There are too many retirement dos and don\u2019ts to count, but what would financial experts say is their number one simple piece of advice?<\/p>\n
Several financial experts were asked to share just one piece of simple retirement advice everyone should follow in 2026.<\/a> Here\u2019s what they had to say.<\/p>\n \u201cMy biggest piece of advice for 2026 is to protect your retirement savings by separating short-term money from long-term money,\u201d explained Devin Miller, CEO and co-founder at SecureSave<\/a>.<\/p>\n According to Miller, this involves separating your emergency money<\/a> from investments to prevent you from dipping into your retirement accounts<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cEmergency savings may not feel as exciting as investing<\/a>, but it\u2019s what keeps people from derailing their retirement when unexpected expenses pop up. We see over and over that people with emergency savings stay invested longer and retire with more,\u201d Miller added.<\/p>\n See Next: Here\u2019s What Retirees Wasted the Most Money On in 2025 \u2014 and How To Avoid It in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Read This: 5 Clever Ways Retirees Are Earning Up To $1K per Month From Home<\/a><\/p>\n Steven Rog\u00e9, certified financial planner (CFP), certified analytics professional (CAP), accredited investment fiduciary (AIF) and chief investment officer and CEO of R.W. Rog\u00e9 & Company, Inc.<\/a>, recommended running retirement like a paycheck.<\/p>\n \u201cSet a fixed monthly deposit into checking, fund it from a zero- to three-year cash reserve and keep the rest invested for long-term growth<\/a>,\u201d he explained. \u201cRefill the cash once or twice a year by trimming winners and put tax withholding on every transfer so April is boring.\u201d<\/p>\n According to Rog\u00e9, this habit keeps spending steady, turns volatility into a tool \u2014 since rebalancing and refills naturally sell high and avoid forced selling low \u2014 and it gives you better control over taxes, as withdrawals can be sized and sourced to fit the bracket you want.<\/p>\n \u201cBuild the retirement paycheck first, then let the portfolio do its job behind the scenes,\u201d he added.<\/p>\n \u201cI would say make sure you are contributing enough to get your company match if they provide one. This is free money and makes a big difference in your 401(k) balance<\/a> over time,\u201d explained Georgia Bruggeman, founder and CEO at Meridian Financial Advisors, LLC<\/a>.<\/p>\n There are different match formulas, but Fidelity<\/a> pointed out that the most common is for employers to contribute $1 for every $1 an employee contributes, up to 3% of an employee\u2019s salary, then 50 cents on the dollar for the next 2% of an employee\u2019s salary. Fidelity added that workers should aim to save about 15% of their pre-tax income each year, including their match.<\/p>\n Evan H. Farr, certified elder-law attorney and retirement planner<\/a> at Farr Law Firm<\/a>, said everyone needs to consider long-term care.<\/p>\n \u201cEveryone retiring needs to consider long-term care planning, whether that means purchasing long-term care insurance, doing a Medicaid asset protection trust or both,\u201d Farr said.<\/p>\n That is, unless you have a high-net-worth<\/a>, which Farr defined as having $5 million or more. In this case, he recommended paying out of pocket for long-term care.<\/p>\n \u201cMost people retiring completely ignore planning for long-term care, even though 70% of people need long-term care after age 65,\u201d Farr said.<\/p>\n Andrew McDonald, executive vice president at Siebert Financial<\/a>, said retirement is a serious time in your life and involves re-evaluating your investment goals<\/a>, risk tolerance, cash flow and taxes. Because retirement planning can be overwhelming, it\u2019s important to have a trusted adviser in your corner.<\/p>\n \u201cJust because you are retiring doesn\u2019t necessarily mean you will take Social Security or distributions from your IRA or 401(k) accounts,\u201d McDonald explained. \u201cIt\u2019s important you have a professional team on your side to help you make good choices.\u201d<\/p>\n McDonald pointed out that even in retirement, you can contribute to your 401(k) or IRA account and have tax benefits. When you retire, your 401(k) can be rolled over into an IRA rollover without any tax consequences.<\/p>\n \u201cThis will allow more investment choices as well as the opportunity to re-evaluate your investment parameters,\u201d McDonald said. \u201cBottom line, call your financial advisor<\/a> and really think about what is important to you in this moment of life change.\u201d<\/p>\n More From GOBankingRates<\/p>\n This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com<\/a>: Financial Experts Share the Simple Retirement Advice They\u2019re Giving To Clients in 2026<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There are too many retirement dos and don\u2019ts to count, but what would financial experts say is their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":97809,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14],"tags":[114,133112,133113,268,66101,85,8298,46,266,267,929,6300],"class_list":{"0":"post-249129","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-personal-finance","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-devin-miller","10":"tag-emergency-money","11":"tag-finance","12":"tag-financial-experts","13":"tag-il","14":"tag-investments","15":"tag-israel","16":"tag-personal-finance","17":"tag-personalfinance","18":"tag-retirement-planning","19":"tag-retirement-savings"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249129","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=249129"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/249129\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/97809"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=249129"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=249129"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=249129"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}