Financial Surprises Retirees (and Those About to Retire) Want to Avoid

If you are nearing the end of your career or just starting out in retirement, you might assume it's time for the careful financial planning you did all those years to finally pay off. You imagine a long-desired Alaskan cruise or map out cross-country trips to visit the grandkids. You picture filling your free time pursuing your interests in activities from biking to art.

But even the most diligent pre-retiree planner can get tripped up by unpleasant financial surprises along the way. And if you're not careful to avoid some of these shocks to your budget, they can derail your dreams and force a shift in your retirement goals.

Consider just a few possibilities: You thought you'd have lower taxes as a retiree, but you land in a higher bracket instead as you begin to tap your qualified retirement accounts. You budgeted for Medicare payments, only to find your monthly premium is much higher than expected. You counted on your expenses shrinking in retirement, but you still have hefty bills for home maintenance and car repairs.

That retiree health care from your employer that you figured was free? It actually costs hundreds of dollars each month in premiums. Even little things add up: You paid for expensive extended warranties that will far outlast how long you hold onto appliances or devices, or you forget to cancel costly recurring subscriptions for online services you no longer use. "I know what my regular monthly bills are, but I think it's the unintended expenses, the major house repairs and other things you don't plan on, that surprise you," says Susan Garcia, 62, a former physician who lives in New Orleans and retired two years ago. "Your costs don't really go down in retirement. They stay the same, and you don't have 100% of the salary you had before."

More people are likely to face this