No one ever wants to look back in regret. But for many retirees, that’s the reality.
Not to be a downer at this fresh start time of year, but it’s useful to hear retirees’ regrets — especially if you’re closing in on retirement yourself.
“Despite improvements in savings habits and financial engagement, many retirees regret some of the decisions they made earlier in life when preparing for retirement,” Suzanne Ricklin, vice president of retirement solutions at Nationwide Financial, told Yahoo Finance. “More than 8 in 10 workers over 45 regret not taking retirement saving more seriously when they were younger.”
Here are five of retirees’ biggest regrets:
Fewer than 1 in 4 retirees are very confident they will be able to maintain a comfortable lifestyle throughout their retirement, according to a new report by the nonprofit Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies.
The estimated median household savings among retirees, excluding home equity, in this survey is only $71,000. The estimated median home equity among retirees is $114,000. But 1 in 4 retirees do not have any home equity.
More than two-thirds of retirees wish they would have saved more and on a consistent basis — and half wish they hadn’t waited so long “to concern themselves with saving and investing for retirement,” according to the researchers.
“Many of today’s retirees lacked the awareness, know-how, and access to resources needed to successfully prepare themselves for retirement,” Catherine Collinson, CEO and president of Transamerica Institute, told Yahoo Finance.
“Their careers began 40 or 50 or more years ago — which was long before the advent of 401(k)s and the societal imperative for people to self-fund a larger portion of their retirement income,” she said.
For many women, the shortfall stems from a late start. Research from Corebridge Financial found that more than 6 in 10 retired women wish they had started saving for retirement earlier – only about a quarter of them began saving and investing between the ages of 18 and 29. Worse yet, about 4 in 10 retired women say they did not begin prioritizing their financial and retirement planning until 41 or later, and 20% said they still have not started.
What?!
“All this points to the importance of saving early in your working years,” Terri Fiedler, Corebridge Financial president of retirement services, told Yahoo Finance. “This came through loud and clear in our survey. Knowing what they know now, this was the No. 1 piece of advice retired women would give their younger selves about retirement planning.”
Nearly 3 in 10 retirees started receiving benefits at age 62, which is the earliest age possible, according to new report. (Getty Creative) ·Douglas Sacha via Getty Images
One of the biggest gaffes people make when it comes to Social Security is claiming too early at a much lower benefit. You can improve your odds of not outliving your savings by delaying taking Social Security benefits, which will increase your monthly check considerably for decades.
But many people don’t — or can’t — wait. The median age at which retirees started receiving benefits is 63, according to the Transamerica report. Nearly 3 in 10 retirees started receiving benefits at age 62, which is the earliest age possible, resulting in a much-reduced benefit. Only a slim fraction, 4%, of retirees waited until age 70.
Here’s how the math works. If you have the flexibility to delay benefits, the increase that you get by waiting is substantial. Pushing back tapping your benefits from your full retirement age, or FRA — either 66 or 67 — until age 70, you earn delayed retirement credits. Those come to roughly an 8% per year annual increase in your benefit for each year until you hit 70, when the credits stop accruing.
While there are clearly good personal reasons for claiming early, such as poor health or financial constraints, the psychological tug is often what pushes retirees to get their checks rolling earlier rather than later.
Perhaps the biggest factor is the psychological ownership of one’s Social Security benefits, according to Suzanne Shu, a professor of marketing at Cornell University.
Nearly half of retirees said that debt was a stumbling block that prevented them from saving for retirement, according to the Transamerica report.
And once they retired, almost 7 in 10 reported carrying outstanding credit card debt, per a survey from the Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI). That’s up from 4 in 10 four years ago.
And one-third said their spending is much higher than they can afford in 2024, nearly double the respondents from 2020.
Almost 6 in 10 retirees retired sooner than planned, per Transamerica (Getty Creative) ·WC.GI via Getty Images
Sometimes the decision to retire is a regret. About one-third of retirees regretted not working longer, according to Olivia Mitchell, co-author of a paper published in the National Bureau of Economic Research.
The financial upside of working past the traditional retirement age is clear: more years of earning and saving, not needing to dip into retirement savings so those funds can stay invested and grow, and having the ability to push back claiming Social Security.
Sometimes the choice, however, is made for you. More than half of those surveyed by EBRI retired earlier than expected due to reasons beyond their control, such as health problems or disability, or changes at their company, like downsizing, closure, or reorganization.
Almost 6 in 10 retirees retired sooner than planned, per Transamerica. Only 1 in 5 retired early because they were financially able.
Retirees typically regret not preparing emotionally and having a plan for the transition to retirement and what’s next, Preston Cherry, a certified financial planner, told Yahoo Finance.
“These are having answers to questions such as: What am I going to do next? How am I going to do it? How am I going to reacclimate myself into hobbies and know myself?” he said.
“They regret that it took them so long to give themselves permission to retire, and then to unplug from an identity that they may be used to — whether it be their business or corporate job.”
In general, retirees are happy, have close relationships with family and friends, are enjoying life, have a positive view of aging, have a strong sense of purpose, and have an active social life.
In fact, more than 4 in 10 retirees have experienced improvements to their enjoyment of life and happiness since they stepped out of the workforce, Transamerica data found. In addition, many are actually spending more time with family and friends and pursuing hobbies than they had expected would be possible.
Over half of retired women rate their financial health as good or very good, compared to just 38% of those not retired, according to Corebridge’s research.
“One thing that stood out in the data is the fact that retired women are more likely to describe their financial health positively than those still in their working years,” Fielder said. “It’s surprising that many women who have retired from the workforce seem to feel more secure about their finances than women who are still earning a paycheck.”
The runway ahead is different for all of us, so how to create a life without regrets is not a cookie-cutter endeavor.
“Retirement is highly personal,” Collinson said. “People retire at different ages and for different reasons.”
Have a question about retirement? Personal finances? Anything career-related? Click here to drop Kerry Hannon a note.
More retirees say surprise—they are happier in retirement than they expected to be, (Getty Creative) ·Tom Merton via Getty Images
How about this for an intention for 2025: “Retirees with financial regrets should create a written financial plan,” Collinson said.
Factor in living expenses, debt repayment, savings, and investments. Then look at how your asset allocation is divided between bonds, cash, and stocks so that it’s balanced for your risk tolerance, age, and goals. Review sources of guaranteed retirement income, healthcare needs, insurance protections, taxes, and the possible need for long-term care.
And don’t forget inflation.”Many retirees were caught off guard these past few years,” she said. “Hopefully, inflation is back under control, but it will always pose a potential risk to retirees and their buying power.”
Only 19% of retirees have a written plan, she added. “But just because you’re already retired doesn’t mean you can’t do some retirement planning to know where you stand and give yourself a boost.”
Kerry Hannon is a Senior Columnist at Yahoo Finance. She is a career and retirement strategist, and the author of 14 books, including “In Control at 50+: How to Succeed in The New World of Work” and “Never Too Old To Get Rich.” Follow her on Bluesky.
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Kara Miles is a news writer, who loves to write about politics, health, business, parenting, and finance. She has two kids, who she loves to take on adventures with her. She also loves writing about her hobbies as well.
