20% of early retirees regret their decision to stop working, and
34% of all retirees wish they had worked longer, according to a
MedicareFAQ survey of 569 retired Americans. On the other side, only
6% of retirees say they regret working too long. This reverses the
typical Gilovich pattern: here, action (retiring early) generates more
regret than inaction (continuing to work). The reason is almost entirely
financial — 86% of the same respondents wished they had saved more, and
75% of early retirees in a separate Manulife study said they regretted
not saving enough.
Hurwitz and Mitchell (NBER Working Paper 30696, 2022) corroborate these
figures with a controlled experiment of 1,764 Americans aged 50 and
older. In their sample, 37% regretted not working longer and 57%
regretted not saving more. The close alignment between the MedicareFAQ
34% and the Hurwitz-Mitchell 37% — from independent samples with
different recruitment methods — strengthens the signal. Börsch-Supan
et al. (2023) further disentangle timing regret from saving regret,
showing that the dominant wish is “I should have saved more,” not “I
should have retired later.” Working longer is often a proxy for the
saving people failed to do.
The action-dominates pattern here is unusual in the Gilovich framework,
where inaction typically wins long-term. The explanation is that early
retirement is not a pure inaction-vs-action binary — it is an
irreversible action with immediate, concrete financial consequences.
People who retire early and run short of money experience the sharp,
specific regret characteristic of action errors. People who work “too
long” experience a diffuse, hard-to-quantify opportunity cost (lost
leisure years), which is easier to rationalize. The 6% floor for
working-too-long regret may also reflect survivorship bias: those who
worked until health failed may not be surveyed.
Sources: action
Claim ledger
Every number below is what each source reported, with the verbatim quote we relied on and how we arrived at our figure. Click any link to verify directly.
[1]MedicareFAQ — Retirement Regrets Statistics: Advice for the Next Generation↗ 1 other entry
Primary study
74% retired early, and of those, 20% regret that decision; 34% of all retirees wished they had worked longer
Excerpt
“"1 in 4 retired Americans say they have regrets now that they've retired. The most common regret involves finances — 86% regret not saving sufficiently before retiring, and 60% acknowledge beginning retirement investments too late."
”
Source data from
2024-01-15
Accessed
2026-04-26
Calculation
MedicareFAQ surveyed 569 retired Americans (online, self-selected) in January 2024. Sample: 65% female, 35% male, ages 27-90 (average 65), average retirement age 58. The original article reported 20% of early retirees (74% of sample) regretting that decision, 34% wishing they had worked longer, and 6% regretting working too long. The page was later revised to headline "1 in 4 have regrets" (25%, broadly consistent). We use the original granular figures (20% action, 6% inaction) which were reported by multiple secondary outlets before the page revision.
[2]National Bureau of Economic Research / Hurwitz & Mitchell — Financial Regret at Older Ages and Longevity Awareness
Peer-reviewed
37% of respondents aged 50+ regretted not working longer; 57% regretted not saving more
Excerpt
“"57% regretted not saving more for retirement, 40% regretted not purchasing Long-Term Care insurance, 37% regretted not working longer, 33% regretted not buying lifetime income payments, 23% regretted delaying Social Security benefit claims, and 10% expressed regret about financial dependence on others."
”
Source data from
2022-11-01
Accessed
2026-04-26
Calculation
Hurwitz & Mitchell, NBER Working Paper 30696 (2022, revised 2023; published in Journal of Risk and Insurance, 2025, 92(3): 719-739). Controlled randomized experiment of 1,764 respondents aged 50+. Their 37% "regretted not working longer" corroborates the MedicareFAQ 34% figure from an independent, academically rigorous sample. The difference (37% vs 34%) is within sampling noise given different populations and question framing.
Sources: inaction
Claim ledger
Every number below is what each source reported, with the verbatim quote we relied on and how we arrived at our figure. Click any link to verify directly.
[1]MedicareFAQ — Retirement Regrets Statistics: Advice for the Next Generation↗ 1 other entry
Primary study
Only 6% of retirees said they regretted working too long
Excerpt
“"1 in 4 retired Americans say they have regrets now that they've retired. Nearly one-quarter (23%) of retirees struggle to discover purpose and fulfillment after leaving the workforce."
”
Source data from
2024-01-15
Accessed
2026-04-26
Calculation
Same MedicareFAQ survey of 569 retired Americans. The 6% is the share of all retirees (not just late retirees) who say they regret working too long — the inaction rate. The original article reported this granular figure alongside the 20% and 34% numbers; the page was later revised to headline "1 in 4 have regrets" broadly. We retain the original 6% figure, which was reported by multiple secondary outlets (Moneywise, ThinkAdvisor) before the page revision.
[2]PMC / Börsch-Supan et al. — Saving Regret and Procrastination↗ 2 other entries
Peer-reviewed
Saving regret dominates working-too-long regret; retirees overwhelmingly wish they had saved more rather than stopped working sooner
Excerpt
“"Saving regret — the wish to have saved more — is pervasive among retirees. It is distinct from and more common than regret about the timing of retirement itself."
”
Source data from
2023-02-15
Accessed
2026-04-25
Calculation
NBER-affiliated peer-reviewed study. Confirms that financial preparedness regret outweighs timing regret, and that few retirees regret having worked too long.
Caveats
The MedicareFAQ sample is self-selected (online survey of people visiting a Medicare information site) and skews older and female. The average retirement age of 58 is below the US median, meaning the sample over-represents early retirees. The 20% early-retirement regret rate likely reflects financial unpreparedness more than a genuine preference for continued employment — 86% of respondents also wished they had saved more. Involuntary early retirees (health problems, layoffs) are conflated with voluntary ones. The 6% working-too-long regret may also be suppressed by survivorship bias: people who worked until they were physically unable may not be well enough to participate in surveys. Survey data are drawn exclusively from United States samples; regret rates in countries with different retirement systems — 401(k) structures, Social Security rules, pension norms, or healthcare entitlements — may differ substantially.
