The biggest pension regrets – and how to avoid them

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If they are given the opportunity to do things over, many retirees say they would make financial decisions differently.

According to the survey Olivia MitchellA professor at Barton and CEO of the Pension Council, most adults over the age of 50 examined by Mitchell expressed strong regret over insufficient savings.

“Most of the respondents said they wanted to save more,” Mitchell said in a recent episode of retirement decoding (see video above or listen below). “Only 2% said they wished to save less.”

Pensioners also pointed out other mourners. Many were sorry that they did not work longer and did not delay social security claims – both would increase their retirement revenue.

Another notable finding was regrettable for failing to provide life’s revenue, such as annuity. Annuities provide constant income, which facilitates cost management, especially since cognitive capabilities are reduced by age.

“Many people are financially not as literate as they were when they were younger,” Mitchell said. “And having that constant income is and can be a real impetus. People were sorry that they didn’t do it too. “

Read more: Fixed Annuities vs. CDS: What is better for retirement savings?

In the announcement, Mitchell also referred to the increased number of older adults who retire with mortgage debt, student debt, credit card debt and the like.

According to Mitchell, older adults were sometimes proud of being retired without debt-so much that mortgage burning ceremonies were a common tradition in the 20th century America.

Sherningham, England - September 17: A group of older citizens with a dog look above the seabud to the sea on September 17, 2024 in Sherningham, UK. (Photo: CEON KIBL/Goeta Pictures)
A group of older citizens with a dog look above the sea to the sea on September 17, 2024, in Sherningham, UK. (CEON KIBL/Goet Pictures) · Keon Kibles through Goethy Pictures

“But that attitude is not true for retirees today,” she said.

More and more retirees are now retiring without paying the mortgage – and in some cases, they even occupy a greater mortgage when moving to a solar climate or other state.

Credit card debt has also become increasing concern for pensioners. And weird, about 6% of pensioners are now seeing their social security checks decorated because of unpaid student loans – either theirs or those taken out for their children, Mitchell said.

“So, debt is increasingly disturbing the older population,” she said.

Read more: How to pay off your credit card debt when your budget is tightened

Further, Mitchell noted that high inflation led to increased interest rates on different types of debt, including mortgages, credit cards and student loans.

“It is becoming a very big challenge for people to meet the increase in debt payments, retirement debt liabilities,” Mitchell said. “So, my advice is to try to really put your debt under control. Pay everything you can. Destroy your credit cards if you think you are unable to live within your assets. Consider reducing. Consider moving to a state with lower tax rates. All these things are ways to try to stretch your dollar.”

As for her ongoing research, Mitchell is investigating financial councils and how financial advisers can better provide individuals with the information they need to make informed decisions.

“There are many financial advice on the Internet,” she said. “Social media is full of influencers that give financial advice, but some of them are conflicting. Some of them give terrible advice. I would like to see a better way to assess the financial advice where people get what they need throughout their lives. “

Mitchell said she looked at the financial applications that gave advice a few years ago and concluded that they were improving to help you decide how much to save, where to save, how to distribute your portfolio and so on.

However, these applications have fought with key retirement decisions, such as the optimal time to require social security, how to allocate annuity and how to factor in family dynamics.

For example, if one spouse had a defined benefit plan and the other had a defined contribution plan, applications failed to help users optimize their saving and payment strategies together.

“So, I think the whole field of financial councils needs to be really improved and supported,” she said. “Maybe Fintech and the big language models will help.”

She pointed out a Fintech company, in particular, designing avatars to help individuals retire if they follow a life of life against another.

“And I think it’s brilliant,” she said. “There is really the potential to help us paint our future, and that’s exactly what we need to be able to look at the influence of our decisions on our future outcomes.”

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