Follow these steps to be on your way.

1. Get a financial planner
Women underuse this resource, but 73 percent of those surveyed recently said working with an adviser made them savvier and 66 percent felt more confident about having money for the future.

2. Save aggressively, but invest cautiously
Risk does not always yield reward, according to the Schwab Center for investment Research. Since 1970, an aggressive investor earned an 11.2 percent average return while a moderate one got 10.5 percent. But the slightly higher return was offset by higher risk–and larger losses in the stock market–during down years. read more...