Financial Regret at Older Ages and Longevity Awareness

Used in 2 entries

For each citing entry, the verbatim excerpt and Likelier's calculation notes (how the source's number was converted to the lifetime-probability framing) are shown below. Click through to read the full claim ledger.

1. [1] Lump sum vs. annuity Decision · inaction side

   Statistic

   In a Health and Retirement Study experiment (N=1,764, age 50+), regret about retirement finances ran toward NOT securing lifetime income: informing people of objective survival odds raised regret about not buying lifetime income by 42%; 26% regretted not annuitizing while only 9% regretted depending on others — there is no comparable survey of annuity holders regretting having annuitized

   “"Many older people express regret about undersaving; here, we extend prior work by reporting regret about five other critical financial topics. Using the Health and Retirement Study, we first show that older people who regret past financial decisions differ significantly from those who do not. Second, in an experiment, we demonstrate that informing people about objective survival probabilities increases regret about not buying lifetime income by 42% overall, and by more among the high income or those in good health."”

   Calculation notes

   Hurwitz & Mitchell (NBER WP 30696, 2022; published Journal of Risk and Insurance, 2025), a randomised experiment embedded in the Health and Retirement Study, N=1,764 US respondents age 50+. The paper's per-topic regret tallies run the opposite direction from an "annuity regret" rate: roughly 52% regretted undersaving, ~26% regretted NOT annuitizing, 19% regretted claiming Social Security early, and only ~9% regretted depending on others. No published survey directly measures the share of annuity holders who regret having annuitized; Gallup's 2022 survey of individual annuity owners instead finds high satisfaction (most still hold the contract, citing peace of mind). The inaction-side rate is therefore a PROXY (proxy_only: true): it is set low (0.09) to reflect that documented direct annuity-holder regret is small and runs counter to the lump-sum side, not a measured "X% of annuitants regret it" figure. Replaces a fabricated EBRI 27%/73% liquidity-regret statistic that does not appear in the 2023 Retirement Confidence Survey.
   

   Source date: 2025-01-01 · Accessed: 2026-06-30

2. [2] Early retirement Decision · action side

   Statistic

   37% of respondents aged 50+ regretted not working longer; 57% regretted not saving more

   “"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."”

   Calculation notes

   Hurwitz & Mitchell, NBER Working Paper 30696 (2022, revised 2023; published in Journal of Risk and Insurance, 2025). Controlled randomized experiment of 1,764 respondents aged 50+. The full list of stated regret rates — 57% not saving more, 40% not buying LTC insurance, 37% not working longer, 33% not buying lifetime income, 23% delaying Social Security, 10% financial dependence — was verified via Knowledge@Wharton's summary of the paper. This is the sole cited source for the "wished they had worked longer" dimension; it is a regret about NOT working longer (i.e. retiring too early), which supports the action-side (early-retirement) regret, not the inaction side.
   

   Source date: 2022-11-01 · Accessed: 2026-04-26