“That’s one big trap, forgoing growth due to risk.” That is how Los Angeles planner Al Faber describes one of the quieter money habits that catch people in their 50s and beyond. He has seen people keep savings parked in government funds and cash alternatives for 20-plus years.
Faber is one of five financial planners quoted in an AARP roundup of retirement missteps, and his is only one of six mistakes on the list. They run from skipping extra 401(k) contributions to pausing retirement saving so a grown child can make rent. Each comes with a number or a name attached, and a few of them are easier to fix than they sound.
The Planners and the Numbers Behind the List
The list comes from an AARP article by Martha C. White published in July 2026. It quotes Sheri Conklin of Conklin Financial Planning in Thornton, Colorado, Jean Keener of Keener Financial Planning in Keller, Texas, Matteo Hoch of Bird Spring Financial in Las Vegas, Faber of DIWY Financial Planning and Gordon Achtermann of Silverstone Financial in Annandale, Virginia. For readers who want the emotional side of the same topic, a recent post on money regrets many older Americans wish they could undo pairs well with this one, and so does the roundup of common regrets in adulthood.
A second list, a Yahoo Finance piece on habits after 60 that quietly drain money, adds two more traps: having no written financial plan and mishandling required minimum distributions. That article cites Investopedia in saying half of Americans have no written plan.
Mistakes 1 and 2: Overlooking Care Costs and Overloading Tax-Deferred Accounts
1. Not preparing for long-term care costs. Conklin told AARP that long-term care is “not on the radar” for many clients. AARP puts the average end-of-life nursing home stay at nearly 14 months, at nearly $10,000 a month, and says long-term care insurance averages $2,080 a year for a 55-year-old couple, citing 2025 data from the American Association for Long-Term Care Insurance. Related reading on what many families wish they had covered sits in this piece on gaps most senior citizens wish they had covered.
2. Keeping all savings in tax-deferred accounts. Keener said people “will max out these plans” and that “sometimes that ends up being a mistake.” Required minimum distributions begin at age 75 for people born in 1960 or later, according to AARP, and the Plan Sponsor Council of America reports that more than 95 percent of 401(k) plans offer a Roth option. Keener’s point, as AARP frames it, is that filling every tax-deferred plan to the limit is not automatically the right move. Some of the older generation’s habits on this front are collected in boomer habits that are making a comeback.
Mistakes 3 and 4: Leaving Catch-Up Money Unused and Playing It Too Safe
3. Not using catch-up contributions. Hoch pointed to the extra room that opens at 50. The Internal Revenue Service lists the 2026 numbers: a $24,500 401(k) limit, an $8,000 catch-up for workers 50 and older, and a $1,100 IRA catch-up on top of a $7,500 IRA limit. Workers 60 to 63 get a higher $11,250 catch-up, a change covered in this explainer on 401(k) catch-up money for ages 60 to 63. AARP adds that workers who earned over $150,000 in 2025 must make catch-ups into a Roth account.
4. Investing too conservatively. Faber’s warning opens this article, and Achtermann adds that fear should not keep savers out of the stock market. Achtermann recommends working with a financial adviser to build a portfolio that fits a person’s risk tolerance and goals. A related look at what financial pros say keeps repeating in retirement shows the same theme, and anyone planning a downsized retirement lifestyle might compare it with the benefits of RV living or with small ways to cut costs, such as skipping the checked-bag fee on holiday trips.
Mistakes 5 and 6: Claiming Social Security Early and Putting Adult Children First
5. Claiming Social Security too early. AARP cites a 2025 Schroders survey finding that 44 percent of non-retired people plan to claim before full retirement age, which is 67 for people born in 1960 or later. Claiming early can cut benefits by as much as 30 percent, AARP says. The Social Security Administration states that benefits rise 2/3 of 1 percent for every month claiming is delayed past full retirement age, a rate of 8 percent a year that stops at age 70, which adds up to an extra 24 percent by 70.
6. Pausing retirement saving to support adult children. Keener told AARP that the impulse is understandable but that cutting contributions to help a grown child with rent or car insurance can carry long-term consequences. She suggests setting a stop date for ongoing support. Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies research cited by AARP found nearly 60 percent of workers retire earlier than planned, often because of layoffs, health crises or caregiving duties.
Taken together, the six mistakes share a thread: most can be adjusted with a written plan and a conversation with a planner well before retirement starts.
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This article was produced with AI assistance and edited for accuracy against the sources linked above.
Image: stevepb – CC0/Wikimedia Commons
