5 Money Mindsets That Could Hurt Your Retirement

3. Thinking you’re invincible. The solution seems simple for many who haven’t saved enough for retirement: just work longer. But that assumes any number of things can’t and won’t go wrong, including a pink slip, illness, or injury. If the pandemic has taught us anything, it’s that the world is unpredictable. Who would’ve thought that so many governments around the world would actually force businesses to shut down?

My friend owns a couple of bars and made a small fortune catering to tourists in a city nearby before the pandemic hit. Money problems were far from his mind just a couple of years ago. But he told me he lost over $400,000 last year because bars are deemed high risk and were forced to close for much of the year. And even when they were allowed to open, they were not allowed to have more than a handful of customers at a time. On top of that, they had to pay a boatload on cleaning supplies and masks for all their workers.

He’s been fighting for his survival for months, but it could be worst. He can’t even imagine how tough it has been for his employees who he’s had to let go, re-hire, just to let go again. Life is unpredictable. Hope for the best but plan for the worst—so make sure you can retire even if the date of your retirement is not entirely under your control.

4. Tapping your retirement for emergencies. Sometimes crises arise and your emergency fund isn’t enough to cover the expenses. It can be tempting to look at all the lovely cash sitting in your retirement accounts and think about how it could solve your crisis. But not only is this a dangerous precedent to start—you never want to view your retirement as a cash cow you can tap anytime you want—but you’ll also be hit with any number of penalties for using the money early and for anything other than retirement. Then there are the taxes you’ll pay on top of that. You could easily lose half or more by taking money out prematurely. Pretend that money isn’t there until you need it, and find other ways to deal with financial emergencies now.

5. Underestimating the destructive power of inflation . Most people understand that inflation wreaks havoc on any budget, but few people plan for it. Just look at those around you who’ve retired. Have you noticed that many of them start out living pretty comfortably and then they slowly become more and more frugal? Why do you think that is? When you plan for your golden years, it’s simply not enough to assume that your spending will stay the same forever. If you want to maintain your quality of life, it’s mighty important to not only plan for a sustainable withdraw but an ever-increasing one.