Finding affordable, comfortable and safe housing is an important component of planning for your future, because housing costs are usually the largest and most expensive portion of a family's budget.

In fact, women retirees who are widowed, divorced or have never married devote almost 40 percent of their income to housing. To successfully plan for your housing needs, it should be done long before you actually retire. Your future happiness, contentment, and peace of mind will depend upon the decisions you do or do not make now.

Rather than waiting to move to a new location after you retire, you may wish to consider moving to your ideal location while you are still working. Whether you stay in the same place or move, you may never find the perfect spot, but whatever you do will be more successful if you take time to think, research, and plan ahead.

Retirement years will be different from working years. There will be new groups to enjoy and new activities in which to participate on your own schedule. But there will be other lifestyle changes, too. Some may include illness and disability. When you are young, it is hard to imagine that as you age you may not have the energy and strength to do things that you now take for granted. With thoughtful planning, your housing decisions will adjust to your changing needs.