Investing in your retirement is crucial, whether you’re in your 30s or your 60s. With most retirements now lasting 25 years or more, a long-term plan is crucial.

You’ve worked hard to save money for retirement. Now you want to make sure your money keeps working for you. You need a personal investment strategy, one that will serve your unique situation: Have your post-retirement plans changed? Will you experience a shortfall in 15 years? Have your investments performed better than expected, yielding a surplus? Financially speaking, retirement is a phase of income and distribution. Unlike your working years, when you focused on saving and accumulating income, you now need to concern yourself with making your retirement savings last as a supplement to your limited income. Before locking yourself in to a particular investment plan, you must reexamine how much money you’ll need, how long you’ll need it and what you’ll need it for.

“You can’t plan to use the same strategies for managing your money in retirement as you did during your working years,” said Dale Colby of the Pennsylvania Financial Group and Walnut Street Securities in Peters Township. “You have to be much more conservative in retirement with asset allocation.” To that end, he recommends devoting a significant portion of your portfolio to guaranteed funds like annuities, government bonds (such as T-bills) and CDs. These funds earn less interest than some other investments but they also carry less risk. A smaller portion of your portfolio can be devoted to mutual funds and more aggressive investments that are intended to grow for at least 15 years. This helps ensure that you will have adequate income down the road to keep up with inflation and to cover increased costs like health care. And being willing to manage a small amount of risk in exchange for increasing your returns by as little as one percent more can mean thousands more in savings. Diversification is the key to success but it can be tricky. A trustworthy financial advisor can help guide you in managing your particular portfolio.

New retirees often take their retirement savings in one lump sum. Before you do this, however, understand that you will have to pay income tax on the money you withdraw. Rolling over your lump sum into an IRA gives you greater flexibility because you choose how to invest your money and when to withdraw it. If you’re not sure what to do with your 401K upon retirement, don’t be afraid to let it sit for a short time while you study your options. Realize, though, that the IRS requires you to begin withdrawing from your plan at age 70 1/2 or face a stiff penalty.

Annuities are becoming increasingly popular. But with so many options available, some from disreputable agents, it’s important to do your homework before you buy. With an annuity, you pay a certain amount to an insurance company, which in turn pays you a certain amount at regular intervals. You are guaranteed income for the rest of your life and your involvement in managing your investments is minimal. The many types of annuities include single and multiple premium, immediate and deferred, fixed and variable. Each has its benefits and drawbacks. A fixed annuity, for example, pays you a fixed amount of interest for a given number of years. It is a low-risk investment but also tends to be low-yield. Variable annuities invest your premium in money markets or stocks. The income you receive from a variable annuity varies according to how your investments perform. This is a riskier option that might increase your tax burden but it can also yield higher returns.

Annuities are best for younger retirees; older investors may not live long enough to fully enjoy an annuity’s benefits. Regardless of your age, beware of sales pitches that urge immediate action and sound too good to be true. Make sure that you understand all the terms of the annuity first, that the product is registered and that the sales agent is properly licensed.

There are many options for managing your finances in your retirement. By carefully investigating and weighing these choices, you can help insure that your money keeps growing for many years to come.