5 essential retirement tips for women investors

In today's tough times, it's hard to think about retirement when you're living paycheck to paycheck. But with politicians flirting with privatizing Social Security and pensions as rare as white rhinos, our golden years are becoming, well, less golden.

If you're a woman, the picture is even bleaker. It's well known that women live longer than men. But did you know that about 40% of women who reach the age of 50 this year will live to be 100? Factor in the reality that they generally make less than men and are more likely to use their savings to help their families. In other words, frankly, women are woefully unprepared for a retirement that could stretch 30 years.

Susan Hirshman, author ofDoes This Make My Assets Look Fat? A Woman's Guide to Finding Financial Empowerment and Success, warned WalletPop in a telephone interview, "You can't count on anyone else doing this for you."