Episode 359: Greatest Retirement Mistake

While on the golf course with his son, David McKnight got asked a question, by a couple of men in their early 70s, every pre-retiree and retiree wonders at some point: “What’s the biggest mistake people make when preparing for retirement?” Many people spend their entire career saving money in tax-deferred accounts like 401(k)s and IRAs. As that balance grows larger every year, it’s easy to get the illusion that all that money belongs to you, while a larger portion actually belongs to the IRS.  How much of that sum you ultimately get to keep depends on what tax rates happen to be in the year you take that money out. David believes that the #1 mistake you can make in retirement is failing to plan for taxes. Remember: if you arrive in retirement with the vast majority of your wealth sitting in tax-affirmed accounts, you’ve put yourself in a position where the government gets to decide what percentage of your money you actually get to keep. Keep deferring, as you know you’ll be in a lower...