Common Retirement Regrets

​Gary Lee Hayes, 70, wished he'd been more regimented with his savings and investments. The California resident briefly served in the Navy, got a degree in public administration, and worked in mental health and handyman positions. He had little financial literacy growing up and said he didn't focus on building his career to be more lucrative.

Two of Hayes' main money regrets are not investing in Verizon stock early on and not saving at least 10% of his income each month. He also said he was somewhat too liberal with his spending throughout his life, though he said he didn't purchase anything too far beyond his means. He also avoided putting money into his 401(k) and said he should have chosen more stable investments instead of short-term ones.

"You can't expect that you're all of a sudden going to win the lottery," said Hayes, who receives $1,846 a month in Social Security and lives in government-subsidized housing. "You can't expect that someone's going to pass and leave you an inheritance that will make your life more comfortable."

A major theme among survey respondents was that they lacked knowledge about investing. For some, this meant not saving enough; for others, it meant falling into some common investing mistakes.

Nancy Seeger, 64, who lives outside Cleveland, said she made investing mistakes that had long-term repercussions on her finances. Seeger, who has two master's degrees, worked for many years as a teacher and health librarian. She was laid off earlier this year from her $74,000-a-year job and while she's not ready to fully retire and is still looking for work, she worries she won't be able to land another decent-paying job given her age.
She told BI she wished she could have saved more when her children were young and started retirement funds earlier. While she had some savings, she began consistently putting more into her investments at age 50.

She also didn't realize that because she has a pension in addition to receiving Social Security when she retires, she would be affected by a little-known Social Security provision that would lower her monthly check. Between her pension of $713 monthly and Social Security, which she expects will be between $1,200 and $1,400 monthly, she'll have just enough to cover her rent.
"I was fortunate to get a small inheritance from my parents and an aunt, which saved me, but it's unlikely that I will be able to do the same for my children, and that bothers me a lot," Seeger said. "I had hoped to travel, and I wanted to leave money for my kids, but both of those goals are compromised now."

Calculating how much you need for retirement requires difficult estimations of life expectancy, spending in retirement, and retirement resources. It will require a quarterly meeting where you and I will sit down and discuss estimations of life expectancy, spending in retirement, and retirement resources.