A 20-Step Guide to a Horrible Retirement

Retirement is an important milestone. And the closer you get to that moment, the more information keeps piling up.

But in the end, who needs it? You can make your own decisions, right? Well, here’s 20 ways you could ignore all the specialists’ advice and say goodbye to retiring in full financial glory:

1. Continue seeing retirement as a distant event and don’t act on it now. You’ll do something when the time comes.
2. Don’t save when you’re young, wait until you’re 50. It seems ok to wait until then because you can save in employer plans as well as IRAs.
3. Keep thinking you will be able to work and earn money until you’re 75 or more.
4. Live the moment and don’t think about any debts until it’s time to pay them when you retire.
5. Make investments without consulting a financial specialist. Just pick the ones you think work best for you.
6. Disregard any available retirement planning tools, they’re a waste of time anyway.
7. Why put your money into 401(k), when there are plenty of other ways to use them?
8. Stay consistent and don’t change the investments you had at age 25 just because you’ve reached age 60.
9. Grab your Social Security at age 62, even if you don’t need it. You worked hard for that money.
10. Don’t take the Roth into consideration, keep only tax-deductible accounts.
11. Life insurance? You don’t need one, you’re as healthy and strong as an ox. Your family does not need to benefit from your 401(k) or IRA.
12. Don’t make your savings too accessible. After all, emergencies don’t happen that often. Income taxes and possible tax penalties? Worst-case scenarios.
13. You know spending drastically declines in retirement. If you have a clear idea of the things you spend money on and the situation looks pretty grim, whatever you do, just don’t tell your spouse!
14. Why keep that long-term policy you purchased a long time ago? You never got to use it so what makes you so sure you will ever need it? There are far more important things to use that premium refunds on.
15. Don’t worry about 401(k) loans, they’re easy to get. If you want an RV or a boat, just buy it. You’ve worked hard so you deserve to accomplish your dream.
16. Trust your employer’s stock and invest as much as you can. You know it will always be a profitable company, so why not cash in on that?
17. Inflation is low so why worry about it? This is especially valid in retirement. It won’t affect your golden years.
18. Compounding? What’s that and why are you wasting your time listening to people talking about it?
19. When the stock market drops, don’t just sit around doing nothing. Shift your money out of stocks into safer bonds.
20. Did you manage to save up some money for your retirement? That’s no reason not to help your children should they need any financial support from time to time.