5 Retirees Reveal the Mistakes They Really Regret

Retiring is a major life decision, one that’s sometimes hard to plan properly. Even those who wait to retire until they’re older — in their 60s, 70s or beyond — don’t always have it all figured out.

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Whether you’re a soon-to-be retiree, you’ve already retired or you still have years to go, it never hurts to hear other people’s cautionary tales. GOBankingRates spoke with several retirees about their biggest mistakes that they regret.

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Retiree 1: Not Taking Social Security at Age 62

For Lina Lambert, a retired California Realtor, one of her biggest regrets is not taking Social Security when she turned 62. Her husband, who was three and a half years older than her, kept working and waited to collect benefits until he was 66. He was also able to continue working a little while still receiving benefits.

For Lina, she realized she’d only receive about $900 a month in Social Security if she started collecting when she turned 62. Given this, she decided to wait to collect until she was 66 since her benefits amount would be $1,700.

Life, unfortunately, doesn’t always go the way we plan. Three years later, Lina’s husband passed away, putting a wrench in her retirement plans.

When her husband died, Lina was 65 years old, just a little short of getting the full surviving spouse benefit that comes in at 66. Given the rules of Social Security, she had to decide between taking her own benefit amount, which was about $1,200 at that point, or waiting another year to get her husband’s spousal benefits — which would have been around $2,500.

Had she started taking her own benefits at 62 while her husband was still alive, they would have had a higher income for the two of them — and she would have been able to collect during those three years that he was still with her. That extra cash could have gone toward investments, savings or their retirement accounts.

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Retiree 2: Living Too Frugally

It’s hard to imagine that living frugally would come back to haunt you, but it certainly can. For 78-year-old Agnes P., someone who saved as much as she possibly could during her working years, she found herself with plenty of money, but too few happy memories from her life before retirement.

“I was so focused on saving that I forgot to actually live,” Agnes said.

She skipped vacations and fun times with friends. She said no to dining out, Broadway shows and the like. And by the time she retired, years and years of saving and compound interest gave her a sizable nest egg — but she felt the sting of far too many missed opportunities.

Agnes said that she wishes she’d traveled when she was younger and had more energy. Now that she’s in her late 70s, her health isn’t the best and it’s harder to enjoy even short outings.

While having a large nest egg is important, so is taking time to enjoy the present moment. It’s important to find a balance between the two so that when you look back on your life, you have both those good memories and the financial stability you need.

Retirees 3, 4 and 5: Spending Too Much or Simply Not Having Enough

For Mark Lacy, a 65-year-old based in Seattle, the story goes quite a bit differently. Rather than having too much money in retirement, he ended up not having enough — largely due to expenses that he didn’t expect to have. According to Mark, he ended up financially supporting his two sons long after they graduated from high school. This resulted in a $400,000 loss in retirement funds to cover expenses like college tuition and plane tickets.

Another retiree, Gregory Boulware, shared that he was able to retire after 30 years as a truck driver back in 2008. However, he had to return to work in 2020 after deciding not to rent — as rent kept increasing — and buying a house with his wife. They made this purchase with their life savings, but even then struggled financially, resulting in his return to the workforce in a clerical role.

Joyce Fleming, a 70-year-old nurse who retired back in 2019, shared that she also had to go back to work because of financial concerns. In her case, she wasn’t quite prepared for the way everyday costs like groceries, car ownership, insurance and housing skyrocketed at the time. Now, she works at an amusement park call center while searching for a higher-paying nursing job.

This article originally appeared on GOBankingRates.com : 5 Retirees Reveal the Mistakes They Really Regret