Financial Experts: 10 Retirement Mistakes Boomers Make (But You Don’t Have To)
Written by
Jordan Rosenfeld
Edited by
Joe Evans
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A record number of baby boomers, as many as 4.1 million, will reach the age of 65 this year and begin their transition to retirement soon thereafter. It is often known as the “silver tsunami.”
While there is a lot of financial advice out there on retirement, it can feel daunting to know the right money moves to financially secure your golden years. Unfortunately, many boomers find out the hard way that they haven’t done what they needed to do at this late stage of the game.
Financial experts explain some common mistakes boomers make in retirement, so you don’t have to.
Not Maxing Out Pre-Tax Accounts
Maya Sudhakaran, head of growth and acquisition at investing app Plynk, has seen that many boomers don’t necessarily max out pre-tax vehicles such as 401(k)s and IRAs.
“One of the biggest gifts that employment can give you is access to these pre-tax accounts,” she said. “You should really be thinking about maxing [them] out, especially if there’s an employer match.”
Even without an employer match, it’s important to put in the maximum amount, she said. “The sooner you start doing it, the more time it has to compound and become a good chunk of change for you by the time you retire.”
Anyone over 50 years old is also able to contribute an additional $7,500 per year to a 401(k) and $1,000 more to an IRA.
Sudhakaran said, “You’d be surprised at how people don’t even think about that avenue to start off with.”
Not Forecasting Your Retirement Financial Needs
Some boomers underestimate the costs of retirement by not taking a “holistic view,” Sudhakaran said. “I think it’s important to develop a budget that outlines the expenses each year during retirement.”
She finds that people forget that even if they have paid off their mortgages, there are monthly maintenance costs and property taxes to consider.
Another big expense boomers fail to fully consider is healthcare, she said.
“Are you covered once you retire because you’re no longer on your employer’s healthcare plan? Are you getting Medicare or Medicaid? Do you have access to private healthcare? These are all costs that add up.”
Not Taking Your Distributions Properly
After all of those years of saving, retirement is the time when you finally get to take distributions from your retirement accounts. However, you have to be strategic about it, Sudhakaran said.
“Even when you are ready to take distributions from your accounts, it’s important to keep in mind that those funds are still invested,” she said. “And so you should be smart about whether you are withdrawing when the markets are up or down.”
This necessitates the importance of an emergency fund because it’s important to have easily accessible money that is liquid if you need to pay your bills immediately and you don’t have access to your other retirement funds, she said.
Leaving Old Retirement Accounts Untouched
Another mistake Sudhakaran sees is people leaving old retirement plans untouched.
“People change jobs all the time,” she said. “You probably have like four employers in your career before you retire. Chances are your 401(k)s are lying across the different employers.”
Not Adjusting Your Risk Level
Many people have a much higher risk tolerance in their investment portfolios when they are younger and still have a longer period to weather the ups and downs of the market. However, by the time they retire, Sudhakaran said, some people forget to reduce the risk level in their portfolios.
“Take an active mindset when it comes to consolidation and being present when you think about what the holistic view of your assets are, and that’ll set you up for a strong retirement.”
Not Utilizing a Money Market Savings
Another mistake she has seen boomers make is overlooking money market funds as a way to earn interest on their liquid savings.
“These are funds which at the moment are paying anywhere from 4.75% to over 5% just to have your cash sitting in that account,” she said. “So you are not actively invested, but you are getting money back just for that money sitting in a money market account. That’s very important to keep in mind because you have to keep up with inflation at some level.”
Withdrawing Too Much Too Soon
According to Miklos Ringbauer, a CPA with the accounting firm MiklosCPA, another mistake boomers make is to spend too much of their retirement nest egg too soon.
“People think that the money that’s in the bank account or a retirement account seems huge, and [they] assume that it’ll last forever,” he said.
The temptation to spend can be pressing, but you have to resist it and learn to live on a budget.
Another outcome of withdrawing too much too soon is that you may dip too much into the principle of your retirement, which can also affect how your income is taxed.
“Withdrawing too much can cause taxable events and put [you] into a different tax bracket,” Ringbauer said, “and hurt even more than making the appropriate adjustments at the very beginning and getting used to that.”
Listening to Financial Misinformation
A concerning trend Ringbauer has begun to see is retirees listening to misinformation and not wanting to hear their financial advisors’ words of caution.
He recently saw a retiree cash out retirement to make an investment that “promised” to double the money. It can be devastating if these types of investments aren’t sound.
Relying on the Market To Stay the Same
It’s important to be prepared for financial hardship in retirement, Ringbauer said. As people who retired around the economic crash of 2008 and 2009 know, the market does not always stay stable.
“And what must go up has to come down at some point,” he said. “Sometimes there are good times and sometimes there are bad times, and we forget that we have to live through all of them.”
Taking Social Security Too Early
A common mistake boomers make is to start dipping into their Social Security too early, Ringbauer said. If you take Social Security at the earliest age of 62, you make about 30% less than if you would have waited until 67.
“So the longer a taxpayer can avoid Social Security because of their other sources of income is the most suitable,” he said. “People forget that up to 85% of your Social Security can be a taxable income, depending on the composition of your sources of income at any given year.”
To make your retirement financially successful, consult with a financial advisor before you make any big moves, and be prepared for market fluctuations as well as changes in your financial needs.
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