Financial Regrets
June 7, 2024
A 2023 survey found that about three out of four U.S. adults had a financial regret. The most common were not saving for retirement early enough, taking on too much credit card debt, and not saving enough for emergency expenses. It’s probably not surprising that the weight that people placed on these and other regrets varied by generation — and regret about not saving early enough for retirement was higher for those closer to retirement age.
Biggest financial regret, by generation (estimated)
Not saving for retirement early enough
- Millennials 10%
- Gen X 25%
- Baby boomers 34%
Taking on too much credit card debt
- Millennials 15%
- Gen X 17%
- Baby boomers 14%
Not saving enough for emergency expenses
- Millennials 16%
- Gen X 13%
- Baby boomers 9%
Taking on too much student loan debt
- Millennials 8%
- Gen X 7%
- Baby boomers 2%
Not saving enough for children’s education
- Millennials 4%
- Gen X 4%
- Baby boomers 2%
Buying more house than can afford
- Millennials 5%
- Gen X 3%
- Baby boomers 1%
No financial regrets
- Millennials 20%
- Gen X 15%
- Baby boomers 20%
Source: Bankrate, July 19, 2023 (categories not shown include “something else” and “don’t know”)
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