Retirement can be tricky to navigate in the most cash-saving way.
You’ve worked long and hard for those savings, and you MUST make sure those funds last for as long as you need them.
But there are 3 BIG mistakes that a lot of retirees make…
These mistakes drain bank accounts faster than anything, and you must make sure you’re not making them.
Retirement Mistake #1: Stop paying for your children’s school loans
For many Americans, a huge chunk of their funds is ripped away when they continue paying for their children’s education.
I understand that you want to do anything and everything you can for your children, but sacrificing years, decades, or your entire retirement savings in order to pay off their student loans is NOT a good trade.
Figure out what you can handle and set specific boundaries for your children when they are preparing for college.
There are many different programs that can help them pay for school themselves. You should also consider the current forbearance situation and see how that helps you.
On top of that, going to a 2-year community college before 2 years at a university can save tens to hundreds of thousands. If they’ve already gone through college, THEY should be the ones paying those loans off. They went to school to get a good job, and you’re simply babying them by helping them pay those loans off.
And that leads me to mistake #2…
Retirement Mistake #2: Your bank account is not a free-for-all
Another problem many retirees face is their children having a hand in the cookie jar, and in this case, the cookie jar is YOUR bank account.
I’ve heard too many horror stories of elderly people having their entire retirements (which were perfectly set up at one point) completely drained because they couldn’t cut their kids off.
No matter the situation, those people felt the need to pay their kid’s way out of trouble.
So, this mistake is twofold:
1. How will your children learn to be financially responsible if they’re always bailed out by you any time they get in a bind? Cutting them off can be a great thing in the grand scheme.
2. Closing the vault doors can mean securing your own future, meaning you won’t need to eventually depend on your children to keep you afloat.
Retirement Mistake #3: Overpaying into life insurance
A failure on the part of many people who enter retirement is not evaluating how they can change their life insurance policies.
At that age, there’s a very good chance that you can and should be cutting back significantly on what you’re paying into life insurance. That alone can save you tens of thousands or more throughout your retirement years.
Beyond those three retirement mistakes, also consider your long-term care policy.
Don’t feel like you need to take an ‘all or nothing’ approach. As with just about anything, you’ll want to have certain things more than others as it pertains to your long-term care policy.
Take time to figure that out, and budget accordingly.
When you do all the above, you’ll see how far that saved money can actually go and you’ll avoid ruining your golden years.
