Episode 9: The 5 Biggest Financial Mistakes People Make in Their 50s

Your 50s are the most important decade of your financial life. They're also the decade where the most expensive mistakes get made — often by people who feel like they're doing everything right.

In this episode, I walk through the five financial mistakes I see most often in the 5–10 years before retirement, and what to do instead.

In this episode:

▸ Waiting too long to build a retirement income plan

▸ Taking on too much (or too little) investment risk

▸ Underestimating taxes in retirement

▸ Making an uninformed Social Security decision

▸ Retiring without a healthcare cost plan

The mistakes that do the most damage in retirement usually don't happen in retirement. They happen in the decade before it, when there's still time to fix them but most people aren't looking. Waiting until 64 to build an income plan, carrying an accumulation-phase portfolio into the distribution phase, assuming taxes will be lower in retirement, claiming Social Security at 62 because it felt right, retiring at 63 with no healthcare plan until Medicare at 65 — these are the decisions that follow people for the rest of their financial lives. This episode is about identifying them while there's still a window to course correct.

Episode 9 of the Retirement Transition Series — 12 short episodes for people who are 5–10 years from retirement.

▶ Next: Episode 10 — The Retirement Income Plan

▶ Watch Episode 8 → How Should Your Portfolio Change Before Retirement?

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