Senior News Line: Retirement regrets?

I was eavesdropping on two senior ladies in a big-box store, specifically in the furniture aisle. Being discussed was a very large TV cabinet with doors and shelving. While it was on sale, the price was apparently not enticing.

“I regret not buying a big television back when I had the money for one, before I went on Social Security,” said one.

“I hear that,” replied the other one. “But my regret is moving into a place that’s too small for me to even have a big TV cabinet like this.”

And there I was, enticed. What is it we all most regret now that we’re seniors? I posed the question to artificial intelligence.

Our most common regret, says AI, is that we didn’t save enough for retirement, or that we didn’t start saving early enough in our lives.

Money was a major theme, according to AI, especially when it came to underestimating health care expenses.

For a different take on things, I turned to my local informal poll group. The replies ranged from “I regret moving into a community with no sidewalks” to “I regret not getting a cat because now I’ve reached the cutoff age and the animal shelter won’t let me adopt a very young cat because I might die before the cat does.”

The third one chuckled, “Well, I regret encouraging my son to take that job across the country because now he’s not around to do heavy lifting.”

Another was serious when he replied, “I wish I’d bought a boat. It would be paid for by now. I’d head for the Bahamas.”

If you’re curious about what kinds of regrets seniors have about retirement — especially if you haven’t yet retired and have time to make a course correction in your retirement plans — do an online search for “biggest regrets of retirees,” or something similar.