Hi everyone and welcome back to Money Girls Quick and Dirty Tips for a richer life.

I'm Laura Adams. Many of us dream about our retirement years. Maybe you want to do a lot of traveling or move to that beach house you always wanted.

Unfortunately, your retirement dreams won't become a reality without proper planning

and preparation. In this post I'll give you three important tips about how to prepare for

a blissful retirement, the cheapest way possible.

Life can throw lots of problems at us, therefore I preach hoping for the best, but planning

for the worst, even if you sock away a reasonable amount of money for the

future, unexpected financial challenges can be a roadblock to retirement. A

disability, chronic illness, or legal battle, for instance, could leave you swimming in debt and be a

real drain on your retirement funds.

It used to be that workplace pensions, the kind where an employer guarantees you a set amount

of income for the rest of your life,

provided a nice cushion.

But those types of retirement benefits are on the endangered species list.

What about Social Security?

Wasn't that created to guarantee us some level of, well, security?

It's important to understand that the 75-year-old program was created

to be a supplement for retirees, not a sole source of income.

However, close to 25% of all retirees who receive Social Security benefits

live on that check alone.

As the program gets closer to paying out more money

than it takes in, the future for Social Security doesn't look good.

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