This is a guest post by the ladies at Women & Co. about planning for retirement. You are never too young (or too old) to plan for retirement or financial freedom. I aspire to be financially free by the time I’m 30 and I have a plan in place that keeps my eyes on the prize. If you haven’t started thinking about that day where you no longer have to work (although you may still want to work), I hope these tips will help.

Summer is just around the corner, but that’s no excuse to take a vacation from checking up on your retirement plan. A recent Women & Co. study found that women feel personal traits — hard work, discipline and intelligence — are more important to financial success than external factors such as education, family and luck. So when it comes to achieving a comfortable retirement, it’s up to you to stay in the driver’s seat.

Lisa Caputo, Founder, Chairman and CEO of Women & Co., and Linda Descano, CFA®, President and COO of Women & Co., offer the following 5 steps you can use today to help ensure financial security tomorrow:

1. Know Your Numbers: Calculate how much retirement savings you will need in order to live comfortably for an average of 20–30 years. Remember, women typically spend more years in retirement and need to plan accordingly. Inflation will lessen the value of your money over time. Historically, the inflation rate is about 3% so be sure to factor that into your calculation*. Once you know your number, determine how much you should be saving monthly and annually to achieve it.

2. Maximize Contributions: Contribute the maximum amount to your employer-sponsored retirement plan each year and take advantage of any employer match that is available to you. This is particularly important for women who are more likely to take time out of the workforce to care for family members. Take advantage of “catch up” rules — if you’re 50 or older — that allow you to put even more money into your retirement plan.

3. Review Your Benefits: Make sure you know the types of benefits you will be entitled to from your pension plans (from both current and past employers), as well as the Social Security Administration (ssa.gov), once you reach retirement age. Check your annual Social Security benefit statement for accuracy.

4. Cover the Long-Term: Plan for the unexpected. Be aware that Medicare, health insurance, and/or disability insurance often do not cover long term care costs (e.g., nursing home and assisted living). Learn about long-term care insurance and evaluate whether it is suitable for your situation.

5. Make a Date: Your retirement plan should evolve along with you so it’s important to evaluate it regularly. Meet with your financial advisor a minimum of once a year to reassess, and perhaps rebalance, your retirement plan in response to your changing life goals and needs.

*Inflationdata.com, 2009

About Women & Co.

Women & Co. is a financial resource program from Citi, dedicated to helping women achieve their financial goals. Women & Co. provides members with education on a vast array of financial and investing topics, which members access through womenandco.com, where members can read newsletters, listen to audio conferences, and find out about Master Class seminars in major metropolitan areas.