Guardian Life Insurance’s “14th Annual Workplace Benefits” study reveals that the top two retirement regrets among Americans in 2025 were not saving enough and not starting to save earlier. These regrets don’t just impact bank accounts; they also adversely affect emotional health, life satisfaction, and freedom in retirement.

Retirees who regretted their financial preparation were three times more likely to report low emotional well-being than those who didn’t.1 The takeaway from this is clear: much of happiness in retirement comes from saving more and starting to save long before retirement starts.

Why Starting Earlier Can Change Your Retirement Outlook

Guardian’s data shows that two in five workers and one in five retirees regret how they prepared financially. One of the best ways to avoid that regret is to start saving earlier.

Compounding interest rewards those who invest for long periods of time. The earlier you start saving and investing, the more time your money has to compound and grow. A 25-year-old who invests $200 a month in a retirement account that earns 6% annually will have about $400,000 by the time they’re 65. If the same person started at 35, they’d have roughly half that. And if someone starts at 45, they’d have $93,000.

That extra time matters even more when you consider that many people retire sooner than expected. Guardian found that 70% of retirees left work earlier than planned due to something out of their control, with a third saying it was because of health issues or job loss.2 You may not get those extra years to save that you were expecting.

The Federal Reserve’s “Economic Well-Being of U.S. Households in 2024” report echoed this sentiment, with just 35% of non-retired adults viewing their retirement savings plan as on track.3 People already feel behind, and the longer you wait, the harder it can be to catch up.

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