As the weather heats up, there’s one other unfortunate thing that also heats up: road construction. With $680 million slated to be spent on road and bridge projects throughout Iowa in 2017, it’s likely that you will experience some roadblocks when travelling throughout the state.

Just as it’s important to be on the lookout for construction roadblocks, it’s also critical that you watch out for financial roadblocks that could hinder your journey toward retirement. In my experience, these are three of the most common financial roadblocks that trip people up.

Taxes

Being more tax-efficient when investing is essentially a free increase on your rate of return. Imagine you have a $1,000 gain off of an initial $10,000 investment, thereby giving you a 10% rate of return. If you have to pay $150 in taxes—the 15% rate most people pay on long-term capital gains—you really only had an 8.5% rate of return.

However, if you engage in some tax planning, you may be able to get your income low enough to qualify for the 0% capital gains tax rate, thereby netting you your full 10% rate of return. You increased your rate of return by 1.5%, and you didn’t have to radically increase the amount of risk in your portfolio to get there.

Inflation

If your investments are earning less than the annual rate of inflation, you’re actually losing ground even if your quarterly statements still show you in the green. For example, if you invested in 6-month CDs—fixed-income investments that are insured by the FDIC—last year, you likely earned much less than 1% on those CDs. If you think about your real return—your investment return minus the rate of inflation—those CDs would have shown a negative return.

This underscores the important point that while it’s good to have some portion of your portfolio in “safer” investments like CDs, you don’t want to have too much of your savings in these low-return investments that are unlikely to outpace inflation.

Opportunity Cost

This roadblock is often overlooked, but that doesn’t make it any less important to plan for. Opportunity cost is the loss of the chance to do something more efficient with your money by opting to take another course of action. Rather than investing their money in a diversified portfolio, some people may instead make a frivolous purchase or simply hold all of their money in cash. Failing to making the most out of your savings makes it more difficult for you to generate long-term wealth that is needed for a financially successful retirement.

Regardless of how strong your financial plan may be, not preparing for these financial roadblocks can limit the effectiveness of your retirement plan. Working with a financial advisor can help you plan for these roadblocks and try to help minimize any surprises along the way, allowing you to enjoy the scenic route on the road to retirement.

This article originally appeared on June 11, 2017 in the Des Moines Register. You may view the article here.