We’ve all done it: bought something on impulse and only to have that dopamine from the purchase turn into nagging guilt.
Financial regret in America reached near-universal levels in 2025, with 8 in 10 Americans (80%) reporting at least one financial regret, according to 2026 research from Omni Calculator.
And it’s often more than just a one-off regret, with over a third (34%) saying they made multiple financial missteps throughout the year.
Here’s a full look at what Americans regret most, why it happens, what it costs — and crucially, what to do about it.
The scale of financial regret has grown. Omni Calculator’s January 2026 survey that just 1 in 5 Americans (20%) report having no financial regrets whatsoever, with 46% having at least one finacial regret and 34% experiencing multiple financial woes.
The picture is consistent across other research. Intuit Credit Karma’s end-of-year survey found that 49% of Americans believe their financial situation worsened in 2025, with unexpected expenses (28%), credit score setbacks (24%) and falling behind on payment obligations (20%) among the biggest contributors. Two-thirds of respondents say macroeconomic pressures including inflation and rising costs, shape their spending habits.
Baby boomers are most likely to be regret-free at 29%. Among the 71% of boomers with regrets, 45% describe at least one small regret and 26% report multiple missteps.
At the other end of the spectrum are millennials, with 86% experiencing some kind of financial regret in the last year — 47% saying they regret at least one purchase and 39% multiple occasions.
While there isn’t much that separates women (81%) and men (79%) in the percenteage of whom say they had a financial regret from the last year. However, women (39%) are far more likely to report having multiple regrettable purchases when compared to men (30%).
When asked to name their single biggest financial regret, overspending on non-essential purchases was by far the most common response at 29%, almost three times higher than the next two most common responses of falling into or relying too much on credit card debt and not saving enough overall for my financial goals — each at 10%.
| Financial regret | Share of respondents |
|---|---|
| Overspending on non-essential purchases | 29% |
| Relying too much on credit card debt | 10% |
| Not saving enough for financial goals | 10% |
| Taking on more debt than manageable | 9% |
| Not having an emergency fund | 7% |
| Not saving enough for retirement | 7% |
| Not investing earlier | 6% |
| Not negotiating a higher salary | 3% |
| Investing money without fully understanding the risks | 2% |
| I’m not sure | 2% |
| Making a housing decision, I regret, such as buying or not buying a home | 1% |
| Other | 5% |
Credit Karma’s survey supports this pattern. Among its 1,000+ respondents, not saving money (38%) topped the regret list, followed by making impulse purchases based on emotions (28%) and accumulating too much credit card debt (21%). Failing to care enough about personal finances was cited by 18%, while not saving for retirement was flagged by 14%.
Clothing, luxury items and accessories are the items most likely cited as the biggest regret at 19%. Travel and vacation expenses (11%) and technology or electronics — phones, computers, gadgets — (11%) rounded out the top three.
A notable 17% of respondents wrote in their own answers under “other,” with common themes including food and dining (fast food, delivery, restaurants), entertainment and lifestyle spending (gambling, gaming, social events), holiday gifts, and financial support extended to friends or family.
| Financial regret | Share of respondents |
|---|---|
| Clothing, luxury items or accessories | 19% |
| Travel or vacation | 11% |
| Technology or electronic devices (phones, computers, etc.) | 11% |
| Home-related purchase or renovation | 8% |
| Vehicle purchase or lease | 5% |
| Business, side project or entrepreneurial expenses | 5% |
| Furniture or large household items | 4% |
| Education, courses or professional training | 2% |
| Wedding or wedding related expenses | 1% |
| Other | 17% |
The Clarify Capital Financial Regrets Report found that impulse spending was a recurring problem rather than a one-time slip: on average, Americans reported wasting $1,000 on impulse purchases in a single day, with 1 in 8 having spent $5,000 or more impulsively in one session. A third of Americans said they had spent to “keep up with the Joneses” — a pattern especially common among Gen Z (43%) and millennials (34%).
Most financial regrets don’t involve six-figure sums. The Omni Calculator data shows that 45% of Americans regretted a financial decision involving less than $1,000 made in a single day. Looking at the full cost of their single biggest regret, 43% put the loss below $1,000 — with 23% reporting losses of $500 or less and 20% estimating costs in the $500 to $999 range.
| Amount lost on biggest regret | Overall | Male | Female | Gen Z | Millennials | Gen X | Baby boomers |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Less than $500 | 23% | 19% | 26% | 35% | 22% | 21% | 17% |
| $500 to $999 | 20% | 23% | 18% | 21% | 25% | 19% | 16% |
| $1,000 to $2,499 | 16% | 16% | 17% | 18% | 15% | 14% | 19% |
| $5,000 to $9,999 | 8% | 7% | 9% | 5% | 11% | 9% | 6% |
| $10,000 to $24,999 | 4% | 6% | 3% | — | 5% | 6% | 5% |
While most regrets are modest in dollar terms, Clarify Capital’s research adds important context: Americans estimated that avoiding their biggest financial mistake would have left their net worth $40,000 higher on average. One in three believed the figure would be $100,000 or more.
Understanding why regrettable decisions happen is at least as useful as knowing what they are. The survey identified rushed decisions — making a financial move too quickly without enough planning — as the single biggest cause, cited by 28% of respondents.
| Leading cause of biggest financial regret | Share of respondents |
|---|---|
| Made the decision too quickly, without enough planning | 28% |
| Multiple factors played a role | 16% |
| Influenced by family, friends or a partner | 10% |
| An unexpected event or emergency | 7% |
| Pressure to match others’ lifestyles | 6% |
| Waited too long to take action | 5% |
| Did not have enough relevant information | 5% |
| Relied on unhelpful or incomplete advice | 3% |
Social pressure features prominently. A further 10% said their decision was influenced by family, friends or a partner, while 6% pointed explicitly to pressure to match others’ spending. Clarify Capital’s data illustrates how digital culture amplifies this: among those who overspent on trends, 27% regretted buy-now-pay-later shopping sprees, 21% wished they hadn’t signed up for subscription boxes, and 19% said they got caught up in cryptocurrency hype.
Financial regret doesn’t stay in the bank account — it follows people into their daily lives. More than half of Americans (55%) say financial regret has increased their stress and anxiety, according to Clarify Capital’s research. About a third felt stuck or hopeless about improving their situation, and 31% said they felt embarrassed or ashamed about their financial mistakes. One in five reported that money regrets contributed to fights with a spouse or partner, and 15% had kept purchases or debts secret from loved ones.
Credit Karma found a similar pattern of financial anxiety heading into 2026: 27% were worried about job security, 67% said economic factors shaped their spending habits in 2025, and only 43% said their current income kept pace with the cost of living.
Not all the emotional fallout is negative, though. Clarify Capital found that for 26% of respondents, financial regret acted as a genuine wake-up call, motivating them to take control of their money.
When asked what would most improve their personal financial situation over the next 6–12 months, 31% of Omni Calculator respondents said a higher income — a raise, promotion or additional work. Reducing total debt and lower prices for everyday essentials (groceries, gas, utilities) were each cited by 20%.
Credit Karma’s survey found broadly similar priorities: a lower cost of living (50%) and higher income (49%) were what respondents said would help most. But financial advocates point out that income alone may not resolve the problem. Many of the most common regrets — overspending, not saving, carrying credit card balances — are behavioral rather than purely income-driven.
When Omni Calculator asked respondents what they would tell their 2025 self, the most common pieces of advice were to save more (and build an emergency fund), slow down before making purchases, do better research before major expenses, and control debt more carefully.
There is a silver lining in the data. After their biggest financial misstep of 2025, 20% of Americans said they now take more time before making spending decisions. A further 18% focused more strongly on saving, 13% started planning and monitoring finances more carefully, and 12% began limiting or avoiding new debt.
Credit Karma found that heading into 2026, nearly two-thirds (63%) of Americans had clearly defined financial goals, with budgeting (51%), improving credit (35%) and replacing emotional spending with healthier habits (30%) as the top strategies. The impulse habits Americans were most eager to break: impulse buying (34%), not saving money (33%) and overspending on non-essentials (31%).
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Day-to-day financial regret is one thing. But the money decisions people look back on most painfully tend to crystallize later in life — often in retirement, when there’s less time and income to course-correct. These are the regrets that tend to loom largest.
This is consistently the most common financial regret among older Americans. When compound interest has decades to work, even modest early contributions make an enormous difference — and waiting means needing to save far more aggressively to close the gap. Synchrony Bank’s research on money regrets found that the single most cited regret was not starting to save sooner. The remedy, financial planners say, is to increase 401(k) or IRA contributions immediately and take advantage of catch-up contributions for those over 50.
You can begin drawing Social Security at 62, but doing so permanently reduces your monthly benefit compared with waiting until full retirement age or beyond. Many retirees who claimed early to cover short-term expenses later wish they had held off, particularly those who lived longer than expected. Money.com notes this is among the most common regrets financial advisors hear from retirees, as the cumulative difference over a long retirement can run to tens of thousands of dollars.
Healthcare is one of the most consistently underestimated line items in retirement planning. Fidelity Investments estimated in 2025 that a 65-year-old retiree can expect to spend around $172,500 on healthcare and medical expenses throughout retirement — a figure that tends to surprise people who assumed Medicare would cover most costs. Not contributing to a Health Savings Account (HSA) during working years is a specific sub-regret planners frequently encounter.
Relying on Social Security as the sole source of retirement income is a plan that can unravel quickly. Retirees who failed to build additional income sources — whether through investment portfolios, rental income, annuities or part-time work — often find themselves making hard choices if costs rise or one source becomes unreliable. Money.com identifies over-reliance on a single income stream as one of the six most common financial regrets among retirees.
Many retirees enter the withdrawal phase without a tax-efficient plan, resulting in unexpectedly large tax bills that eat into savings. Understanding required minimum distributions (RMDs), the sequencing of withdrawals from different account types, and how income affects Medicare premiums are all areas where a lack of planning creates lasting regret. Rushed or unplanned withdrawals — including cashing out a 401(k) after a job loss rather than rolling it over — rank among the most costly financial mistakes people report in hindsight.
One of the quieter but significant late-life regrets is not establishing a clear estate plan — wills, beneficiary designations, powers of attorney, healthcare directives. Without these in place, assets may not reach intended heirs, families can face costly probate proceedings, and end-of-life decisions may be made by default rather than by design. Many people assume estate planning is only for the wealthy, but advisors note that virtually everyone with dependents or meaningful assets benefits from a basic plan.
A career-long pattern of not negotiating pay, not maximizing employer 401(k) matches, or staying in underpaying roles out of comfort compounds significantly over time. Clarify Capital’s research found that 1 in 10 Americans cited quitting a job without a backup plan as their single biggest financial regret — but a parallel regret is never pushing for more while employed. The cumulative effect on lifetime earnings and retirement savings can be substantial.
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