Common Financial Regrets of Retirees” — and what the article leaves out

 

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“Common Financial Regrets of Retirees” — and what the article leaves out

CTV recently published an opinion piece outlining “10 common financial regrets of retirees,” framed around the idea that most retirement insecurity comes from individual financial mistakes: not saving enough, not investing early, relying too much on CPP/OAS, carrying debt, and not planning properly.

On the surface, it reads like standard financial advice. But underneath it sits a much bigger assumption: that most people had equal access to stable income, affordable housing, and enough financial surplus to “optimize” their lives in the first place.

That’s where the disconnect starts.

The hidden assumption: everyone had room to “save more”

The article repeatedly returns to one theme: people regret not saving enough during their peak earning years.

But this assumes there were meaningful “extra” earnings to begin with.

For many Canadians—especially in places like BC—those so-called peak years were defined by:

• rising rent and housing costs consuming most income
• stagnant wages that didn’t keep up with inflation
• debt loads that weren’t optional (housing, education, emergencies)
• caregiving responsibilities for children or aging parents

In that context, “you should have saved more” often translates to “you should have had more disposable income in a system that didn’t provide it.”

CPP and OAS are not the problem

The article also frames reliance on CPP and OAS as a regret—suggesting people mistakenly expected too much from government programs.

But CPP and OAS were never designed to fully replace income. That part is true.

What’s missing is the policy reality: many people were pushed into relying on them because workplace pensions disappeared and stable long-term employment became less common.

So for a large portion of retirees, CPP and OAS weren’t a “fallback plan.”

They were the only plan that existed.

“Start investing early” ignores who was excluded from investing

Advice like “invest early, even small amounts” assumes:

• spare income after essentials
• access to financial literacy and guidance
• stability in employment and housing
• confidence in long-term markets while living paycheck to paycheck

For many people, especially lower-income workers, single parents, and those in precarious work, investing early wasn’t a missed opportunity—it wasn’t accessible at all.

Debt in retirement is rarely just a “bad choice”

The article treats carrying debt into retirement as a preventable mistake.

But in reality, debt often reflects:

• housing costs that rose far beyond wages
• supporting adult children through an expensive housing market
• unexpected health or life disruptions
• lack of retirement security in earlier systems

Labeling this as simple mismanagement flattens a much more complicated economic reality.

The missing centre of the conversation: housing

One of the biggest gaps in the article is housing.

In Canada today, retirement outcomes are heavily shaped by:

• whether someone bought property early
• how much mortgage debt remains
• whether they rent in a rising market

This single factor often outweighs all the “financial habits” discussed in the article.

From personal blame to structural reality

The overall tone of the piece is subtle but consistent: if retirement is difficult, it is largely the result of individual choices.

But that framing leaves out decades of structural change:

• wage stagnation
• housing becoming a commodity
• decline of workplace pensions
• increasing precarity of employment
• rising cost of living across essentials

When those factors are removed from the conversation, retirement insecurity becomes a moral issue instead of an economic one.

A more honest way to frame it

A more grounded version of this discussion would say:

Retirement outcomes are shaped by both personal decisions and the economic conditions people lived through—conditions that have shifted dramatically over time.

That distinction matters.

Because it moves the conversation away from quiet blame, and toward understanding how systems and individual lives actually interact.

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Reflective Questions

When people say “you should have saved more,” what assumptions are they making about your income, stability, or life circumstances?

What parts of your life were shaped by choice, and what parts were shaped by necessity?

How has the cost of housing changed your ability to plan long-term?

Did you ever have a “safe window” where saving or investing felt realistically possible?

What financial pressures came from caring for others (children, parents, family) that aren’t often acknowledged?

How do we define “good planning” when wages and costs change unpredictably?

What support systems actually existed when you needed them most—and what was missing?

If retirement security depends on timing (housing, jobs, markets), how fair is it to frame outcomes as personal success or failure?

What would a more humane retirement system look like in your experience?

Whose stories are missing when we only hear financial “success” narratives?

#RetirementReality #CostOfLivingCrisis #HousingCrisisCanada #IncomeInequality #SocialPolicy #FinancialStress #LivingPaycheckToPaycheck #BCHousing #AgingInCanada #EconomicReality