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Tens of millions of Americans rely on Social Security checks for a substantial portion of their retirement income. Yet the outlook for this program is uncertain, due to shifting U.S. demographics. Is it true that Social Security is running out of cash? And what happens if it does?  

One of the most important financial decisions of your life happens in your early 60s, when you need to decide when to start receiving Social Security benefit payments. You have lots of options, and the difference between them could add up to hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Social Security is a key component of a retirement plan for virtually every American. And yet there's a lot of confusion and bad information out there about how this benefit payment actually works -- and what you can do to maximize it.

Planning for retirement can feel impossible if you're not sure what exactly you're working towards. This episode will induce a couple of "aha moments" as a look at retirement from a different perspective dramatically simplifies the objective.

One of the first steps in planning for a worry-free retirement is figuring out your "endgame" -- what you'll be spending money on after you stop working. A big component of many retirement budgets is healthcare, so it's important to be realistic about what your health insurance and out-of-pocket costs will be.

The first step towards a worry-free retirement: figuring out what you'd like to spend each year once you're done working. This can be a simple and straightforward process, as long as investors avoid a couple of common mistakes.