Casual Investing for Your 60s (Ages 60-69)

• One-fund portfolio: Retirement turns the one-fund question from accumulation into withdrawal. Common mistake: Treating the single fund as safe because it is diversified, then selling shares to cover living costs during a decline, which locks in losses that a cash reserve could have avoided.
• 30 minutes a year: The monthly check begins to include withdrawals as well as deposits: how much leaves, from which account, and whether it matches the plan. Common mistake: Continuing HSA contributions after Medicare coverage has begun, which creates an excess contribution that then has to be corrected on the tax return.
• Automatic contributions: Ages 60 to 63 carry a higher 401(k) catch-up of $11,250 instead of $8,000, which brings the total to $35,750 for those years before it drops back at 64. Common mistake: Leaving an automatic HSA deposit running after Medicare coverage begins at 65, which makes later contributions excess and requires correction with the plan administrator or at tax time.
• Simple portfolio: In the 60s the portfolio stops only receiving money and begins to fund spending, so sequence risk becomes the main design question. Common mistake: Keeping a mix built for accumulation into the first retirement years, so early losses coincide with withdrawals and leave a smaller base to recover from.
• Review once a year: Each yearly review now touches several clocks. Common mistake: Overlooking the two-year lookback, so a large sale, Roth conversion or one-time income event raises Medicare premiums later through IRMAA without any advance reminder.
• Avoid overtrading: Sequence risk is the defining issue in the 60s: poor returns in the first years of withdrawals do more damage than the same returns later. Common mistake: Selling a large taxable position in the year before Medicare starts without noticing that the gain feeds the income figure used for premium surcharges two years later.

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