We spend a lot of time thinking about what can impact someone’s retirement.
Most people are focused on the risks associated with the market crashing, or Brexit, or Trump getting elected… or any other number of factors well outside of their control.
In reality the biggest risks lie in whether you have a plan, and whether you stick to it.
These are some of the main dangers that can stop you having the retirement you want.
1. No clear goals.Like anything with retirement planning it’s hard to get motivated to make a change without a clear idea of what you’re trying to achieve.What puts a lot of people off is trying to imagine life in 5, 10, or even 15 years which is understandable.Setting goals isn’t necessarily about having to decide now what you want retirement to look like, or even when you want to retire.The main reason is to give you something to aim towards when coming up with a plan, and to then keep you motivated to make the changes that will allow these goals to be met.2. Inertia.Most often, this is caused by information overload, where you become overwhelmed by too much information and don’t do anything.Having too many choices and decisions to make means we will do nothing which tends to cause problems in a lot of aspects of our life.It’s pertinent to remember that not deciding is still a decision.3. Focusing on the wrong things.When it comes to retirement planning most people think their biggest threats lie in what might happen in the distant and foggy future e.g. market volatility or governments changing legislation.What we tend to find though, is the biggest threats lie in what doesn’t happen e.g. not saving enough each month or failing to making the best decision about where to invest.Working through a retirement plan with these three dangers in mind doesn’t necessarily guarantee you will reach your goals, but it will help you get the best outcome possible.And at the end of the day the only way to win the game is to focus on the moves available to you.Written by Dallas Davison.
