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There are two kinds of people: Those who think rules are made for breaking, and those who can鈥檛 use the words 鈥渞ules鈥� and 鈥渂reaking鈥� in the same sentence without a pang of anxiety.

I fall into the second group, which means I present this list with a side of guilt. But I do it because I鈥檝e noticed, as you probably have, that retirement planning is full of rules. Some are helpful. Some are unreasonable. Nearly all attempt to put a one-size-fits-all shirt on bank accounts and lifestyles of many different sizes.

Breaking some retirement rules might give you a guilty conscience, but it shouldn鈥檛 screw up your future. Here are four of them 聽you can break, or at the very least, bend to your needs.

1. Save 15% every year for retirement.

Many sources confirm this is a reasonable target, including Fidelity in its latest聽guidelines.

But it鈥檚 probably not reasonable to believe you鈥檒l be able save a steady amount every year, or that you鈥檒l be able to save 15% of your income right out of the gate. Do you want to know how much I saved for retirement聽my first year out of college? It鈥檚 an easy answer, the same one I鈥檇 give if you asked about the following year: $0.

What I鈥檓 suggesting is not to throw this rule away, but to understand you may need to work up to it. Give yourself a pass if you can鈥檛 hit the 15% target every single year 鈥� like, say, when you鈥檙e young (or when you鈥檙e not young, but your kids are, and their preschool tuition makes college tuition look cheap).

Tip: Use a聽retirement calculator聽to figure out how much you should be saving, then save more than that when times are flush. Being over-ambitious when you have extra cash will help make up for the years when you can鈥檛 save enough.

2. Pick a target-date fund named after the year you plan to retire.

Using a target-date fund to save for retirement isn鈥檛 a rule, but it might as well be: By some estimates, 90% of 401(k) contributions will flow into these funds by 2019.

What is generally a rule is to select a fund with the year closest to when you鈥檙e planning to retire. That鈥檚 because these funds work by automatically rebalancing to take less risk as you approach that year. But what鈥檚 technically appropriate for your age may not be appropriate for your individual risk tolerance or investment goals, and funds named for the same year can actually vary widely in the investments they hold.

I鈥檓 33, so a 2050 fund would put me right at a retirement age of 67. The 2050 funds from聽Vanguard,聽Fidelity聽and聽T. Rowe Pricecurrently are all invested in a mix of roughly 90% stocks and 10% bonds, so it might seem like they鈥檙e the same. But as I approach retirement, the funds鈥� glide paths 鈥� how that investment mix changes over time 鈥� start to differ. In 2030, when I have 20 years until retirement, the Fidelity fund will still contain 90% stocks. The Vanguard fund will hold about 83% in stocks, and T. Rowe Price just 71%. None of those allocations are inherently bad, but there鈥檚 likely one that better reflects how I鈥檇 like to be invested at that time.

The problem: Many 401(k)s only offer target-date funds from one fund provider, which means I may be stuck with just one choice for a 2050 fund.

Tip: Select a fund not based on the year in its name, but on how it invests. You can find a fund鈥檚 glide path on the fund company鈥檚 website. If it takes too much risk for your comfort, look at a fund with an earlier year. If it takes too little, stretch to a later year. The other, and potentially better, option is to build and manage your own portfolio 鈥斅爐arget-date funds can be expensive, anyway.

3. Subtract your age from 100 to determine your asset allocation.

The resulting number, legend says, is the percentage of your retirement portfolio that should be invested in stocks. The rest goes into bonds. As you can see above, the target-date funds I mentioned are already breaking this rule. Here鈥檚 why: As life expectancies tick up,聽investing in stocks聽for longer can provide the growth your money needs to tick up with them.

This rule also takes literally nothing outside of your age into account, and it assumes a standard retirement age. But maybe you want to work well into your 70s, or you鈥檝e bought into the promise that using Facebook to sell workout DVDs, essential oils or oysters with pearls inside 鈥� I swear聽this is a thing聽鈥� means retirement at 40.

Tip: Try an asset allocation tool instead, like聽this one from Vanguardor聽this one from Personal Capital.

4. Build an emergency fund before saving for retirement.

An emergency fund is important, but having the full recommended three-to-six months of expenses stashed away is less so, especially if putting that cash together means you鈥檒l miss out on 401(k) matching dollars. That match is a guaranteed return. (You can use a聽401(k) calculator聽to see just how valuable that is.)

Tip: Just $500 in the bank is enough to cover many sudden expenses. You can go back and add more once you鈥檝e contributed enough to your 401(k) to grab the full match.

Arielle O鈥橲hea is a staff writer at NerdWallet, a personal finance website. Email: aoshea@nerdwallet.com. Twitter:聽@arioshea.

This article was written by NerdWallet and was originally published by聽Forbes.