Lifestyle

5 Retirement Mistakes People Make in Their 50s That Can’t Be Fixed Later

By Curtis Jones · June 7, 2026

An AARP survey found that 61% of adults over 50 are concerned they will not have enough money to support themselves in retirement — and 20% have no retirement savings at all. Your 50s are the last decade in which most of these mistakes can still be corrected. After 60, the options narrow significantly.

1. Not making catch-up contributions

This is the most straightforward mistake to fix — and the most commonly skipped. In 2026, workers aged 50 and over can contribute up to $32,500 to a 401(k) plan — $8,000 more than the standard limit. For IRAs, the catch-up allowance brings the total contribution limit to $8,600. Workers aged 60 to 63 can make “super” catch-up contributions of up to $35,750 to eligible 401(k) plans. Every dollar of catch-up contribution in your 50s has 10 to 15 years to compound before you need it — and the tax advantages of the vehicle make it significantly more efficient than saving the same amount in a taxable account.

2. Claiming Social Security too early

Claiming Social Security at 62 — the earliest eligible age — permanently reduces your monthly benefit by approximately 30% compared to what you would receive at full retirement age. For every year you delay claiming beyond full retirement age, your benefit increases by 8%. Waiting from 62 to 70 can nearly double your monthly payment — a difference that compounds across a retirement that may last 25 or 30 years. Most financial planners recommend waiting at least until full retirement age (67 for anyone born after 1959) and ideally to 70 for the higher earner in a couple, because the survivor benefit is based on the larger check.

3. Carrying consumer debt into retirement

Taking credit card debt, car loans, or high-interest consumer debt into retirement dramatically reduces the purchasing power of a fixed income. AARP’s retirement planning guidance is consistent: the decade before retirement is the time to aggressively eliminate debt, starting with the highest-interest balances. A retired household carrying $15,000 in credit card debt at 25% APR is paying $3,750 per year in interest — money that is functionally gone from a fixed retirement income and that compounds the financial pressure of every other expense.

4. Not accounting for healthcare costs

Healthcare is the largest and most unpredictable expense in retirement — and consistently the most underestimated. Fidelity’s 2026 Retiree Health Care Cost Estimate puts average out-of-pocket healthcare costs for a couple retiring at 65 at $330,000 over the course of retirement — not including long-term care. Medicare covers significant costs but not all of them, and the 2027 ACA out-of-pocket maximum increase to $12,000 affects anyone who retires before Medicare eligibility at 65. A Health Savings Account — available to anyone with a qualifying high-deductible health plan — is the most tax-efficient vehicle available for pre-funding these costs.

5. Panic-selling investments during market downturns

Selling stocks during a market drop — which feels like financial self-defense — is one of the most reliably wealth-destroying decisions a pre-retiree can make. The people who sold during the 2020 COVID crash locked in losses at the bottom and missed one of the fastest recoveries in stock market history. The people who sold in 2022 missed the 2023 and 2024 gains that followed. In your 50s, with 10 to 15 years before you need most of your retirement savings, your time horizon is long enough to recover from volatility — but not from selling at the bottom. An age-appropriate asset allocation reviewed with a financial advisor is the protection, not selling.