Your 50s are a pivotal time in the grand scheme of retirement savings. At that point, you may be pretty close to bringing your career to an end. And you may be making big plans for your senior years that include travel, a second home by the beach, or other things you've always wanted.
It's important to take advantage of that final decade in the workforce so you can kick off your retirement on a solid note. Here are three retirement savings mistakes you should make every effort to avoid next year if you're in your 50s.
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1. Forgetting you can make catch-up contributions
Making catch-up contributions in your IRA or 401(k) is a great way to give your retirement savings a boost. And you do not need to be behind on savings to take advantage of catch-up contributions. All you need to do is be 50 or older by the end of the calendar year.
In 2026, IRA savers 50 and over can make a catch-up contribution of $1,100, bringing the total allowable contribution amount to $8,600. If you have a 401(k) plan, your catch-up contribution can total $8,000, and your total allowable contribution next year is $32,500.
There's also a special catch-up contribution of $11,250 instead of the $8,000 noted above for 401(k) savers ages 60 to 63 in 2026. For people in this age range, the maximum 401(k) contribution in 2026 is $35,750.
Keep in mind that if you earned more than $150,000 in 2025, your only option for making a 401(k) catch-up contribution in 2026 will be a Roth 401(k). That means you'll lose the tax break on the money you put into your savings, but you'll enjoy tax-free gains and withdrawals as a benefit.
However, if your employer doesn't offer a Roth option for its 401(k), you may not be able to make a catch-up contribution. Now's the time to figure out if that option will be available so you can make a plan.
2. Dumping too many stocks
It's a good idea to start unloading risk in your portfolio as retirement gets closer. But one thing you don't want to do is dump too many stocks in your 50s, when you may still have a good number of years left before wrapping up your career.
What you should do is see how heavily invested you are in stocks and figure out if it pays to scale back a little. If you're looking to reduce your risk, you may also want to replace some growth stocks with more stable dividend stocks.
3. Not diversifying your portfolio enough
If you're trying to give your savings a nice boost as retirement nears, or if you're trying to play catch-up to make up for years when you didn't manage to save, then you may be inclined to invest your money in a handful of growth stocks with strong potential. It's easy to see why that may be tempting. But another big blunder you don't want to fall victim to is not branching out in your portfolio.
If you put 20% of your money into a single stock whose value tanks and doesn't recover, you may not have enough time to recover from that loss ahead of retirement. So while it's a good idea to stick with stock investing in your 50s, make sure to invest across a range of market sectors. And if you're not sure you're branching out enough, you could always buy shares of an S&P 500 index fund for added diversification.
Your 50s are an important time in the context of retirement planning. Avoiding these big mistakes could help you retire with more confidence -- and set you up to do all the things you've always dreamed of.
