With unemployment expected to top 10 percent and remain high for the next few years, according to recent news reports, it is increasingly important for families and individuals to become financially fit.

Financial fitness, in part, means saving and contributing to retirement plans. Retirement saving has taken on new urgency in light of a recent report that says black and Hispanic employees are less likely than their white and Asian colleagues to contribute to their 401(k) plans, which can lead to hardship during the so-called golden years.

'In The Black: Live Faithfully, Prosper Financially; The Ultimate 9-Step Plan for Financial Fitness,' Aaron W. Smith, a financial adviser for the National Football League Players Association, and author Brenda Lane Richardson, lay out a financial blueprint for readers young and old.

"The nine action steps are designed to help you develop long term strategies to secure your financial future, from figuring out how much you'll need during retirement to keeping money flowing to meet future expenses,'' Smith writes in the introduction. "There is no unified retirement plan in the United States, so folks often wind up pulling together scraps-like our elders making quilts: a few odds and ends from this tax-deferred plan, bits and pieces of government and employee benefits, and whatever our individual efforts have managed to yield. This catch-as-catch-can approach is fine for a quilting bee, but not for our survival in the future.''

The 9-Step Plan:
1. Figure out what you really want, meaning define your value and ask yourself what's most important to keep you going in terms of tangibles and intangibles.
2. Envision your financial future, meaning plan for retirement. "Our traditional safety nets are eroding. Corporations are increasingly cutting back on pensions, while some have defaulted on their pension obligations.''
3.Work your money, meaning contribute to your 401(k), etc.
4. Quit strumming the money blues, meaning pay down debt. "Debts don't only cause humiliation; they can destroy dreams and derail lives.''
5. Put the pieces together. Learn about your social security benefits, etc.
6. View homeownership as a viable option.
7. Don't just play the market, understand it.
8. Protect your assets.
9. Enjoy the richness of your life.

'The 9-Step Plan' is a helpful guide for beginners, but it is tough to give unique advice in a field dominated by the likes of John W. Rogers and Warren Buffet. Smith, who has more than 30 years of experience in the financial services and insurance industries, is the founder and president of A.W. Smith Financial Group, Inc., a comprehensive financial planning firm in Richmond, Va. Richardson has ghostwritten several books, including 'Girl, Make Your Money Grow!', an investment guide for African-Americans.