9 Purchases Retirees Often Regret

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What about those of us who have had this hobby for a long time? One thing lists like this make me think is that the writer has too much time and nothing useful to think about. There are lots of people at every age without common sense. Why claim that only retired people are too stupid to think things out? Bias? Maybe AARP had something to do with it as they believe, as exhibited in their safe driving course, that those old enough to join AARP should give up their cars and live by using friends and relatives to get them around because they are too dangerous to drive themselves due to advanced age.
 
It seems the moral of the story is don't wait until retirement to enjoy all those things if you want them. They may not make sense anymore at an older age.

Just say no to Boats and Timeshares, though.
 
Isaac-1 said:
So to sum it up, they buy stuff that they are mostly too old to use / get enjoyment from.
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Yep. But we can say the same about our cash saved up. Useless until spent. And harder to spend on new toys when we get too old.

So buy your toys when young when you can still use them.

-Don- Reno, NV
 
I had to laugh at #3. I'm sure there are retirees that go overboard and buy a lot more RV than their intended lifestyle calls for. In our case though, we bought our first motorized RV, a 1986 21' Class C, on our way home from my retirement party in 2005. We did have a VW Westfalia conversion back in the late 60's, but we don't count that one. We used the Class C for 5-6 months each year until we sold it in 2008 and bought a 1995 33' Class A with no slides. We enjoyed that one for 6-8 months each for a couple of years until we went full time in 2010. In 2013, we happened on a deal for a 2001 34' Class A with a single super slide, and we full timed in it until last fall when health issues took us off the full time road, but not completely out of the RV life. Starting near Memorial Day we will be staying at various state parks within a couple of hours of our base with just a week or two break between parks for doctor's appointments and tests. There hasn't been a single day since retirement that we've regretted having our RV's. We're comfortable, but not wealthy by any means, and now at age 81, we both feel that every dime we've spent RV'ing was well worth it. We will continue to enjoy our RV life to the fullest extent we're able for what ever time that we have left.
 
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Just because some, or even many, people regret an action doesn't mean it's not right for you or me. But learning that regret is a common result should maybe give some pause before leaping onto the bandwagon.

I for one spent a LOT of post-retirement dollars on RVs and travel. Certainly more than was wise from a strictly financial point of view. But I don't regret a penny of it - it bought a lot of enjoyment, many lasting friendships, and a treasure house of memories. From that perspective, some of the best money I ever spent.
 
Over the years, we experienced 1,3,4,6 and 9 before we retired and learned a lot in the process.

In the end, it all worked out well except for that #$@*&^% time share !!! that has got to be the biggest legal con that exists. Pennies on the dollar would have been better than what we got, when we dumped that thing.
Went thru two number 1's before we had enough of boating.
We still enjoy our TT quite a bit each year, and continue to enjoy our dream house.
Live and Learn.;)
Safe travels and all the best.
 
Hnn. in the ast year or so, we bought another RV, a 'pricey car and a fancy musical instrument. However, not bought new, RV purchased with proceeds from RV sale, Car is a 2005 PT Cruiser Convertible, for fun drives and keeping miles off the pickup that pulls the RV, and a new to me used beautiful Dobro.
The boat I bought in my 30's, and it has been gone a long time, that was a past regret.

These articles are such click bait though, ads throughout, and generalized advice. My advice, spend it, you earned it, enjoy what these items will give.

Oh just looked back on dream house. We also bought a dream house, not the big many more rooms than you need, but a small house we redid to our economical dream. And all thee things are paid for. I might not be smart, but I ain't stupid.
 
I should add regarding #1, that having a lakeside cottage, of course we've had a number of different boats over the years. Like our RV's, I can't say that we regretted any of them, since each one was bought to fit our changing requirements. It was a little sad though to sell our last boat when we were downsizing for our full time RV life. Now that we're off the full time road, we haven't felt the need to buy another boat since one of our daughters keeps her boat at our dock, and we can use it whenever we want to.
 
I thought this had been mentioned here quite a while ago. It is dated December 2022. As for the list of regrets, the only thing major we have bought after retirement was our motorhome. Then again, we had been camping since before we were married 45 years ago. Tents, pop ups, hard sided trailers logically led to a motorhome. We did buy another house, but we did that to move closer to family and be easier to age in place.
 
That made me think of the fly-in or golf-in communities around the U.S.A. In either one a homeowner/condo-owner is paying for the air-field or golf course + maintenance for the rest of their lives, even after they are too old to fly their plane or swing a golf club.

A sister-in-law and husband bought into a time-share about 20 years ago. They are too old to do anything even if they can get there, but still paying that big annual maintenance fee. They tried to sell their time-share a few years ago and were offered $3,000; they paid $20,000.
As others said, work hard so you can play hard before retirement, while saving for retirement, then you can do the leisurely things on your list. When you buy a boat you bought a hole in the water to hold all the money you spent. When you buy a MH you bought a vehicle to carry around all the money you spent.

We've started RVing/traveling in trailers since 1997, retired early in 2000. Bought this MH in 2013 because of convenience and ease of traveling. We've gotten a a good return on our money in exciting travels/adventures and memories.

Dons link also made me think of the novice RV owners that bought a TT or MH within the past 3 years thinking it's cheap way to live, and their posts here and on other RVing forums asking how to avoid spending even more money.
 
I think the biggest mistake most people make about retirement is waiting too long to do it, as far too many of them either die before retiring, or within a couple of years of retirement. My oldest step sister was planning on retiring next Tuesday, which would have been 40 years to the day in the same profession, she did not make it she died about 3 weeks ago, she had a degenerative health condition so we all knew it was coming, but no one expected it this soon. My wife had an Aunt that was a school teacher, she died (cancer) just 12 months after retiring, my own father was diagnosed with cancer 3 months after he retired at age 71, he died 13 months later.... As chance would have it I had the chance to retire before the age of 50 and I took it, sure I could have made more money if I had worked longer, but so far we are doing ok on finances, and expect to continue doing so, and now I have time to do things, not just spend 40-60 hours per week tied to doing work stuff.
 
I didn't buy expensive musical instruments after I retired. (Already had 'em).

Expensive studio equipment and software don't count!

Been retired since April First 2009.
 
I just bought a $2,700 wireless robot lawn mower with AI vision navigation to replace the $800 robot lawn mower I bought 2 years ago. I tell myself it is an investment and will cut down on paying a lawn service, and the alternative was to buy a new $3,000+ riding mower, then I would have to mow the yard myself.
 
Isaac-1 said:
sure I could have made more money if I had worked longer, but so far we are doing ok on finances, and expect to continue doing so, and now I have time to do things, not just spend 40-60 hours per week tied to doing work stuff.
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Totally agree. Loved my career, and took me a bit to realize I was going to be OK retiring early, but no regrets looking back.
 
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