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GOBankingRates’ editorial team is committed to bringing you unbiased reviews and information. We use data-driven methodologies to evaluate financial products and services – our reviews and ratings are not influenced by advertisers. You can read more about our editorial guidelines<\/a> and our products and services review methodology<\/a>.<\/p>\n 20 Years<\/strong> Trusted by<\/strong> If you\u2019re looking back on your expenditures from this year and wondering where you went wrong, you\u2019re not alone. This may be especially true if you\u2019re a new retiree<\/a>. It can be hard to budget correctly for a lifestyle you haven\u2019t led before. <\/p>\n Here\u2019s what financial experts say cost retirees too much money and how to allocate money better<\/a> in 2026.\u00a0<\/p>\n Misaligned Healthcare\u00a0Plans<\/p>\n One of the biggest expenses for retirees is healthcare<\/a>, and many retirees underestimate what they\u2019ll spend on medical care in their later years, according to Whitney Stidom, vice president of consumer enablement at eHealth<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Stidom said, to avoid overspending, retirees should take advantage of the annual enrollment period (Oct. 15 to Dec. 7) to make sure they select the optimal Medicare plan based on their needs and budget. She said this step alone could save retirees more than $1,800. <\/p>\n For retirees who need help selecting a plan, there is free guidance available. \u201cA licensed agent can help people review plans from various insurance companies in their areas, while providing expert advice \u2014 all at no cost,\u201d Stidom said.<\/p>\n Convenience<\/p>\n When people spend more time at home, they might be tempted to pay more to make sure everything they need comes to them. <\/p>\n Rami Sneineh, vice president and licensed insurance producer at Insurance Navy<\/a>, said his team sees clients with multiple unused subscriptions<\/a> and impulse orders as major areas of overspending for people on a fixed income. \u201cResearch indicates that the average person can easily spend almost $200 a month to simply send food home and go to the coffee shop,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Sneineh recommended that clients have two separate budgets: one for primary needs (housing, healthcare and utilities) and one for discretionary needs (travel, entertainment and hobbies). \u201cI also recommend that one annually audits all memberships and subscriptions, since these often auto-renew without notice,\u201d Sneineh said. \u201cManaging these smaller expenses is a strong way to in turn make your savings last and have a real future peace of mind.\u201d<\/p>\n Home Improvements<\/p>\n More time at home can also mean wanting to beautify the space that you live in. A few small projects to update the look of a home are fine, but when it\u2019s taking a big chunk out of your retirement money, it might be time to reevaluate. <\/p>\n \u201cThe cost of home remodeling has increased substantially over the past few years and to pay them entirely from a taxable retirement account can be a substantial tax hit and a permanent portfolio stressor,\u201d said Pedro M. Silva, a principal partner at Apex Invest<\/a>. \u201cWe encourage clients to tackle all the home related projects in the years approaching retirement so they can be paid from cash flow and not from taxable retirement accounts.\u201d<\/p>\n Scams<\/p>\n A lot of phone and email scams<\/a> target retirees and can cost them their life savings if they\u2019re not careful. Mike Kruse, a lawyer at Kruse Law<\/a>, said the best way to avoid these scams is to stay vigilant. <\/p>\n \u201cAlways seek advice from a trusted financial advisor before making a big investment or cash outlay. Scammers will prey upon your desire to increase savings so it is important to do your own research first,\u201d he explained.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u00a9Shutterstock.com Commitment to Our Readers GOBankingRates’ editorial team is committed to bringing you unbiased reviews and information. We…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":418088,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[15],"tags":[64,8726,255,615,700,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-418087","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-gobankingrates","10":"tag-personal-finance","11":"tag-planning","12":"tag-retirement","13":"tag-united-states","14":"tag-unitedstates","15":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/115646596582253691","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=418087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/418087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/418088"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=418087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=418087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=418087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/cdn.gobankingrates.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/icon-20.svg?webp=1&quality=75\"){kind=icon}
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