It’s not fair, but it’s true: Financially healthy retirement is more difficult for women to achieve than it is for men. If you’re married, there is at least some security and comfort in being part of a team that is planning to retire together. If you are divorcing, though, you’ll be solely responsible for your own financial well-being into your later years. For you, the financial challenges posed by retirement are both multiplied and magnified.

Is retirement too daunting even to contemplate? Should you resign yourself to financial dire straits in your future, hoping someone else will take care of you? Absolutely not. Planting your head in the sand is the biggest mistake you could make.