What The Wealth Retirement Podcast

Six Retirement Regrets (122)

• Jonathan Bednar II, CFP • Episode 122

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The hard truth: Most retirements don’t fail on spreadsheets. They fail in real life when emotions, freedom, and spending collide. After decades of doing everything right, it’s easy to feel like you’ve earned the luxury car, the bigger house, the nonstop trips, the generous gifts, the open tab for adult kids, or even the dream vacation home. 

I break down why those “deserved” purchases often carry long tails of cost—depreciation, insurance, utilities, maintenance, taxes, and expectations—that quietly outgrow the portfolio meant to fund the next 30 years.

Six retirement regrets I see again and again: The luxury car trap, upsizing the house, travel without limits, pricey gifts that become norms, ongoing support for adult children, and the vacation home illusion. For each one, we dig into the hidden math, the emotional triggers that make smart people overspend, and practical alternatives that protect comfort and joy.

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Thanks for Listening!

Jonathan

SPEAKER_00:

Most retirees don't run out of money because of bad investments. They run out of money because of one or two emotional decisions that they didn't fully think through. I've seen it happen more times than I can count. Someone spends 40 years doing everything right, saving, investing, being disciplined. Then they finally retire. They're finally living the retirement dream. And then quietly, the dream collapses. Not overnight, not from one huge mistake, but from a handful of purchases that felt earned, felt justified, and frankly felt harmless at the time. In this video, I'm going to walk you through six retirement regrets, not because they were reckless, but because no one warned them what these decisions actually cost over time. If you retired or close to retiring or even thinking about retiring in the near future, one of these mistakes alone can permanently change your lifestyle. These are the purchases that people make after retirement that quietly undo decades of discipline. And there's the uncomfortable truth. The mistakes aren't rare. They're actually incredibly common, especially among people who did everything right and finally feel like they've earned the right to stop worrying. I'm Jonathan Bedner, certified financial planner, co-owner of Paradigm Wealth Partners here in Knoxville, Tennessee. And for almost two decades, I've worked with retirees and pre-retirees who did everything right. They saved consistently, invested responsibly, and they seek guidance when they had questions or concerns. What I've learned is this most retirement plans don't fail on spreadsheets. They fail in real life when emotions and freedom and spending collide. Not to scare you, but to help you avoid make mistakes is why I'm creating this video. I see it far too often after people retire. And I wanted to create this video so that you could think through the most common ones I see. In fact, a few years ago, I ran into a former coworker who had been retired for a couple of years. And during his working years, he was practical, modest, disciplined. And when we met for lunch that day, it was a completely different picture. Pulled up in a luxury car, wearing designer clothes, made sure to flash his premium credit card when he bought lunch that day. And on the surface, it looked like success, like retirement was treating him well, like he had been rewarded. And a few years later, I'd heard that that's not how the story ended. His savings was gone, his lifestyle was unsustainable, and now he was forced to rely on family just to stay afloat. Trying to impress people, getting caught up in thinking that we deserve things. And not that these items that we're going to talk about are bad. There's certainly great things that you can do, but people often overspend in retirement and it creates a dangerous cycle if you're not thinking through how this impacts your full plan. So the core problem most retirees fall into is that retirement creates a powerful emotional shift. I've worked my entire life. It's now my turn to kick back, relax. I deserve to do these things. I've put in my time. And that mindset isn't wrong. You've spent your entire working career, and it's time to enjoy some of the fruits of your labor, some of your investments that have been growing and working for you. But it's a dangerous proposition without proper guardrails. Because many retirement purchases feel justified in the moment. They create financial pressure, you won't until it's too late. That's where these six mistakes come from. Before we do, if this kind of retirement guidance is helpful, clear, real world, and focused on decisions that actually matter, go ahead and smash that subscribe button, like the video. I put out content like this regularly to help people make smarter retirement decisions before mistakes become permanent. Alright, let's go. Mistake number one, the expensive luxury car. Identity doesn't disappear when the work week ends. Status, habits, clear, uh, you know, continue to follow you. They don't die easily. You're constantly chasing and keeping up with the Joneses. And these luxury cars are especially risky in retirement because they combine long payment commitments, rapid depreciation, and high insurance premiums and maintenance costs. Here's the key question retirees rarely ask Who am I trying to impress now? There's no boss, there's no client, and the promotion is not on the line. So comfort and safety matter. I've got a family myself. I understand having some newer features and the importance of having safety while you're on the road, while you're older. But a lot of times people confuse image with safety. And they're justifying the purchase of the vehicles for safety reasons, and they're really scratching the image itch. My advice is to pause, wait, and revisit this decision. Let some of the uh the urge fade, hopefully, when that emotion wears off. It's really, it gets really exciting to purchase, to buy something, to negotiate the deal. And then a lot of times I see there's some buyer remorse on the other side. So sleep on it, take an extra week, think about it, don't rush and make a quick decision to purchase a luxury vehicle. Mistake number two, buying a bigger house. This one sneaks up on a lot of people, especially with people moving around the country over the last several years. They think the house may be cheaper somewhere else, so we can go bigger. But cheaper house doesn't always mean cheaper lifestyle. Larger homes bring hidden costs like higher utilities. It costs more to heat and cool a larger home with a larger footprint. Uh they often may have higher property taxes. Maintenance costs is tied to size, not the location. Not that location is not a factor, but obviously the bigger the house, the bigger the property, the more maintenance it's going to cost. So bigger space equals bigger ongoing obligations. Even if the purchase feels like a deal, you might end up spending more in retirement and need to use more of your retirement portfolio or retirement income to continue to meet those obligations. Mistake number three, overspending on travel. Now, everyone that I've met for the most part loves to travel. There's a few exceptions. And it's important to take some rewarding trips, you know, experiences, and enjoy the life that you have, the remaining healthy time you have in retirement. Your bucket list matters, your experiences matter with your family and your friends. But there's a difference between intentional travel and never-ending vacation mode. Frequent expensive trips can drain a portfolio faster than people expect, especially early in retirement when spending patterns typically get locked in. So maybe some small uh smarter alternatives could be travel at off-peak times. Maybe take a shorter trip, like a four-day trip instead of the seven-day trip. Maybe use a travel agent who has experience in finding ways to make your travel get the biggest bang for its buck, or has some experience in booking, you know, maybe alternative accommodations at a cheaper rate or a more boutique place. Those uh insights can be very, very, very impactful for making these travel decisions, and you're not having to go it alone. Mistake number four is expensive gifts, and oftentimes, sometimes those expensive gifts become expectations. Retirement, I see this a lot for retirees. It brings reflection, they reflect back on their life, the things they did as a kid or in their career. And a lot of times the retirees that I'm working with want to help people, they want to support their friends or their family or their charities, their church, things that they are are important to them. They want to create memories, they want to help their family. All these things are admirable, but generosity can become dangerous when it turns into an expectation. Expensive gifts can quietly create a standard that feels impossible to walk back. And often what family members value most isn't the price tag, it's the presence, the shared experiences, the things that bring them together. So it's important to think when you're making gifts, how is this going to impact your decisions going forward and their expectations going forward? Mistake number five, ongoing cash support for adult children. I see this frequently. In fact, this may be uh the one that I see the most. It's one of the hardest conversations that I have with clients and that they end up having with their family when we're doing retirement planning. Occasional help turns into regular support, and regular support turns into dependence. Suddenly, you're funding someone else's lifestyle at the expense of your own financial security. Good intentions don't cancel financial consequences. So you're gonna want to make sure that when you're considering helping adult family, you think it through, support needs structure, and those boundaries matter. All right, the final mistake: the vacation home illusion. This idea is seductive. You like the idea of buying the beach house, the lake house, the mountain cabin, you know, this the ski cabin. Uh, there's there's all these ideas about having a vacation home. You're gonna escape the winners, you're gonna create a family gathering place. Ownership makes more sense than renting, baby. You're telling yourself that. All of these things make perfect sense, but the math rarely agrees. In fact, two homes mean double the property taxes, double the maintenance, double the utilities, and year-round cost for part-time use. The rental myth usually falls apart pretty quickly. You want it when everyone else wants it, no one wants it when you don't. If the cash flow doesn't work during ownership, appreciation at sale probably won't save it. So it's important when you're thinking about a second home, that vacation home, you're really thinking long and hard about does it make sense? Retirement mistakes aren't loud, they're not flashy, they're not in your face, they don't come with warning signs, they're gradual, they sneak up on you. Uh oftentimes they feel comfortable. You justify it. It's easy to emotionally justify the decision. Before any major purchase, you should pause, reflect, run the long-term numbers, talk with your financial advisor, your financial planner, make a decision on the on the numbers, on the math, not just on the short-term feelings. If you've seen mistakes like these, share them. Your experiences might save someone else years of stress and frustration and anxiety. If you'd like to sit down and walk through your retirement plan, your income plan, your spending, your decisions, you can schedule a time with me on my calendar using the link below in the description. There's no pressure, just clarity about whether your plan truly supports the retirement. Be confident in your retirement, have a wonderful day. Thanks for joining me on another episode of What the World. If you enjoyed the episode today, smash that subscribe button. Helps me more than you think. Also, if you found this episode inside before the light bulb went off, here, your friends, it's duty, the random guy in the office who's always talking about a network. Well, it'sn't about just the 50. It's about the choices, chances, and everything else. The information on this podcast is informational on a general does not take into consideration. So let's go to personal focus. This podcast is not intended to be a substitute for specific or financial legal or tax advice. We should consult the approved qualified professional fire to make the final statement. Security is offered through LPL Financial member FINRA FIPC. Paradigm Loft Partners is the other business thing for Independent Advisor Alliance. Investment advice offered through Independent Advisor Alliance, a registered investment advisor, Independent Advisor Alliance, and Paradigm Loft Partners are separate endings for LPL Partners.