What You'll Need - and What You'll Have
During your 20s, 30s and 40s, you may have put away as much as you could afford in your 401(k) and IRA, but your more immediate concerns were paying someone else: your student loan provider, your mortgage company, your children's college, etc. But once you reach your 50s, you may have finished with these types of obligations. And that gives you an opportunity to look ahead.

If you remember 1973, you know it was a difficult period for the United States. A series of events - including the Watergate scandal, the OPEC oil embargo, the Vietnam War and the resignation of Vice President Spiro Agnew - had shaken the public's morale. By November, President Richard Nixon's approval rating stood at 37 percent - and presidential approval ratings tend to track the mood of the nation. Given all this, you might think that 1973 was not a good year in which to invest in the stock market.

But you'd be wrong. From Nov. 30, 1973, to Nov. 30, 1983, the S&P 500 recorded an average annual return of 10.9 percent. So, if you had invested $10,000 in the market at the beginning of that period, it would have grown to $28,139 by the end. And over the next 20 years, from Nov. 30, 1983, to Nov. 30, 2003, the S&P 500 returned, on average, 12.8 percent a year; consequently, $10,000 invested in 1983 would have grown to $111,219 in 20 years. (Keep in mind, however, that the S & P 500 is an unmanaged index, and you cannot invest directly into it. Also, past performance is not an indication of future results.)

While there are many types of fraudulent activities floating around the Internet, one of the most common scams resembles a "pyramid scheme," by which shady operators initially appear legitimate by using money coming in from new recruits to pay off early stage investors. If you participate in such a plan, you might make a little money right away, only to be encouraged - or required - to buy a "membership" so you can boost your earnings. However, when the pyramid gets too big, it will eventually implode, because, at its heart, it is a dishonest arrangement that can never truly be funded enough to reward all investors.