Before you give up on saving for retirement, consider that your investment is taken from pre-tax dollars. Now that's what I call quite a bother. If your employer matches all or part of its employees' contributions, not participating is like throwing money away not a good way to get your finances in shape. A saver and an investor be. About this idea of investing properly there are about as many ways of investing properly as there are investors.
Many neophyte investors make the mistake of trying to do it all themselves.
A better, more efficient and potentially lower risk method involves using the pros. Mutual funds provide professional management and diversification for less than it costs to do it yourself. Before you invest, read the prospectus and remember that past performance isn't an indication of future returns. Determine what percentage of your money to invest in stocks, bonds or money market accounts. As a starting point, subtract your age from 100 and invest that percentage in equities.