13 of the Biggest Retirement Regrets Among Seniors

Time and careful planning are what you need to retire and live happily ever after, but sadly often life gets in the way. (The coronavirus pandemic would be a good example.) No one is perfect, and many retirees have regrets when they reach retirement. We've talked to both senior financial planning experts and retirees alike about some common regrets. If you aren't at retirement age, then you've still got time to right some of these so you can retire regret-free.

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Echoed time and time again from retirees, the top regret overall seems to be not saving for retirement early enough. Time is of the essence and the more time you have to save for retirement, the better off you'll be. Brent Weiss, CFP, co-founder of Baltimore-based Facet Wealth, says, "Getting started early is the single most important thing an individual or family can do to put themselves on track for a financially healthy retirement. Many individuals and families wait too long to start saving for retirement, and then they have to play catch up later in life. Starting later means we miss out on the most powerful friend we have in achieving our retirement goal — compound interest."

Related: 11 Ways to Jump-Start Your Retirement Savings If You've Been Procrastinating

One of the biggest assets in retirement, especially if it's paid off, is your house. Still, many retirees regret buying a much bigger house than they actually need. The goal should be buying a house that you can pay off prior to retirement. That frees up your retirement income for other expenses, such as increased health care costs. Downsizing to a smaller home is one way to cut costs later in life, but there are plenty of pitfalls to avoid with downsizing as well.

Tied closely to not saving early enough is not saving enough for retirement. "A recurring top regret of seniors is not having saved enough," says Facet Wealth's Brent Weiss. "I believe this is a byproduct of not having started early enough."

Instead of banking raises and bonuses, people often buy into consumerism, explains Jonathan Look Jr., a retiree and retirement expert at Life Part 2. Retirement is a time to seek more experiences and adventures. All those big, expensive things you thought you needed prior to retirement, you realize too late that you didn't. Unfortunately, when you are working and have little vacation time, people use consumerism as a substitute, Look says.

There are two parts to having debt: You can have too much debt prior to retirement which will mean less savings to rely on, and you can carry debt into retirement which means a certain burden in retirement. "With greater access to debt, we have seen the average household debt level rise, even amongst the senior population," says Facet Wealth's Brent Weiss. "Whether it's a mortgage, or a car loan, or credit card debt, these loans can be hard for a retiree on a fixed income to manage if not properly planned for. There is an emotional element to this as well. Having debt in retirement simply feels like a burden, regardless of whether it is or not."

Related: 26 Tactics for Getting Out of Debt

Aside from not saving early enough or saving enough, Facet Wealth's Brent Weiss says many families don't know how much they need to save. This can ultimately result in putting off saving altogether because it is such a challenge to know where to start. To solve this problem, individuals and families need to envision their retirement and what they expect out of it, then put hard numbers to that vision and make a plan toward that number goal.

In order to reach your financial retirement goals, you have to plan. That planning starts with a budget before retirement. "Many seniors realize they never knew just how much money they spent per year before they retired as they had never truly tracked their spending. This then causes seniors to then not know how much money is required to sustain their lifestyle going forward," says Renee Fry, CEO of estate planning site Gentreo. "From homes to travel to food and daily living expenses, seniors need to plan for the life they dreamt about or they will regret not being able to live the lives they dreamed of for so long."

Many people in retirement realize that a frugal lifestyle saves in the long run and regret not embracing this sooner in life. "There is a simple equation that defines success in almost all financial plans. Spending less plus saving more equals greater financial success for a defined goal," says Facet Wealth's Brent Weiss. "Families that understand there needs to be a balance between our lifestyle today and our savings for tomorrow find themselves in a healthier position financially when they approach retirement," he says.

It's common for people to retire with their assets being their home, 401k, and maybe a Roth IRA. But you can get a lot further in retirement with more diversification. "From a financial planner perspective, a financial regret that I see is not having built tax diversification of assets into the overall financial plan," says Facet Weath's Brent Weiss. "Having different buckets of retirement assets that are taxed differently can give seniors a great deal of flexibility in creating income and reducing their tax burden during retirement."

Related: 11 Feel-Good Ways to Invest Your Savings

Many retirees regret not investing more money or not investing it the right way earlier. Many would have much more in retirement savings if their younger self had invested better earlier. According to Dave Ramsey's investing advice website, you should divide your mutual fund investments into four parts: growth, growth and income, aggressive growth, and international. A good financial planner can help you spread your investments across these four buckets to maximize your retirement planning.

Sadly, as you get older the chances of losing a spouse increase. Many people are in denial and don't plan for this major life event. "When one spouse passes away before the other, life, income, and taxes change. So, a plan needs to be in place should this happen to you," says Michael Foguth, founder of Foguth Financial Group. A financial planner will be able to help you get a plan in place should this happen.

Seventy percent of Americans over the age of 70 will require some form of long term care at some point, according to insurance consultant Zack Taylor. "Most people think of long term care as living in a nursing home or assisted living facilities, but 70 percent of claims begin when they're living at home," he says. "The average amount of time people need long-term care is five years, and the average annual cost is $100k." Having a plan in place for this is necessary. "Somebody is going to have to pay those expenses, and it will come out of your estate if you don't," he says. One option is instead of going for a use-it-or-lose-it type of plan, find one where if you don't end up needing it, you can leave the money to a beneficiary or get it back after a surrender period, Taylor recommends. 

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One common regret among retirees is claiming Social Security too early. You can begin claiming it at 62 years old, but it pays to wait. Claiming benefits at age 62 means payments will be 25 percent to 30 percent lower than what your payments would be if you waited just a few more years. Age 66 to 67, depending on the year you were born, is when you can claim your full Social Security payment benefit. Even better, payments after that rise 8 percent annually up to the age of 70. If you can hold out until 66 or even 70, you will get much bigger payments and be less likely to live in poverty in your golden years.

If you aren't financially burdened to keep working, then why would you work when you could retire? Maybe you love what you do and it doesn't feel like work, but that isn't the case for a lot of people. "Retirement is a time to learn new things and have new experiences," says Jonathan Look Jr. of Life Part 2. "Unfortunately, hanging on too long causes you to deplete what is ultimately you most valuable resource — time. I have yet to meet anyone who says they were sorry for retiring early."