One of the greatest rewards one can receive after a lifetime of hard work is a comfortable retirement. They call it the “golden years” for a reason. Unfortunately, many people are nearing the age of retirement but failed to plan, and will not see anything that reminds them of gold when it comes time to stop working full-time.

The most common forms of funds dedicated to helping Americans retire are 401(k) plans and variations of the Individual Retirement Account, or IRA. Most companies do not offer pension plans or defined-benefit plans to employees any longer, so it is up to the employee to use IRAs and 401(k)s as a defined-contribution plan to help build that retirement nest egg.

With the bull market 10 years old at the end of March, it is important to keep some considerations in mind ahead of your retirement years. You may have heard that it will take more than $1 million in savings to retire comfortably, but the reality is that this is a somewhat mythical figure that may be too high for some and to low for others, depending in part on the cost of living where you are.

24/7 Wall St. has identified several retirement planning and investing strategies that might seem solid but can destroy your savings. One such strategy that will destroy your retirement is withdrawing money from defined-contribution plans (IRA and 401(k)) before your retirement years.

Generally speaking, employees are allowed as of 2019 to contribute up to $19,000 per year into a 401(k) plan, up from $18,500. The Internal Revenue Service also increased the limit on annual IRA contributions to $6,000 in 2019 after six years stuck at $5,500. Though there are multiple versions of IRA accounts, the penalty of withdrawing from these is generally universal.