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Don't make these mistakes with your money as you near retirement age.
- With more Americans than ever living past age 100, it's important to prepare your finances for a long retirement.
- You can start by avoiding mistakes now that could leave you strapped for cash in your old age.
- Business Insider spoke with financial planner Richard Hall about some of the biggest mistakes people make before they retire.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Your retirement should be your golden years, where you reap the rewards of decades of hard work.
But if you don't save enough to cover your living expenses or you get hit with bad luck, retirement can be a time of financial stress.
In addition, longer life expectancy has changed the calculus of retirement savings. If you retire at 65 and live to be 100, you may spend almost the same number of years in retirement as you did working. That means that for almost every working year, you need to fund a non-working year. No pressure, though.
Related: 7 surprising expenses people don't expect when they retire, according to experts
Richard Hall, a financial planner at Pitzl Financial, told Business Insider about seven of the biggest money mistakes he sees people make before retirement and how to avoid them.
Here are the mistakes you should be avoiding as you near retirement age.