We all do things that are so rote to our lives we don’t even realize that there can be long term damage. Here are a few things I know many people do that will ruin your retirement.

Not putting time on your side:
It is so easy to focus on the upcoming holidays and gifts to buy vs. saving for your retirement. Plan out your spending to see where you can cut expenses and boost your retirement savings. The biggest gift we have is time. What you save during your early years of working will make a huge difference in how much you have decades from now.

Putting all of your eggs in one basket:
Do you chase the hottest fund each year? I have known investors that at the beginning of each year will find the previous years’ best perform and move all of the retirement money into that fund. Their hope is that the climb will continue. Because they are doing this every year tells you this is not a strategy that usually works. Diversification and re-balancing is a great approach to long term investing.

You own too many funds:
There are those investors that are so diversified – that they really are not. You may own 20 different mutual funds but if they are invested in predominately the same companies, you are not diversified. To have a truly diversified portfolio you need to be in different sectors.

disclosures:http://www.hechteffect.net/?page_id=31