It is never too early to start thinking about how you might prepare for your retirement years. Unfortunately, many people don’t really sit down and go through any sort of analysis until they’re in their 50s or even later. For those who would like to plan ahead, there are multiple ways to help set yourself up for a secure retirement later. There are also traps that many fall into: Here are three of them to avoid.

Why does it seem like planning for retirement has become so much more difficult in the past five years? So many folks approaching retirement are scrambling to figure out how much money will be there when they retire, whether or not they actually can retire before they’re 65, and if they’ll run out of money before they leave this earth.

It has been a question for as long as people have thought about retirement: How much can one withdraw from his or her portfolio each year without running out of money in retirement?

With short-term interest rates near 0%, it is enticing to buy high yielding dividend stocks and just sit back and watch the dividend checks roll in. But it is very important that investors understand that when times get tough, companies that can’t afford their dividend any more will cut it; and some will slash their dividends immensely.

According to the Social Security and Medicare Boards of Trustees, the Social Security fund will be exhausted in 2036. Because there will still be money coming into the fund via payroll taxes and interest from treasury bonds, this doesn’t mean that all Social Security payments will be stopped in 2036. But it does mean that benefits would have to be cut to keep the fund solvent. Given current forecasts, Social Security payments would have to be cut by 25% across the board in 2036 in order to keep the fund from going bankrupt.