Many Have Retirement Savings Regrets

This article is from the September 2024 issue.

As someone who is seriously thinking about retirement, I have all the common regrets that many people have when it comes to retirement savings. The top one being that I wish I had started saving sooner. But when you have children (with all their financial needs) and high expenses for essential living items (i.e., mortgage, groceries, utilities, transportation, etc.) it can be difficult to consider setting money aside for some time in the distant future. I also wish I had not withdrawn funds from my retirement account. Here too, I had a good reason for doing so. However we explain our actions related to saving for retirement, it seems that the majority of full-time American workers have regrets about their retirement decisions.

A new survey conducted by Censuswide and commissioned by Human Interest revealed that 83% of American workers surveyed have regrets about their retirement planning decisions. 

Here are additional findings of the survey.

Working longer

  • 41% of Americans expect to retire later than planned due to recent financial circumstances.
  • 83% plan to continue working after retirement.
  • 68% of respondents said they wish they would have started saving for retirement sooner. Notably, 19% said they didn’t start saving until they were age 41 or older.

Withdrawing funds from 401(k)s

  • 37% of respondents reported having removed money from their retirement accounts. 
  • 17% of respondents said they had taken a loan against their 401(k).
  • 23% said they had withdrawn money early before retirement.
  • 48% of those who took out a loan against their 401(k) and 60% who withdrew money said they regretted the choice.

Investing too late

  • This was the most common regret among survey respondents at 26%.
  • That was followed by investing too small a percentage or amount of money (14%).
  • Others regretted not having enough knowledge to make informed decisions (13%).

Employers can help

  • Employers have a strong influence on their employees’ retirement investment decisions. 
  • When employers offer education around financial wellness, employees are more likely to enroll in their employer-sponsored plan. 
  • Employers can pay wages that keeps up with inflation so that employees aren’t struggling to choose between paying for life’s basic necessities vs. saving for retirement.

See the complete Retirement Roadblocks Survey 2024

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