Retirement-Planning Do’s and Don’ts If You’re in Your 50s

As retirement approaches, smart moves in your 50s can strengthen your savings—and missteps can be costly.

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If you’re in your 50s, you’re probably looking forward to retirement. Your careful saving and planning have probably helped you amass a handsome amount of wealth. But there’s still plenty of uncertainty ahead. And now is a great time to review your plan to make sure you’re still on the right track and avoid pitfalls. So let’s take a look at some do’s and don’ts for retirement planning in your 50s.

Do Take Advantage of Catch-Up Contributions

If you’re 50 or older, you have exclusive rights to contribute more to key retirement plans than those younger than you. This is because the IRS allows those aged 50 or older to make additional catch-up contributions to various retirement plans.

Here’s how it works: If you’re 50 or older, you can make catch-up contributions of $8,000 to your 401(k) for a total of $32,500.

As for individual retirement accounts (IRAs), those aged 50 and older can make catch-up contributions of $1,100 for a total contribution of $8,600.

Maximizing these tax-advantaged accounts now can deliver some serious growth potential once you’re in retirement.

Don’t Ignore Health Care Costs

Health care costs have been skyrocketing, and these could be high in retirement. A recent study by Fidelity Investments found that 65-year-old retirees today can expect to spend an average of about $172,500 in health and medical expenses during retirement.

So you may want to take a deep look at what your health insurance covers and review it against other options.

But if you have a high-deductible health plan (HDHP), you may want to consider a health savings account (HSA). These unique savings vehicles offer a triple-tax advantage. Your contributions are tax-deductible or made on a pretax basis, so they essentially reduce your taxable income and could lower your tax bill as a result. Money in the account grows tax-free, and withdrawals for qualified medical expenses are tax-free. These cover a variety of medical, dental, vision, and prescription costs.

In addition, many HSA providers, including ones you get through your employer, may allow you to invest your HSA money in securities such as exchange-traded funds (ETFs) and mutual funds.

For 2026, you can contribute up to $4,400 to an HSA if you’re covered by a HDHP solely for yourself, or $8,750 if you have family coverage.

And here’s some more good news: Those aged 55 or older can contribute an additional $1,000.

Do Diversify Your Portfolio

As you approach retirement, you may not want to be as heavily invested in generally riskier assets like stocks. But at age 50, retirement may still be 10 or more years away. You’d want to strike a balance between fixed income and potential for capital appreciation.

Some advisers recommend a balanced asset allocation of 50–65 percent equities such as stocks and 35–50 percent fixed-income investments such as bonds for someone in their 50s.

You may want to consider allocating the fixed-income portion of your portfolio to securities such as investment-grade corporate bonds, bond ETFs, and Treasury securities. And you could consider allocating the equity portion to stocks, dividend-paying stocks, and dividend ETFs for growth potential combined with a steady stream of income.

But you also don’t want to ignore your emergency fund and other liquid assets. Plan to have at least six months’ worth of expenses in a high-yield savings account.

But keep in mind that a qualified financial adviser can always help you build an investment portfolio based on your unique needs and goals. So now may be the right time to seek one out.

Do Pay Down High-Interest Debt

By age 50, you’d want to try to eliminate high-interest debt that could put you down in retirement. Among these are credit cards. Credit card interest rates today can be as high as nearly 25 percent. This could easily beat earnings on your savings and investments. But you’d also want to target other sources of high-interest debt such as auto loans and private student loans.

However, avoid digging into your 401(k)s and IRAs to pay off this debt. Unless you’re at least 59 years old, this may trigger taxes and penalties. And you’d be preventing large amounts of your retirement savings from growing in future years.

The Bottom Line

Your 50s can be a key time to start making moves that could help you make the most out of your retirement savings down the road. These include taking advantage of “catch-up” contributions and making sure your portfolio’s asset allocation aligns with your goals, needs, and risk tolerance. But it’s also important to avoid big retirement-planning mistakes like not preparing for future health care costs or digging into your retirement nest eggs to pay down high-interest debt.

The Epoch Times copyright © 2026. The views and opinions expressed are those of the authors. They are meant for general informational purposes only and should not be construed or interpreted as a recommendation or solicitation. The Epoch Times does not provide investment, tax, legal, financial planning, estate planning, or any other personal finance advice. The Epoch Times holds no liability for the accuracy or timeliness of the information provided.