No matter how much you love your work, the fact is that one day, you will retire. Whatever the reason, you will eventually choose to hang up the work gloves and start devoting your hours enjoying the fruits of your labor. However, chances are that your retirement plan won’t actually work out. Here are 5 reasons why:

  1.  Failed to Account for Health Costs

A select few people will live long into old age without requiring additional care or medicine. You will likely not be one of them. No matter how healthy you are now, your body will eventually wear out. You will need more care and more medicine, and due to those two things, more money.

The solution is to start accounting for the most common and likely health issues You will have. Take into account your family history when figuring this out, and adjust your yearly savings accordingly.

  1.  Spending a Longer Period Retired Than Expected

The good news is that life expectancies are improving. However, this comes with a caveat – the longer you live, the longer the period you won’t be earning money. This can throw a wrench into your plans and either force you to live below your expectations or worse, put you in a position where you can’t live without relying on other people.

The solution is to adjust when you expect to pass on. When planning your retirement funds and savings, think about how much you will need to save if you expect to pass at 100, and adjust your savings to match the new number.

  1.  Retire Earlier Than Expected

Most retirement plans don’t account for one thing – early retirement. There are plenty of reasons this can happen. Your job may be deemed unnecessary due to technological advancement or an injury may prevent you from performing without risking life or limb. All of a sudden, your retirement plans simply aren’t enough because you were relying on a few more years of work to bank some cash.

The answer here is to set up safety nets. Accident or illness insurance can help soften the blow in case they force you to retire early. You should also speak with a financial advisor to help you get a better look at how your finances will fare in case of early retirement, so you can figure out how to adjust your expected lifestyle in case it comes to pass.

  1.  Impact of a Stock Market Crash

Nothing is as uniquely volatile as the stock market. One day, your investments might be pointing towards a bright future filled with comfortable dividends. The next, you’re looking at the wreckage of the stock market and wondering how you will put food on the table.

Preparing around this problem is a matter of figuring out how your stock will realistically be valued in the future, and whether or not it’ll stay stable then. If what you see seems like a gamble more than an investment, it might be time to start saving more rather than investing more. This doesn’t mean that investments should be ignored entirely, only that you should prepare for the worst as well.

  1.  Underestimating the Power of Inflation

Inflation moves like a glacier, but it’s there. You may not notice it in your day-to-day life, but rest assured that it will have an impact on your retirement plans. Even if everything else goes according to plan, failing to account for how much your money can actually buy can bump your lifestyle down a notch. If you’re not worried, consider that inflation can cut your spending power in half by the time you retire.

Unfortunately, the solution is to simply save more. There’s nothing you can really do about inflation rates – all you can do is to build better walls to weather the storm.

Planning for your retirement is a lot more complicated than just saving money. You don’t just need to account for the future, you need to account for the present as well. Don’t just put money in the bank and call it a retirement fund. Plan ahead, expect setbacks, and make sure that when you do retire, you retire in comfort and in the lifestyle you desire.