Living one's retirement dreams takes more planning than most people realize. Indeed, pre-retirement and post-retirement planning must become higher priorities for all Americans seeking to achieve and maintain financial security during their retired years.

A secure financial future is not created in the two or three years before we retire; it is the result of many years of earning, saving, investing, and planning. Accumulating wealth for retirement, college educations for our children, or to meet other financial goals, takes a long-term strategy, a tolerance for risk, and no small amount of patience. It also helps to be realistic and understand that our ability to save usually declines as we begin buying houses, raising families and paying college expenses. Conversely, it can increase – often dramatically – when we reach our peak earning years just before retirement. Even then, time is still on the side of those with the financial foresight to prepare.