If you're like many seniors who are approaching their planned retirement date and hoping to see their last day at work, you may worry that you might not have enough money invested to provide the post-retirement lifestyle you hope for. Some seniors are tempted to move into riskier investments in order to pump up their savings, but Walter Updegrave, senior editor of CNNMoney.com, suggests other strategies that are safer.

Updegrave warns that choosing a riskier approach in the stock market could backfire, leaving you with less money rather than more. He recommends saving aggressively rather than investing aggressively.

How to save aggressively

The amount that you can save for retirement depends entirely on your income, your expenses and how long you continue working. Updegrave's example showed how a 50-year old earning $100,000 who had accumulated approximately $200,000 by age 50, then saved an additional 20 percent of salary each year, could wind up with a nest egg of $1.3 million by age 68. This example depends on the 50-year old making catch-up contributions and making maximum contributions to both a 401(k) and an IRA account.

Updegrave says that the best time for consumers to save the maximum amount is during their 50s and 60s, when many are empty-nesters and at their peak earning years. He recommends working a few extra years for the income and savings and for postponing Social Security benefits in order to increase their size.

Reverse mortgages and retirement

If you have a decent amount of home equity, you should evaluate the benefits of a reverse mortgage, regardless of whether you want to stay in your home or move to a smaller home and perhaps a new location. The rules changed in 2009, so now a reverse mortgage can be used for a new home purchase as well as for staying in your current home.

Seniors age 62 and older should review reverse mortgage guidelines to see how much they might be able to borrow for a steady monthly income or as a lump sum distribution. If they want to downsize, they can make a large down payment for a new home purchase from the sale of their existing home, then take out a reverse mortgage at settlement so they have immediate access to their new home equity.

Ratcheting up your savings and looking into the pros and cons of reverse mortgages are two ways to improve your retirement outlook.