Market volatility can feel like a rollercoaster. Thrilling on the way up, stomach-churning on the way down. Even seasoned investors get a little uneasy when the market takes a dive.

But here’s the thing: While market fluctuations are inevitable, maintaining a disciplined investment approach has historically helped investors stay on track toward their financial goals.

What financial habits have helped you most in life?

Which ones have held you back?

No matter how you answer those questions, your money habits have a lot to do with how you grew up.¹

They also can be shaped by when you grew up.

When are you going to retire?

How did you make that decision?

Many of us look at finances and health when we’re deciding when to retire.

Whether or not we realize it, we’re also considering our emotions and what we imagine for the future — we compare how we feel in our current circumstances to how we expect to feel in our anticipated retirement.¹

With that, we tend to overestimate our future emotions, thinking we’ll be a lot happier as retirees.¹

And that can motivate short-sighted decisions that lead to more regrets than satisfaction in retirement.¹

To avoid that and make better decisions about retiring, let’s look at some of the leading retiree regrets, what’s behind them, and what you can do now to set yourself up for a dream retirement later.

Retirement Regret #1. Retiring Too Early

Retiring as soon as possible can be a priority, but retiring too early can be a big mistake. For one, premature retirement can mean gambling with your financial security in the future. If you leave work too early, you could be forfeiting some key, higher-earning years to build up your savings.