Building financial security and maintaining health are consistently listed as top aging concerns for adults over 55. Most of us know creating a financial portfolio (make a plan, balance assets, make regular deposits) is important to ensure lifelong financial security.

But what about your vitality?  Do you have a plan? Have you considered what “assets” you need to support lifelong vitality?

Are you several years away from retirement and anticipating what that will mean? Do you need a career change because you want to spend your remaining working life in a job you enjoy? Are you ready to retire and considering what's next? Are you already an entrepreneur running your own business? When it's time, are you going to even want to retire? And will you be in a financial position to do so?

These questions can lead to lots of sleepless nights! But they don’t need to.

The typical retirement plan devised by a financial advisor will call for you to manage your investments in stocks, bonds and cash so that they last through your projected life span.

Back when I was working full time I occasionally fantasized of that day in the not-too-distant future when I would no longer be chained to “the job.”

In an effort to keep things simple for people who are nervous about retirement—whether they are 42 or 62—conventional planning strategies focus on how to save and invest money. "If you save X amount and invest wisely you will live happily for N years"—that is how retirement misconceptions begin.

Maintaining your financial independence throughout your life is dependent on the plans you make to create retirement income.

When you are working, you have to decide how much to put aside for your retirement savings account. You have to plan for your kids’ education, you plan for owning or renting your primary residence, and to take care of your insurance needs, plus a whole lot of other decisions.

In a world where political ideas come and go, trends surge and falter, revolutions bloom and then fade, a few foundational concepts for retirement remain true: Income is of prime importance, planning for your specific circumstances will increase your financial stability, most retirement calculators are seriously flawed, and you can lessen—but not eliminate—the burden of taxes.

In many ways, single women face the same problems as men when they consider how to retire with enough income, with one exception: They worry more.

Going through divorce is challenging on so many levels: mentally, emotionally and financially. Having a plan and support systems in place is critical in getting through each of these challenges. When you are dealing specifically with the financial realities of divorce, you may be wondering, “Will I be ok financially? Will I be able to live well after the divorce?” The answer to both of those questions can be yes—with thoughtful planning on your part.

Have you ever asked yourself, “Who’s going to take care of me when I’m old?” This is a rather modern question. For thousands of years, multiple generations have lived together making the answer to the question a foregone conclusion. In the last century, however, much of that has changed.

With so many people living solo and grown children moving away, the question of who will take care of us when we are sick, managing an injury, recovering from surgery—and even in our advanced years—needs to be asked again.