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Paul Nelson reportingSome people may be on a path to lose a million dollars, and they don't even know it. One national magazine says there are some common mistakes that could cost you a lot of money over time.
I don't want to say becoming a millionaire is easy, because I wouldn't know. Maybe some of us are thinking about it all wrong. Instead of gaining or gathering a million dollars, Consumer Reports magazine says we might be making some mistakes that will cost us a million dollars over time.
Executive Editor Greg Daugherty said, "They could easily, easily cost you a million bucks."
Daugherty says 12 mistakes seem to be the most costly. He says investing too conservatively during retirement could cost you three-quarters of a million.
"If you retire at age 65, you could easily live another 25 to 35 or more years, in many cases, so you need to make sure that your investments will stand up to inflation during that time," he said.
Other mistakes may seem obvious: Don't retire too early. Don't overpay on your mortgage. Don't fall for a scam, or pay needless fund fees. Daugherty says maintaining an unhealthy lifestyle can cost you up to $42,000.
"If you improve your health habits, often times you can save money on your life insurance," he said.
Daugherty says underinsuring your home, cashing out or underfunding your 401(k), carrying credit debt and ignoring Roth accounts could help you lose a combined total of almost $300,000. The last mistake you could make that could cost you up to $188,000 is turning a normal divorce into an all-out war.
Wall and Wall family practice attorney Cory Wall said, "When you consider that fact that you have two parties who, between the two of them, are paying probably well in excess of $400 an hour in attorney's fees for each of them to have an attorney -- and that's just locally -- that can run into a lot of money."
Wall says some people want to stick it to their spouse no matter the cost. However, he says it's not always a good idea.
"Whenever you are taking that kind of approach, you're putting the other side definitely on a massive defensive stance, and they'll turn around and will be coming right back at you," he said.
Wall says if anyone comes after one of his clients, he's ready to bring it, but there are times when a client is too belligerent.
"Many times, those are situations where the attorney ends up withdrawing the representation from the client," he said.
Wall says even the easiest and friendliest divorce proceedings could cost about $1,000 just in attorney fees.
