Life has thrown you some unexpected curves. You know, better than most people, that the future is uncertain at best. Even though it's hard enough to take care of your family's immediate needs some days, it's important that you make some time to think about, and plan for, your own retirement.

The National Center for Women and Retirement Research estimates that between 80 and 90 percent of ALL women will be solely responsible for their finances at some point in their lives. Without your husband's income, or his help in managing your family's finances, it's crucial that you do everything you can to prepare yourself well for retirement.

The three main questions only you can answer for your retirement are:

• At what age do you want to retire and how many years do you guess you'll need to live on retirement income?
• What standard of living do you expect when you retire? For example, do you want to travel, be able to remain in your home, give your grandchildren money for college?
• What money and resources do you have now, or will you need, to achieve those goals?

The bottom line for retirement planning is that you'll need to begin saving now and investing wisely so that when it comes time to retire you'll have the money you need to live the life you want.

The first step is to determine how much money you'll need to live on during retirement. The rule of thumb is that you'll need at least 70 percent of your working income to support you in retirement at your current standard of living. If you are planning to "upgrade" your lifestyle to a significant extent, you'll need to plan on having anywhere between 100-120 percent of your current income in retirement.

Once you've determined how much you'll need, take an inventory of what you already have. Resources include your current savings and investments, any company pension plans, your Social Security benefits (which you can get at www.ssa.gov), as well as a bottom line on assets like the value of your home.

Then it's pretty much a simple equation of A-B=C. In other words, A (how much you Assume you'll need in retirement) - B (what you already Bring to the equation) = C (how much Cash you'll need to come up with before retirement to make your dream a reality!) The first, most basic step is saving. Take a look at your monthly income and expenses to determine where you can trim a bit to save for retirement. Even if it's a matter of just saving $25 or $50 a month, that's a good start. Consider earmarking any income tax refunds or unexpected bonuses or gifts for retirement.

So where should you invest your retirement savings? The main vehicles to save and invest for retirement are 401(k) plans and IRAs.