Life itself is risky—we all know that—but there are unique hazards on the way to retirement, and even once workers leave their jobs for the so-called greener pastures that lie beyond the office, that doesn't mean they'll have an easy time of it.

Not having enough money to retire, or to pay one's medical bills in the event of declining health, can make life a misery.

So can waiting too long to start saving, and "forgetting" that you'll need money for the little luxuries that can make life so much more pleasant once you retire.

Related: 13 steps to take to plan for your future retirement

Here's a look at 10 cautionary statistics that will make you think twice about a lot of things—your level of savings, your ideal time to retire and your plans in retirement among them.

10. Seniors are the fastest-growing group of people filing for bankruptcy.

So what happens if you run out of money and can't pay your bills? You file for bankruptcy.

And that's exactly what seniors are doing, at a rate that is really shocking. In 1991, the report says, just 2.1 percent of those who filed for bankruptcy were 65 or older. But by 2007, that had already risen to 7 percent.

And while untapped retirement accounts are usually protected in bankruptcy, or at least up to a certain limit, if you have to file, your credit will be a disaster.

And considering that the feds can garnish Social Security to collect on defaulted student loans—another threat to seniors' income that's actually driving them into poverty—you could be in big trouble if you have to file when retired.

After all, if you don't have a job or a decent income stream, how will you get a loan, a credit card, a car or be able to rent a home if you have to?

9. Nearly half of seniors spend more money in retirement than they did when they were working.

We all hear the nice fairy tales about how expenses will be lower in retirement, yada, yada, yada, but when push comes to shove that's not true for everybody.

A report by the Employee Benefit Research Institute finds that 46 percent of seniors actually spend more money during their first two years of retirement than during their working years.

It is, after all, an adjustment to ratchet down on spending, especially when you suddenly have time to enjoy all those activities you yearned for when the office kept you too busy to indulge.

Oh, and by the way, 33 percent of households maintain that more-than-when-I-was-working spending pattern for a whole six years into retirement—and that doesn't bode well for the retirement account balances.

8. Health care costs will devour retirement savings.

The average—average, mind you—couple is going to fork over well over a quarter of a million dollars to pay for health care once they retire.

In fact, according to2016 figures from HealthView Services, a provider of health care cost-projection software, typical out-of-pocket costs not included in Medicare coverage, like dental and vision care, will set the average healthy 65-year-old couple back to the tune of a whopping $377,000 in retirement.

And if you're not healthy, fuggeddaboudit—chronic health conditions will drive that number skyward.

Oh, and then there are things like long-term care to consider—bet you forgot about that! (Or would like to.)—and nursing homes and assisted living facilities aren't cheap.

7. Retirement's about leisure, but most people forget to budget for it.

Would it surprise you to learn that nearly 60 percent of retirees haven't budgeted any money to spend on leisure activities during all that leisure time they now have?

According to a Merrill Lynch study, most Americans haven't included the cost of keeping themselves occupied during all those new leisure hours—forgetting to budget for such pastimes as movies or greens fees or even bicycle maintenance can be an expensive mistake, never mind for such major expenses as cruises and other travel.

Failing to account for leisure expenses will not help you in setting retirement goals or sticking to a retirement budget.

6. The fear of running out of money is bigger than retirees' fear of dying.

An Allianz study reveals that 60 percent of baby boomers have admitted to be more afraid of running out of money during retirement than they are of actually dying.

Perhaps that's not to be wondered at, considering that 30 percent of workers 55 and over haven't even started to save for all those years they'll have in retirement.

Be afraid. Be very afraid.

5. And you call that retirement?

More than a third of Americans expect to work in retirement, and not because they're afraid they'll get bored.

No, they're afraid they'll run out of money, or they already know that without a job that's what's going to happen—so they're planning on holding down a job to supplement whatever money they do have.

But it's not wise to count on that, since it may not be up to you. Employers are often reluctant to hire or even retain older workers for a variety of reasons, and age discrimination regulations notwithstanding, that won't necessarily help if you're staring down the face of a layoff notice.

If you've been counting on a job to keep you in tuna and noodles during retirement, you may be joining the ever-swelling ranks of retirees in bankruptcy instead.

4. Only 51 percent of Americans think they're saving enough to retire.

The odds are almost 50-50 that you're not among them, especially since a CreditCards.com poll finds that 65 percent of Americans are lying awake at night worrying about money.

They're certainly not confident about it, with so many other woes weighing on them about how to make what they have go farther, as indicated by Transamerica's latest retirement survey—which reveals that 49 percent of workers do not have confidence that what they're saving will be enough to see them through retirement.

3. Social Security could be your lifeline.

More than 40 percent of single seniors 65 and older are depending on Social Security to provide 90 percent of their income. Think that's scary? Remember that the government can come after your Social Security checks if you end up defaulting on student loans—whether they're yours or your grandkids'.

And if that's not nightmare-inducing enough, here's another scary fact: Social Security was only intended to replace about 40 percent of the typical worker's preretirement income, but most people have to use 70 percent of their previous earnings to pay their bills in retirement.

When you add it up, it doesn't, since money just can't stretch that far—which, the report says, explains why more than 25 million Americans aged 60 and older live at or below the poverty level.

2. A third of Americans have zero, zip, zilch retirement savings. 

Yep. Big goose eggs in the retirement corner. No money. And that means those Social Security checks really ought to be made out of elastic so they stretch far enough.

Oh, and the same GoBankingRates survey that uncovered that jolly little fact also found that among those who have saved, 56 percent are sitting on less than $10,000. That won't last long.

1. It's going to be a long, long retirement.

One out of every four 65-year-olds today, the report says, will live to be older than 90, and one out of every 10 will make it past the 95 mile marker.

Immortality? Not quite—but it's going to feel awfully long if you're flat broke for the last—oh, say, 20 years or so.