Most people approaching retirement don’t have a clear answer. Our free 2-minute check tells you exactly where you stand — and what to do about it.
It’s not about asset allocation. It’s not about which brokerage account to open first. The question we hear most from pre-retirees and retirees across Lee County — Cape Coral, Fort Myers, Bonita Springs, Naples — is simpler and more personal than any of that.
“Do I have enough money to actually retire — and will it last?”
It’s a fair question. And the honest answer is: it depends on a lot more than your account balance. A retirement that feels financially secure isn’t just about how much you’ve saved — it’s about whether your income covers your life, whether your plan accounts for the costs most people miss, and whether the decisions you make in the next few years will work in your favor or quietly work against you.
Below are five of the most common retirement mistakes we see in Southwest Florida — mistakes that can make the difference between a retirement that holds up and one that starts to crack under pressure.
Having $800,000 saved means something very different depending on how it converts to monthly income, how long it needs to last, and how it interacts with Social Security and taxes. A balance sheet is not a retirement plan. Without a written income strategy, even a healthy nest egg can run dry faster than expected.
Filing at 62 instead of waiting can permanently reduce your monthly benefit by as much as 30%. Most retirees file too early — often because they don’t have a strategy built around their specific income needs, health, and spouse’s situation. This is one of the few retirement decisions that can’t be undone.
Medicare covers far less than most people expect. There’s no cap on out-of-pocket costs under Original Medicare, no coverage for dental, vision, or hearing, and long-term care isn’t covered at all. With Lee County’s older population, healthcare costs here run above the national average.
The order in which you draw from your accounts — taxable, tax-deferred, and Roth — can make a significant difference in what you actually keep each year. Without a withdrawal sequence plan, Required Minimum Distributions can push retirees into higher tax brackets they didn’t anticipate.
Beneficiary designations override your will entirely. An ex-spouse listed on a 20-year-old IRA gets that account regardless of what any other document says. Most people either have no plan or haven’t updated theirs in years — and don’t realize it until it’s too late.
The good news: every one of these is fixable. But the earlier you catch them, the better the outcome. It starts with understanding where you actually stand.
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