If you throw change in a coffee can at home, you’ve got an investment strategy. But dollars to doughnuts, you have far better plans and much smarter places for your money.
Maybe you’re already on the high road to financial security. If so, fabulous! But since we’re all at different stages in our savings cycles, here are some basic rules to get everyone looking forward to retirement as much as you.

Start with your eyes wide open. Although men and women share many of the same basic financial goals, women face more challenges at meeting them. For one, we receive lower Social Security payments than men due to time away from the workplace to care for children or elderly parents, among other reasons. As a result, we need more savings to bridge the gap. Secondly, we just plain live longer than men, forcing us to stretch our savings further to cover healthcare bills and outlast inflation’s eroding effects. For these reasons, it’s especially important for women to build a rock-solid financial plan and stick with it. Otherwise, we face the possibility of outliving our money and losing our independence — a scary scenario that’s more real than you might think.

Does your strategy need repair? Maybe not. But even if you think your plan is free of dents, holes and rust, take another look with fresh eyes, even if those eyes reside in the head of a financial advisor. Many of us dabble in market research and take pride in investing for ourselves, without ever bouncing our ideas off a pro. This sure would’ve helped do-it-yourself investors whose recent strategy for early retirement was to overload on tech stocks. Unfortunately, many of these folks now need to work 10 or more years just to retire on time. Bottom line: Take an honest look at your current financial situation (i.e., debts, taxes, insurance, expected Social Security payments) and determine how much you’ll need at retirement to maintain your current standard of living (75 percent of your pre-retirement income is the general rule of thumb). By carefully taking inventory and setting financial goals, you’re savings strategy is far less likely to spring a leak.

Keep the buzzards at bay. Every woman’s first strategy should be this: Lose that credit card debt! Those looming interest rates will prey upon you until you cage your plastic spending and slice and dice those credit cards. The sooner you do so, the sooner you start earning interest instead of paying it.

Get it growing. Without nasty credit card payments circling you, vow to steer more money into investments … pronto! Don’t wait for a windfall; any amount will do. Even if you earn a modest income, sock away as much as you can, as soon as you can. The more time you give your money to earn interest and keep compounding over time, the better your chances of becoming financial secure by retirement. But for every decade you delay, you’ll need to double the percentage of earnings you must save to meet your goals. So the 5 percent of pay you save in your 20s becomes 10 percent in your 30s, 20 percent in your 40s and so on. Wait too long and you’ll need to save nearly every cent you earn — and what fun is that?

Let your blood pressure be your guide. Say you’ve resolved to start saving more aggressively for retirement. Keep in mind that you should also feel comfortable getting there (otherwise, worry may lop off some of your golden years). That means building a portfolio that suits your investment personality and matches your time horizon. Stocks make you squeamish? Even so, if you’re years from retiring, you’ll need growth stocks in your portfolio to build up adequate savings. Historically, stocks have dipped and dived, even plunged, but have still produced the highest returns. More conservative bond and money market investments are less volatile — making them the best choice for soon-to-be retirees — but they’re also less likely to provide financial security if you rely on them too heavily, for too long. So, if you’re among the young and nervous, take a deep breath and a long-term view — and you’ll be less likely to freak out when the market takes a downturn.

Financial Pepto-Bismol®. By spreading your money across stocks, bonds and money markets — or diversifying — you help reduce the effects more aggressive investments may have on your portfolio … and your stomach. Mutual funds help you diversify even further by holding stocks or bonds from dozens of different companies in various industries, both in the U.S. and abroad. Achieving that kind of diversification on your own is tough, not to mention time-consuming and expensive.

Take advantage of tax-advantaged accounts. Investment opportunities abound, for better or worse. But the best opportunity could be right under your nose. If you participate in a company retirement plan like a 401(k), be sure to max out your contributions before exploring other options. The same goes for other tax-advantaged plans for sole proprietors and small-business owners who want to avoid the high expenses and complex record-keeping of a 401(k). Be sure to take Individual Retirement Account (IRA) contributions right up to the limit, too. (Financial advisors, mutual fund companies, retirement Web sites, among others, can provide information on all the latest limits.) In most cases, the money you pump into tax-advantaged accounts is not taxed going in, only when you’re eligible to withdraw it at a later date. And since more of your money starts earning interest from the get-go, the more fun money you may get to play with down the line.

Hang onto your assets! None of us knows if our road to retirement will be riddled with speed bumps and potholes. Hopefully, we’ll all just get jostled around a bit. But we should at least prepare for the rough spots by making sure we have ample insurance coverage, including:

• Major medical insurance that pays for all types of major (or catastrophic) illnesses and major expenses.
• Long-term disability insurance to ensure an income should a major disability prevent you from working.
• Term life insurance to provide a percentage of your income (however much you choose) to those who depend upon it.
• Enough liability insurance on your home and car to protect your assets from lawsuits. If you own a business with sizeable assets, consider professional liability insurance, too.
• A simple will to pass along your possessions to loved ones and a living trust to keep non-retirement plan assets from landing in the open, eager hands of probate lawyers.

The basic rules of investing may seem like no-brainers. Yet many of us don’t rush to apply them, thinking there’s still plenty of time to stash away a healthy supply of retirement dollars. But time passes in a blink and, as preachy as it sounds, it really is never too early to start saving. It’s also never too late; just a little harder. Either way, by saving as much as you can, you’re that much closer to achieving the financial freedom you so rightly deserve — especially after years of working your tail off.

Maureen Corrigan independently writes for a variety of industries including finance, healthcare and entertainment. You can contact her at mcorrigan@dropofink.com.