The biggest retirement regrets Australians share are surprisingly consistent. Across thousands of conversations with retirees and people approaching retirement, the same themes come up again and again. Not enough super. Retiring too early, or working too long. Not understanding the Age Pension. Spending too much in the first few years. And, perhaps the most surprising: not knowing what to do with yourself once work stopped.
Most of these regrets are preventable. All of them are worth understanding before you make the decisions that can’t be undone.
Regret 1: Not Starting Financial Planning Early Enough
This is the most common retirement regret by a significant margin. The version we hear most often: “I wish I’d done this five years ago.”
It’s not that people don’t think about retirement. It’s that thinking about it and actually modelling it, understanding your super balance, mapping out your spending, reviewing your investment option, are different things. Many people spend 20 years meaning to get advice and then arrive at 60 with less time to act on it than they needed.
The decade from 50 to 60 is where most of the high-leverage retirement planning decisions happen. Catch-up contributions, salary sacrifice, investment option reviews, debt clearance, and Age Pension structuring all have more impact in this window than at any other stage. Missing it doesn’t mean you can’t have a good retirement. But the regret of knowing what was possible and not acting on it is real.
If you’re reading this in your 50s and haven’t reviewed your retirement position, that is the single most useful thing you can do this year. The free Wealthlab super calculator is a ten-minute starting point.
Regret 2: Retiring Too Early Without Enough Super
Around 40% of Australians retire earlier than they planned, according to ABS data. For most, the reason isn’t a planned early retirement. It’s health, redundancy, caring responsibilities, or a workplace change that forces the decision. Suddenly you’re 59 with $280,000 in super and eight years before the Age Pension, and the bridge feels very different to how you imagined it.
The regret here is not the timing itself. It’s not having a plan for it. People who retired involuntarily at 58 or 60 with moderate super balances and a clear plan for the bridge years often manage well. People who retired at the same age with no plan, and spent the first two years drawing heavily from super without understanding the Age Pension implications, often don’t.
The ASFA comfortable retirement benchmark (February 2026) is $630,000 for a single homeowner at 67 and $730,000 for a couple. Most Australians retire with less than this. The national average at 60 to 64 is approximately $396,000 for men and $313,000 for women. That’s not a comfortable benchmark. But it’s a real number that millions of Australians manage to build a life around, with the right structure.
Please note: All figures and examples in this article are for general illustration only. This is general information, not personal advice.
Regret 3: Working Too Long and Missing Active Retirement Years
The opposite regret is equally common and less talked about: working longer than necessary and missing the years when you had the health and energy to actually enjoy retirement.
The spending wave in retirement peaks in the early active years, when you’re healthy enough to travel, take on physical hobbies, and spend time with family the way you always imagined. It drops significantly in the middle years, then rises again with healthcare costs in the late 70s and 80s. A person who retires at 67 instead of 63 doesn’t just work four more years. They often miss the four most active years of their retirement.
As Scott discussed in Episode 19 of the Wealthlab Podcast: “Is Early Retirement a Trap? The $150K Gap Most Aussies Miss,” “The spending wave in retirement peaks in the early active years. Deferring retirement to build a larger balance can mean a higher number at 67 but fewer active years to spend it.”
The calculation is not just financial. It’s: what am I actually optimising for?
Regret 4: Overestimating What the Age Pension Covers
Many Australians retire with a vague expectation that the Age Pension will “cover the basics.” The reality is more specific.
The full Age Pension from March 2026 is approximately $29,000 per year for a single person and $43,700 per year for a couple combined (including all supplements). That covers essential costs for a homeowner with no debt. It does not cover a comfortable lifestyle, regular dining out, annual travel, private health insurance, or any significant discretionary spending.
The retirees who regret relying too heavily on the pension are almost always the ones who didn’t model their actual spending before retiring. The difference between what you need and what the pension provides is what your super is meant to fill. If you retire without knowing that number precisely, the gap can be confronting.
One specific trap: assuming Age Pension eligibility is automatic or straightforward. The assets test and income test are more nuanced than most people expect, and how you structure your assets before 67 makes a real difference to how much pension you receive. Phil and Dan covered this with real case studies in Episode 10 of the Wealthlab Podcast: “How the Age Pension Really Works.”
Source: Services Australia: Age Pension rates (Current as at May 2026)
Regret 5: Spending Too Much in the First Two Years
One of the most consistent financial regrets in retirement is spending heavily in the first one to two years without a drawdown plan.
It’s completely understandable. After decades of working and saving, retirement feels like permission to enjoy it. The first overseas trip, the kitchen renovation that always got deferred, the new car. And for people with $400,000 to $600,000 in super, the balance feels large enough to absorb it.
The problem is compound growth works in reverse when you’re drawing down. Taking $80,000 out of super in the first year doesn’t just remove $80,000. It removes $80,000 plus the 25 years of returns that money would have generated. A single large early withdrawal can shorten a retirement by years.
The retirees who avoid this regret tend to approach the first 12 months as a trial budget period rather than a spending release. They set a spending target, track it, and adjust at the end of the first year rather than discovering the problem five years in.
A sustainable drawdown rate of 4% to 5% per year is the commonly cited guideline. On $500,000, that’s $20,000 to $25,000 from super per year, supplemented by the Age Pension from 67.
Regret 6: Not Understanding Healthcare Costs
Healthcare is the most consistently underestimated retirement expense, and the regrets around it tend to arrive late when the costs are already happening.
Medicare covers a significant portion of medical costs, but dental, optical, physiotherapy, hearing aids, and many specialist services are either not covered or require significant out-of-pocket contributions. A single dental implant can cost $3,000 to $5,000. Hearing aids, not covered by Medicare, typically cost $3,000 to $8,000 per pair. A hip replacement, while covered under public waiting lists, often prompts private hospital use at $15,000 to $40,000.
The ASFA comfortable retirement standard allocates approximately $7,000 to $9,000 per year for healthcare costs for a single retiree. In practice, many retirees in their mid-to-late 70s and 80s spend significantly more.
As noted in Episode 19 of the Wealthlab Podcast, the final 24 months of life consume 50% to 80% of total lifetime healthcare spending. Planning for the healthcare cost curve, not just the average, is what separates prepared retirees from those who face financial stress late in life.
Regret 7: Keeping Super in the Wrong Investment Option
Thousands of Australians reach retirement in a conservative or cash-heavy super option they drifted into years earlier without realising it. Many default to conservative as they approach retirement without understanding the cost of that decision over a 25-year retirement horizon.
A balanced or growth option typically earns 5% to 7% per year over the long term. A conservative option typically earns 2% to 3.5%. On a $400,000 balance, the difference over 20 years compounds into hundreds of thousands of dollars in lost growth.
The regret is not having made an aggressive choice. The regret is having made no deliberate choice at all. As Scott covered in Episode 1 of the Wealthlab Podcast: “Why Playing It Safe in Retirement Can Cost You More,” a couple with $500,000 in a growth portfolio versus a conservative one can see a difference of 15 or more years in how long their money lasts.
Checking your investment option and making a deliberate decision, rather than accepting a default, is one of the simplest and most impactful things you can do before and in early retirement.
Regret 8: Not Clearing Debt Before Retiring
Carrying a mortgage or significant personal debt into retirement on a fixed income is one of the most commonly regretted decisions in retirement planning.
The regret typically isn’t “I should have paid off the mortgage instead of saving in super.” It’s “I should have done both, and I left it too late to do either.” People who retire at 62 with a $120,000 mortgage on a $35,000 per year income face a genuinely difficult few years, even if the super balance is reasonable.
The goal most financial planners point toward: enter retirement with no debt and a paid-off home. The home is exempt from the Age Pension assets test regardless of its value. The paid-off mortgage reduces your annual spending needs by $15,000 to $25,000, which dramatically extends how long a moderate super balance lasts.
For a full breakdown of how to think through the mortgage versus super decision, see our guide on should I pay off my mortgage or put money in super.
Regret 9: Losing Purpose and Social Connection
Not all retirement regrets are financial. Some of the most commonly reported are personal.
Work provides routine, identity, social connection and mental stimulation. Many retirees underestimate how much these things mattered to them until they’re gone. The first few months of retirement can feel like an extended holiday. Then the structure dissolves, contact with colleagues fades, and the days start to feel shapeless.
Retirees who navigated this well typically had an answer to the question “what am I retiring to?” before they stopped working, not just “what am I retiring from?” Volunteering, joining community groups, part-time consulting, learning new skills, physical activity, and maintaining deliberate social routines are all cited by retirees who found purpose in retirement.
As Scott covered in Episode 8 of the Wealthlab Podcast: “The Psychology of Money,” “The goal isn’t to die with the largest super balance possible. The goal is to convert capital into confident living.” Confident living requires knowing what you’re going to do with your days, not just what you’re going to do with your money.
Regret 10: Not Getting Advice Earlier
The last regret ties everything together. The retirees who look back most clearly at what could have been done differently almost always point to advice, or the absence of it.
Not because advisers have magical answers. But because having someone map out the interaction between super, the Age Pension, tax, debt, insurance and estate planning, while there is still time to act on it, produces genuinely different outcomes.
The decisions made in the five years before retirement have more long-term impact than any made in the ten years before that. Catch-up contributions, income structuring, investment option changes, and Age Pension planning all have far greater leverage at 57 than at 63.
If you’re reading this before you retire and haven’t had that conversation yet, that is the most useful action you can take.
Scott and Phil covered what good financial advice looks like and the red flags to avoid in Episode 23 of the Wealthlab Podcast.
What Is the Best Time to Retire in Australia?
The “best time to retire” question has a financial answer and a personal one. Both matter.
Financially: The later you retire, the more your super benefits from contributions and compound growth, and the shorter the period your money needs to fund before the Age Pension starts. Retiring at 67 instead of 60 adds seven years of employer SG contributions, seven years of investment growth, and eliminates the bridge period entirely.
Practically: Age Pension eligibility starts at 67 for anyone born on or after 1 January 1957. Preservation age (when you can access super) is 60. The five to seven years between those two points is the bridge that requires the most planning.
Personally: Health, energy, and quality of life are finite. Retiring at 60 in good health gives you active years that retiring at 67 may not. This is the factor the spreadsheet doesn’t capture and the reason the “best time to retire” is genuinely different for every person.
Most Australians retire between 62 and 65. The people who retire confidently at that age, regardless of balance, are the ones who planned it deliberately rather than arriving at it by accident.
Frequently Asked Questions
What are the biggest regrets in retirement?
The most commonly reported retirement regrets in Australia are: not starting financial planning early enough, overestimating what the Age Pension covers, spending too much in the first few years, underestimating healthcare costs, keeping super in the wrong investment option, carrying debt into retirement, and losing a sense of purpose once work stopped. Most are preventable with planning.
What do retirees regret most?
Research and adviser experience consistently point to starting financial planning too late as the single most common regret. Many retirees say they could have been in a significantly better position if they had modelled their retirement and taken advice five to ten years earlier, when there was still time to act on contribution strategies and structural decisions.
What are common retirement mistakes in Australia?
The most common retirement mistakes include: leaving super in a default conservative investment option for too long, not using catch-up concessional contributions before they expire, retiring without a drawdown plan, failing to understand the Age Pension assets test thresholds, and not clearing the mortgage before stopping work.
What is the best age to retire in Australia?
There is no single best retirement age. Preservation age is 60. Age Pension eligibility is 67. Financially, retiring later gives more time for super to grow and a shorter self-funded bridge. Personally, retiring while still healthy and active allows more quality time to enjoy retirement. Most Australian financial planners point to 62 to 65 as the sweet spot for many people, when health is still good and the bridge is manageable.
How do I avoid regrets in retirement?
The clearest path to avoiding retirement regrets is deliberate planning five or more years before your intended retirement date. Key actions: understand your retirement number, review and maximise super contributions, model the Age Pension interaction, clear debt before retiring, make a deliberate investment option choice, and plan what you’re going to do with your time, not just your money.
What happens to your sense of purpose when you retire?
Loss of routine, identity and social connection is one of the most commonly under-planned aspects of retirement. Work provides structure and mental stimulation that many people don’t realise they valued until it’s gone. Planning what you are retiring to, not just from, is as important as the financial planning.
The Regrets Are Preventable. The Planning Starts Now.
Every regret listed in this article has a prevention. The common thread is time: almost all of them are easier to address five years before retirement than five years after.
If you want to check where your super stands and what your retirement income could look like, start with the free Wealthlab super calculator.
If you’d like to have the proper planning conversation before you retire rather than after, book a free chat with the Wealthlab team. No jargon, no pressure, just an honest look at where you stand.
