9 Retirees Share Their Biggest Money Mistakes—and What They Would Do Instead

By Corey Whelan of Reader's Digest |

What you contribute annually to your IRA is paramount to how much you will have in your nest egg, later on. It may be better to feel a slight sting each year, than a huge pain, after you retire.

'Back when I opened my first Individual Retirement Account (IRA) in March 1983, I wasn't particularly diligent about maxing out my annual contributions. So when I'd begin working on my income taxes each year, I'd look at my bank accounts to see how much I could afford to contribute to my IRA. The maximum annual contribution back then was $2,000 per year; but I often contributed only half that amount. I now know that underfunding my IRA by $1,000 per year for 31 years (assuming an average annual return of 6.9 percent from an IRA invested in an S&P 500 index mutual fund) meant $100,180 less in my retirement kitty at the age of 62! If I'd realized how much it would ultimately cost me to underfund my IRA, I'd have figured a way to come up with that extra $1,000 annually. After all, how many retirees can give up $100,000 in retirement?' says Timothy G. Wiedman. D.B.A., PHR, SHRM-CP, retired associate professor of Management & Human Resources at Doane University in Crete, Nebras ka. 

Here's how you can retire with a cool million by age 50.

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Source: 9 Retirees Share Their Biggest Money Mistakes—and What They Would Do Instead