There is no getting around it; women have more hurdles between themselves and retirement than their male counterparts do. Women still on the average earn only 75% of what males do.  They also spend less time in the labor force when they drop out to have kids. Also, women live longer than men. Longevity is nice, but it also means stretching that retirement dollar out farther. Offer yourself peace of mind by looking into your retirement now. Because what is casual investigating now could be full-tilt panic years from now. Here are some tips to securing your retirement.

Count Social Security:
In the past, workers planned on letting social security take care of them in their golden years. Now we know that bubble has burst, but that doesn’t mean you can’t take it into consideration as part of a broader retirement plan. Social Security pays the average retiree about 40 percent of preretirement earnings. Call the Social Security Administration at 1.800.772.1213 for a free Social Security Statement and find out more about your benefits at www.socialsecurity.gov.

Get Your Boss to Pay:
One of the first things you should do on a new job, do in the interview even, is find out about their retirement benefits. Some work places don’t offer new employees anything until they’ve completed a year of service and that can do a lot to your savings plan. If they offer a tax-sheltered savings plan, such as a 401(k), find out what their portion of the contribution will be. Hey, they are giving you practically free money, you might as well find out how much. Also, if you had a pension at your last job, make sure you can roll it into your new place of work.

Got IRA?
You’ve heard of IRAs, but do you have one yet? You can put up to $4,000 a year into an Individual Retirement Account (IRA) and gain tax advantages. There’s more than one kind, you know. There’s the traditional IRA or the newer Roth IRA. The tax treatment of your contributions and withdrawals will depend on which option you select. Also, you should know that the after-tax value of your withdrawal will depend on inflation and the type of IRA you choose.

Keep Your Savings in Your Savings:
Don’t touch your retirement savings. The point of putting it away is so it will be there for you after. Withdrawing form your savings plan costs you more than you might think. You lose out on interest. You lose out on tax benefits. You might even get penalized. So keep it where it is.

Set Goals and Stick to Them:
Insuring your retirement is just like any other discipline, like a diet or workout regiment. It only works if you come up with a plan and stick to it. The trick with planning for retirement is that it feels so far away, so it’s hard to get motivated to do anything about it now. But think of it this way, the early you start saving, the earlier you may be able to retire.

Consider Basic Investment Principles:
How you save can be as important as how much you save. Inflation and the type of investments you make play important roles in how much you’ll have saved at retirement. Know how your pension or savings plan is invested. Financial security and knowledge go hand in hand.

Ask Questions:
These tips point you in the right direction. But you’ll need more information. Talk to your employer, your bank, your union, or a financial advisor. Ask questions and make sure the answers make sense to you. Get practical advice and act now.
Financial security doesn’t just happen. It takes planning and commitment and, yes, money.

Know Your Retirement Needs:
You probably have an idea in your head of when you retire. You also probably have a figure in your head of how much a year do you want to live off of when you do retire. Do those two numbers really fit though? It really depends on what your retirement saving plan is now. It would be a shame to dream of retiring at 65, then reaching your 65th birthday only to discover you have to work 5 more years.
For a fun, easy and quick way to check on your retirement’s fitness, click here to go to Wells Fargo’s RSI (Retire Secure Index) calculator. You can try it over and over again, playing with the number to get that index higher and higher.