal will all be done in just two or three short years. Just my two cents.

You know I wonder that a lot too and I found a good article on what to do in such a situation. I have a website and we have this article posted on it. The direct link to the article is in my signature below. Look up the article "4 easy steps to better returns." It is a fantastic article. I hope you check it out because this article really opened my eyes up. Let me know what you think about it.

Actually, if you play it right in the stock market, you could turn that 15,000 into 50,000 once thew economy recovers. People are scared to invest right now, which is the best time to start. I would suggest creating your own diversified portfolio to get started. It really isn't that hard to manage your own portfolio, especially if you are investing it, not trading it.

Consider investing in gold, as the economic activity declines the value of gold will rise.