Saving for retirement is above all preparing for the future. But once they reach retirement age, many Americans find themselves regretting the past.
Research shows that a majority of older Americans wish they were better prepared for their golden years. According to an article by researchers from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the University of Pennsylvania published in the National Bureau of Economic Research, nearly six in 10 Americans aged 50 and older would have liked to save more for their retirement. Other regrets are more specific: respondents would have liked to have been better prepared for health expenses, to have applied for social security later or to have stayed longer in the labor market.
The good news is that there are ways to avoid these unfortunate decisions before it’s too late – or even after, to mitigate their consequences. Counselors can help you. The key, experts say, is to get the client to imagine what their ideal retirement looks like – and doesn’t look like – in as much detail as possible.
“Don’t just set a goal to have no regrets, but think about the regrets you don’t want to have,” said Jacquette Timmons, financial behaviorist and CEO of Sterling Investment Management. “The more specific you are about the regret you want to avoid, the more intentional you can be about what you do or don’t do today.”
Here’s an overview of the top retirement regrets in the United States and how advisors can help clients avoid them.