5 Retirement Mistakes to Avoid – Drifting Off Course

A successful retirement is an attainable goal. It takes diligence, discipline, and some creativity.

We, at One Degree Advisors, have helped hundreds of families prepare, transition, and live successfully.

We have seen families do retirement right, and unfortunately, we have seen people make serious mistakes too. While mistakes in life and finance are inevitable, we want to help you avoid the big ones.

5 Retirement Mistakes to Avoid: Mistake #5 Drifting Off Course

Unlike bowling, retirement doesn’t come with bumper guardrails. If you don’t know where you are going and how to navigate changes, you can end up with a very unsuccessful retirement in the gutter.

Alex Okugawa 0:00
Unlike bowling, retirement doesn’t come with bumper guard-rails. If you don’t know where you’re going or how to navigate the changes, you can end up with a very unsuccessful retirement in the gutter.

Alex Okugawa 0:22
All right, Anthony. So we’re in our series, 5 Retirement Mistakes to Avoid. And of course, today we’re on Mistake number five, which is “Drifting Off Course”. And the problem with drifting off course, is it doesn’t have to be big changes, it can be the small little incremental changes over time that really have a big impact. So this can be things like tax law updates, it can be things like your life, and your goals and your overall objectives changing to and through retirement.

Anthony Saffer 0:47
Yeah, reminds me of when my friends and I used to hike in the eastern Sierras, we’d get deep into the wilderness. And obviously trying to get to where we were, if we would drift off the trail, we would lose precious resources like time, daylight, energy, and it’s a lot like retirement. If we do not stay on track, we can lose that time and money and create an unsustainable retirement.

Alex Okugawa 1:06
Exactly where our landmarks and do we have to make any adjustments to the changing landscape. I mean, a good example of this is the tax tax cuts and jobs act that was passed. And that really changed how retirees took itemized deductions in many cases,

Anthony Saffer 1:20
Yeah, as an example, we’ve used the strategy quite a bit and we’ve talked about it qualified charitable distributions to give to charity out of your retirement accounts. And with one particular client, they were writing checks, they were very generous and simply by reallocating where they were giving from ended up saving them about $3,000. Every year going forward.

Alex Okugawa 1:39
That’s $3,000 in your pocket. That’s awesome. But here’s another example. I mean, it doesn’t just have to be tax law changes, it could be things in your specific life. So let’s say you entered into retirement and your goal all along the way was to pay off your mortgage in retirement. And once that mortgage got paid off, you’d lower your portfolio withdrawals once you didn’t have that mortgage payment anymore. But then once the extra cash flow started coming in, it felt really nice. So then you said, “Do I need to lower my portfolio withdrawals?” And you don’t know if that’s a good or bad idea, right? Is it gonna throw my retirement off? Unless you’re constantly evaluating your situation. And so this is why we say financial planning is a process. It’s not a one time event.

Anthony Saffer 2:20
Yeah, it’s definitely a process. And that’s what helps with decision making. People often ask us how we get our name of One Degree Advisors, and it’s simply about this idea that staying on track is really important. If you’re flying from Los Angeles across the world to Sydney, Australia. If you’re one degree off course, you’ll land in the ocean instead of where you’re trying to go.

Alex Okugawa 2:39
Absolutely. And so that’s why we’ve written our guide 5 Retirement Mistakes to Avoid because the truth is, we believe that you can have a successful retirement following these basic principles and guidelines.

Anthony Saffer 2:50
he mistake of drifting off course is easily overcome with recognition and the proper planning.

Alex Okugawa 2:55
Absolutely. So we will link to our website where you can download our complimentary guide 5 Retirement Mistakes to Avoid today.

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This does not constitute an investment recommendation. Investing involves risk. Past performance is no guarantee of future results. Consult your financial advisor for what is appropriate for you. Disclosures: https://onedegreeadvisors.com/solutions/#disclosures