Cindy Hounsell, 65
On a crusade since: 1989
Day job: President of WISER (Women's Institute for a Secure Retirement)
Achievement: Delivering retirement guidance to millions of women
Why she's a hero: A stewardess-turned-pension-lawyer -- whose own pension was clipped by Pan Am's failure -- Hounsell was amazed by how little some of her female clients knew about money.
"I've seen women with Ph.D.s say, 'What's a mutual fund? Where's the money go?,'" she says.
So in 1996 she launched WISER, a D.C. nonprofit that, via publications, workshops, and an army of trainers, preaches the importance of retirement planning and teaches women how to get it done.
NEXT: Teaching teens sound money skills
