Financial Decisions That Will Haunt You in Retirement

Planning for retirement is hard enough. Don’t make it harder with poor financial decisions. Here are three that could haunt you forever in retirement.

6 Ways to Avoid Outliving Your Retirement Savings Before You Die

First, resist the urge to put your children ahead of your retirement savings. Yes, you want the best for your kids. But if you’re devoting all of your money to private schools instead of your IRAs and 401(k)s, you may find yourself broke when retirement rolls around.

Second, embrace the stock market -- even if its ups and downs scare the stuffing out of you. Since 1926, stocks have returned about 10% a year, on average. Bonds and CDs don’t come close. Gradually reduce your stock holdings as you move deeper into retirement.

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Third, don’t kid yourself that you can work forever. You might get sick or you might get downsized. Who knows? If you’re counting on a steady paycheck when you’re 65, 70 or even 75, you’re counting on income that may never materialize.

Take a look at seven more retirement decisions you could wind up regretting forever.

Browne Taylor joined Kiplinger in 2011 and was a channel editor for Kiplinger.com covering living and family finance topics. She previously worked at the Washington Post as a Web producer in the Style section and prior to that covered the Jobs, Cars and Real Estate sections. She earned a BA in journalism from Howard University in Washington, D.C. She is Director of Member Services, at the National Association of Home Builders.