Categories: Family & Personal

Are You Making These Retirement Planning Mistakes?

September 10, 2015

Your retirement plan needn’t be 100 percent error proof to be effective. But, the more accurate you are with your retirement planning, the better off you’ll be when you’re ready to retire. In other words, creating a solid retirement plan can bring a bigger future nest egg. Check out these common retirement planning mistakes and learn how to avoid them.

Incorrectly Considering Inflation

According to How Much Do I need to Retire: Avoid These Common Planning Mistakes, a minor change in inflation can majorly impact your future nest egg. And the effect of inflation extends well beyond the cost of milk, eggs, and other everyday expenses. It can also affect the outcome of compound growth. Use an inflation calculator to view how slight shifts in inflation can affect how much you should be saving now for your future retirement.

Underestimating your Longevity

Upon what projected life span is your current retirement plan based? The life expectancy in most countries has steadily grown over the years, but many people are still planning for retirement based on outdated life expectancies.

The worst thing you would want to happen is to outlive your money and be forced to reenter the workforce in your later years. When planning for retirement, create your plan based on a current life expectancy. Also, on this topic, it’s better to overestimate rather than underestimate your longevity.

Undershooting your Future Spending

How do you want to spend your retirement and how much money will you need to fulfill those plans? Having a realistic idea of your necessary retirement income is an essential ingredient to a sound retirement plan. Details like how much debt you’ll carry into retirement, where you’ll live, how much you’ll travel and others will majorly influence how large of a nest egg you’ll need to save before retiring.

Saving Sporadically

Do you consistently contribute funds to your retirement account or are your savings efforts more sporadic? Putting money into your retirement on a regular schedule helps you build your nest egg faster and also ensures you aren’t directing the funds to other less important areas.

The best way to consistently save for retirement is to automatically direct a portion of each paycheck to your retirement account. Most employees provide this option, so check with your finance department on the specifics of setting up this type of deposit option.

Putting all Your Eggs in One Basket

How diversified are your retirement funds? How aggressive you are with your retirement savings, where you’re directing your resources and the type of retirement account you have can all influence your future nest egg. Learn more about the various types of retirement accounts, including Roth and traditional IRAs, to make the best plan based on your circumstances.

Are you worried that your retirement plan is riddled with mistakes? Don’t panic just yet. The most important thing is to keep saving for retirement. Then, learn more about common retirement planning mistakes and how to avoid or overcome them..

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