Yes, women do need to pay more attention to retirement planning than men do (although neither should completely ignore it). Women usually can expect to receive less Social Security benefits than men, because their lifetime earnings were often lower. A woman who is healthy at age 65 can also expect to live another 23 years, on average, to about age 88. As a result, they will need to have sufficient retirement savings set aside to make up the difference.

Basically, you cannot have too much retirement savings. There are many different approaches you may want to take. For example, you may want to buy a home and plan to have it paid off by the time you retire. This will keep your retirement living expenses low, and will give you an asset you can eventually sell.

You may want to get long-term care insurance, that will help pay for additional living expenses if you need to move into an assisted living facility, or need to be under the care of a home healthcare aide.

You will want to have either a traditional IRA or a Roth IRA. You may want to contribute to a 40lK at your job, or to another pension plan. If your pension plan administrator gives you the opportunity to meet with their financial advisors periodically, take them up on their offer. They will be able to give you specific information about how much money you should save in order to maintain your life style, or at least a life style that would be acceptable to you.