10 Ways To Destroy Your Retirement

The U. S. Census Bureau estimates that one in five Americans will be 65 or older by the year 2050, and none of them—or anyone for that matter—want to experience these 10 ways to destroy your retirement. Most workers dream of the day they can quit working to “enjoy” life. That’s why it’s critical to understand the importance of retirement planning, in order to properly prepare for those “golden years.”

1. Waste money. Wasting the money you earn on expensive things that you don’t really need, and probably can’t afford, is a sure way to destroy your retirement years.
2. Gamble your money away. Gamble your hard-earned money on the horses, sports, casino games, even extravagantly on Bingo, so that you become so addicted and keep losing money you can’t afford to lose will put you on the road to financial destruction in your retirement years.
3. Spend everything you earn. Don’t bother to save money for your retirement, even though living on Social Security benefits is extremely tough and will radically change your lifestyle if you don’t have enough savings, and you’ll understand what it really means to destroy your retirement when the time comes.
4. Borrow form your retirement funds. Working under the assumption that it is your money, it’s easy to feel justified in accessing your retirement fund early to pay for things you want but can’t afford. Doing so, however, greatly reduces the money you have to live on when you do retire, which ultimately destroys your retirement.
5. Fail to plan for more health insurance. Everyone knows that your health deteriorates as you age. Unexpected illnesses, surgeries, even expensive tests can quickly drain retirement funds and destroy your retirement in a heartbeat.
6. Destroying your health. One of the worst ways to destroy your retirement is to ruin your health—become dependant on alcoholic, drugs, or cigarettes; fail to eat properly; never work your mind, or exercise your body. All of these things rob you of your energy, mental abilities, and physical strength, leaving you with nothing but a wasted, and ruined retirement.
7. Underestimating the length of your life. Never assume how many years you’ll live. Medical advances are being made every day that allow people to live much longer lives than ever before. You can destroy your retirement by thinking your life will be so short that you don’t need to plan for it.
8. Spend more than you earn. Continually spending more than you earn and remaining in constant debt or filing bankruptcy will easily ruin your retirement. It doesn’t matter if you earn $30,000 or $130,000 a year, if you spend more than you earn, you’re going to destroy your retirement—guaranteed.
9. Divorce. Marriage breakups are a major cause of problems during retirement years. If the divorce is a nasty one, you can end up with little to live on, despite what you may have accumulated during your working years, and this can completely destroy the retirement you planned for.
10. Relying on false security. Job security in this day and age is a fallacy, there is no such thing. It’s better to be prepared by saving for your retirement from an early age than to wind up with nothing and destroy your retirement years.

There are many ways to destroy your retirement. Don’t take a chance that even one of them will affect you in your later years. Instead, begin now to plan for a secure retirement so that you don’t chance destroying the retirement you’re working for.

Resources:

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/facts_for_features_special_editions/013384.html

http://www.census.gov/Press-Release/www/releases/archives/population/012496.html