- Not Planning with your life expectancy in mind
- Use data to get a sense of what to expect. Try a life expectancy calculator to get an estimate. It takes about a minute.
- Not being smart about Social Security
- If your life expectancy is above average and you don’t need the money right away, you should probably delay claiming as long as possible (up to 70), especially in this interest rate environment.
- Not having an estate or a will
- This is too easy and inexpensive not to do it right now. Try Willing or Legal Zoom for a free or low cost will.
- Taking a lump sum for your pension without analyzing the data
- Make sure you run the math. How much could you earn by buying an income annuity with the amount from a lump sum? If you are in good health and the private market payouts are lower, why not keep the pension income stream going?
- Focusing on assets over income
- Make sure your advisor is using software to model different approaches.