Those can be chilling questions if you haven't thought about them much. If you haven't given them adequate thought, that means you haven't prepared for certain inevitabilities.

Real estate investment can help you answer those questions and remove that chill factor.

Let's face it. Not only will you not want to spend your golden years working, you may not be able to, regardless of whether you would like to. You may live well up into your 80s or 90s and be unable to do the job you are doing today—or any job for that matter.

You need to lay the foundation of security and happiness for your future self. Real estate can help you do that.

This is because, as your investments age, they should be making more and more money for you with less and less work output from you. It's a sort of financial magic that will serve you especially well in later years. That's why people get into investing in the first place.

In order to prepare for your retirement in this way, however, you must examine your core. That means that you will need to make sure your needs are taken care of in such a way that you don't have to spend all of your time scrounging for pennies. You need the time to learn about real estate, and working in someone else's office for peanuts isn't going to get you that.

According to Robert Kiyosaki, author of the Rich Dad book series, you need to build a business system that can operate without you, thereby making money without working for it. Then take a portion of that money and invest it, thereby exponentially increasing your earning potential. Have you heard of making your money work for you instead of vice-versa? That is what this means.

As you grow older, you should be working less, not more. This is partly because your ability to work will decrease. But it is also because you deserve to be able to work less and enjoy your life more. Retirement isn't about being forced out of a job—or at least it shouldn't be. It should be about leaving a job to catch up with your life. To spend time doing the important things like hanging out with family and friends, engaging in hobbies that you enjoy and becoming involved in life-enriching activities such as spirituality or art. Not to mention getting enough exercise.

If you are in a job now that doesn't allow you to do these things because it doesn't pay enough or because you don't have enough time left over in the day to learn to make a change, then consider switching to a job that pays more or gives you more time. Develop a business system in which you can train people to do the work for you. Then, when that is up and running, and providing you with the money and time you need, start learning about real estate.

Put your extra money into real estate investment—but don't put in more than you can afford to lose on the learning curve. Real estate investment is a skill like any other and you will make mistakes. Don't be the farm on your first few purchases. In fact, don't bet the farm at all. Make sure you are making enough money to live on, and then enough money to invest on.

After a while you should see your money start to grow exponentially. Then you are on your way to a happy retirement.