5 Pre-retirement Mistakes All of You Will Make

Many retirees find themselves with insufficient funds in their golden years, often having to compromise on their lifestyle to avoid outliving their retirement savings. They struggle to make ends meet instead of pursuing lifelong passions. These instances are often the result of improper retirement planning and some common pre-retirement mistakes. If you don’t wish to be in the same boat, you must avoid the 5 common pre-retirement mistakes we have highlighted in this article.

• Failing to identify your goals and draft a sound retirement plan are common pre-retirement mistakes.
• Deprioritising emergency savings and investing in the wrong places can compromise your retirement life.
• Estimating retirement costs without inflation can leave you with an insufficient corpus.

Here’s a list of 5 common pre-retirement mistakes that can derail your golden years:

Absence of a solid retirement plan

You have a steady flow of income today because you are working. But what happens once you reach retirement and cannot work any more? A well-rounded retirement plan helps you plan this phase in advance. It allows you to save for the future without compromising your present. However, most people tend to shelve retirement planning until the late 40s and early 50s. Given the rapid pace and demands of your present, this is a common pre-retirement mistake you can easily commit. To avoid this mistake, you need to draft a solid retirement plan way ahead of time. Make sure your plan has prudent investments that are not just return-oriented but also tax-efficient. Again, the earlier you start, the better it is.

Failing to outline clear and specific goals

Another common pre-retirement mistake is failing to outline clear and specific goals. In simple words, this translates to investing without having clear goals and strategy. Investors often overlook the value of goals in their investment decisions and approaches. They invest to earn returns but don’t have end goals assigned to those returns. Investing without clear goals results in improper fund management. So, if you are planning investments for retirement, ensure that your goal is as clear and definite as possible. For instance, if you are a 25-year-old investor planning for retirement, set a clear goal like, ‘I have to build a corpus of Rs. 3 crores in the next 30 years to retire early’. This will help you plan for your retirement needs and understand how you can fulfil the goal. Having specific goals in place allows you to analyse your portfolio periodically and make necessary adjustments.

Deprioritising an emergency fund

We cannot overstress the importance of having a healthy emergency corpus stashed away in liquid instruments. While the vitality of a rainy day fund has been discussed vastly in personal finance literature, most people tend to overlook it. Deprioritising your emergency fund can be one of the gravest pre-retirement mistakes you can make. In the absence of a contingency corpus, you may have to dip into your retirement savings and investments to meet urgent cash requirements. Alternatively, you may have to rely on credit cards, which can increase your debt burden. All this can potentially derail your retirement plan, not to mention also set you back by a few years. Instead, you should start emergency planning today by initiating a contingency fund. Review your monthly expenses and start contributing small amounts every month to build a good emergency corpus over time. Remember that your emergency fund must have enough to cover at least 6-9 months of living expenses.

Failing to anticipate post-retirement expenses

This is yet another common pre-retirement mistake that can cost you dearly. While you can still tackle the present with regular income inflows, managing expenses without a steady income in your post-retirement years becomes challenging. Once you retire, you will have various expenses, including food, rent, utilities, travel, health care, medicines, etc. You need to account for these expenses while planning for the golden years. Anticipating these costs accurately requires factoring in inflation. Inflation is the general rise in the cost of commodities and services in the economy over a period of time. Most retirement planners consider the present costs of products instead of evaluating their (higher) future prices. Consequently, they find themselves with inadequate retirement funds that cannot sustain them throughout their retirement years. Therefore, anticipating costs accurately is the first step to preserving your lifestyle and standard of living in your golden years. If you are looking for a safe investment option, you can consider fixed deposit. They offer guaranteed returns and a fixed interest rate throughout your investment tenure.

Investing in the wrong places

Investing is the backbone of retirement planning since savings only take you so far. With no paycheck to fall back on, your life drastically changes in the retired years. To maintain financial stability and independence, you must plan early with the right investments. Most investors make the common mistake of either becoming too conservative in the early years or too risky in the later ones. Starting with high-risk equity investments early can be prudent if your retirement years are still a couple of decades away. However, as you get closer to retirement, it’s best to switch to more conservative options like FDs and debt funds to preserve your gains from sudden market downturns. Remember, an overly conservative approach early will compromise inflation-beating returns and may leave you with insufficient retirement funds. You can consider investing Bajaj Finance Fixed Deposit. With a top-tier AAA rating from financial agencies like CRISIL and ICRA, they offer one of the highest returns, up to 8.85% p.a.

From the common pre-retirement mistakes listed above, it is clear that the gravest misstep you can take is failing to plan. All these pre-retirement mistakes can easily be avoided with early and sound planning. Additionally, failing to consider the life you want post-retirement and the cash flow you require can skew your judgement. The easiest way to side-step these common pre-retirement mistakes is to diligently review your goals and start planning.