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There are a number of ways to mess up your retirement plan, but some are more dangerous than others. At MarketWatch, Brett Arends lists the top 10 “retirement killers.” His list comes from an NBER research paper called “Saving Regret,” written by Axel H. Börsch-Supan, Tabea Bucher-Koenen, Michael D. Hurd, and Susann Rohwedder.
Arends explains the survey, writing:
A survey of “Saving Regret” targeted 1,600 Americans aged 60 to 79 to ask them about whether they had saved enough money — and if not, why not. The survey was conducted by researchers from the RAND Corporation and the Max Planck Institute in Munich, Germany.
The results come at a time when many Americans are struggling to save for retirement. Savers are grappling with high student-debt levels and housing costs, as well as sluggish wage growth. Many don’t have access to retirement savings vehicles through their jobs: Only about 54 million American workers put money into a 401(k) plan in 2015, the Investment Company Institute found, while 150 million were employed in that year, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
From the report he pulls the Top 10 retirement killers:
Here are the 10 biggest dangers — and the probability that each one will leave you with saving regret after age 60.
1. Having very low financial literacy (81)
2. Being struck by poor health that prevents you working (79)
3. Being laid off and spending a period unemployed (77)
4. Earning less than expected (76)
5. Getting divorced (74)
6. Making bad investments (70)
7. Being hit by major medical bills (68)
8. Overestimating Social Security (69)
9. Not making long-term plans (64)
10. Procrastinating (64)
Read more here.
Jeremy Jones, CFA
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