three main challenges in our personal finance..

In the course of your personal financial concerns, you face three main challenges -- three mountains of expense that you must scale and conquer to provide yourself and your family a decent life. The first is buying your home. If you doze off slightly in the ensuing years, you'll be brought up short by the second mountain looming in the middle distanse: financing your children's college. If you haven't been saving for it, you and your kids may be running up considerable debt for years to come. It is a worthwhile investment, though
Now for the challenge to end all challenges. You don't even have time for a brief nap before this Everest starts staring you down: financing your retirement. This is the supreme test that will take more energy and attention than the two peaks combined. Proof: Most retirees today must plan to live for 30 years after the paycheck stop.

. . .

Why should you bother investing at all when your neighbourhood bank is a nice, safe place to put your money? The answer: inflation and taxes. If your savings, after taxes, doesn't grow faster than the cost of living, its purchasing power will steadily erode.

Reference:
The MONEY Book of Personal Finance by Richard Eisenberg

See also:

1. GST inflation : the second wave