The 6 biggest retirement mistakes, and 1 defense

One of the biggest retirement mistakes you can make is not realizing what you don’t know.

I regularly hear from people in or near retirement who misunderstand how Social Security works, dramatically underestimate life expectancies or fail to plan for big expenses, such as long-term care or taxes.

These aren’t folks looking for advice. They’ve already made up their minds and want to argue about financial planning precepts, such as when to take Social Security or how much retirement is likely to cost. But what they think they know just isn’t so.

The reality is that most people don’t get good, objective financial advice before they retire, says actuary Steve Vernon, consulting research scholar at the Stanford Center on Longevity. Many people simply wing it, figuring that if they have a Social Security check and a little savings, somehow everything will work out.

Unfortunately, retirement is complicated, and your decisions can have irreversible consequences. Talking with a professional — ideally a fee-only financial planner — could save you from a costly mistake, including any of the following.

1. THINKING YOU’LL DIE YOUNG (OR AT LEAST EARLY)

If you die early in retirement, your worries about paying for it are over. Live longer, though, and you easily could outlive your money. That stacks the deck in favor of waiting to start Social Security, since each year you put it off from age 62 to 70 increases your benefit by about 7% to 8%. That’s a guaranteed return on a stream of income that you can’t outlive or lose in a stock market downturn.

Plus, you may live longer than you think. The average U.S. life expectancy is just under 79, but that’s from birth. If you make it to 65, you can expect to live another 20 years or so. Half of all women currently in their mid