IRA or related investment, you need to look to built a retirement egg, and use part of it to built a security deposit on which you can live for 6 month if desaster strikes

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IRA is fine, but if you have a 401(k) at work look there first to see if your employer provides a match. As sapphire said building an emergency fund is crucial, so it makes sense to split your savings between these two goals at first. Do not feel too bad, if you have steady income and can keep putting money away you will be ok. A good rule of thumb is to make sure you are putting away at least 15% of what you make. As you are starting a little later it makes sense to try to get this closer to 20%.

If your employer offers a match in any retirement plan, start taking advantage of it. A 50% match is like getting an instant 50% return. Thats hard to beat. Same goes for a dollar for dollar match - thats an instant 100% return. So obviously, get the full match, if you can afford to do so.

Also very important is having an emergency fund - I wont comment on how much that is...some say 3 mos of expenses all the way to 12mos of expenses, mostly depending on the stability of your job and income. This is used for car repairs, hospital bills, and other unforeseen expenses.

I would start contributing to your retirement plan, even if only a little bit each month, even before the debt is paid off. Many will say that paying off credit debt is #2 priority, and it is important, but building a foundation, and the habit of saving is very important as well.