With the spooky season upon us, the spending scaries may be in full swing as we enter those pricey last few months of the year. However, some people are haunted year-round: Nearly a quarter of Americans (23%) say they think about their financial regrets at least weekly, according to a new NerdWallet survey.
The survey, conducted online by The Harris Poll, asked more than 2,000 Americans about the big purchases they regret and how they feel about major financial decisions they’ve made. We also asked which aspects of their financial lives regularly stress them out.
Key findings
- Three in 5 Americans (60%) say they’ve spent money on something expensive and later regretted it. Of this group, 60% identified more than one regret.
- Nearly half of Americans who have taken on student loan debt (49%) either regret it or have mixed feelings about it, while the majority of Americans who bought their current home (74%) say they’re glad they made this financial decision and just 13% regret it or have mixed feelings about it.
- Over 2 in 5 Americans (41%) wish they had started investing earlier.
- About half of Americans (46%) say they regularly stress about their debt balance(s).
“While regretting a purchase can feel bad, the experience can also be useful,” says Kimberly Palmer, personal finance expert at NerdWallet. “It’s worth exploring financial regrets to understand what we wish we did instead, and then make a different choice next time.”
Skeletons in the wallet: 60% regret an expensive purchase
Buyer’s remorse — or making a purchase and then regretting it — is a common experience among American consumers. According to the survey, 3 in 5 Americans (60%) say they’ve spent money on something expensive that they later regretted. The top spending woes? One in 5 Americans (20%) regret buying a luxury item, 19% regret spending on gambling and 18% regret vehicle spending. Expensive items or experiences, especially those purchased with debt, can cause one-time buys to haunt you for years.
A majority of Americans who had any expensive purchase regrets (60%) answered with more than one of the above options. This suggests that feeling regret over spending once doesn’t necessarily prevent regrettable purchases in the future.
People feel (mostly) good about long-term money decisions
We also asked Americans about five specific financial decisions: buying their current home, buying their current car, taking on student loan debt, starting a family and starting a business. The decision to embark on those paths generally leads to positive feelings from a financial perspective, particularly among Americans who have bought their current home, 74% of whom are glad they did it, and those who have started a family, 76% of whom say the same.
The most common regret of these five financial decisions among those who have done them is related to going into debt for education: Around 1 in 5 Americans who have taken on student loan debt regret it (21%) and another 28% have mixed feelings.
41% of Americans wish they had started investing earlier
Some people feel remorse for what they haven’t done, or what they waited “too long” to do. According to the survey, 41% of Americans say they wish they had started investing earlier and nearly a third (31%) feel like they should be better with their money by now. And it’s not just their own mistakes they’re dwelling on: About 1 in 6 Americans (16%) still think about poor financial decisions their parents made.
“Money habits, including unwanted ones, often get passed down in families,” Palmer says. “To break a cycle of financial stress or anxiety, it can help to work with a financial therapist to understand the root cause and take a different path.”
There’s also statement stress: Some may feel their blood pressure rise just looking at their financial statements. According to the survey, 30% of Americans say checking their bank balances causes them anxiety, while 26% say this about debt balances and 19% say the same about checking their retirement account balances.
Specter of debt: 46% of Americans regularly stress about owing
According to the survey, nearly half of Americans (46%) cite some form of debt balance as a regular stressor in their life. Other top financial stressors range from affording the basics to the fun stuff: paying for groceries (32%), not having enough money to do fun things (32%) and making all their monthly bill payments (28%).
Some are stressed about providing financial support to loved ones: 21% of Americans say helping their family out financially is a regular stressor and 12% say the same about supporting their aging parents.
4 ways to ghost future financial regrets
Procrastinate on big purchases. It’s common to research expensive items before buying them, but it’s also a good idea to put a time buffer between wanting the thing or experience and making the purchase. That goes for cars and weddings, of course, but also for things potentially purchased on impulse, like luxury goods or vacations.
It’s also worth questioning any spending where urgency is built in by design. For example, 19% of Americans say they have regrets over gambling. The anticipation of a possible reward can be appealing, but that’s also what can make it easy to overdo and end up in a financially precarious position. Consider opting out of spending on things that feel pressure-filled; that time constraint can often lead to regret.
Start building wealth now. Procrastinating on purchases is one thing, but you shouldn’t put off investing. The survey finds that 41% of Americans wish they had started investing earlier. Even if you regret not investing in the past, there’s still time to avoid additional regret in the future by starting to invest today. Low-cost index funds are an easy and affordable way to get a diversified portfolio that builds long-term wealth.
“The sooner you start investing, the more time you have for your money to grow,” Palmer says. “But it’s never too late to start, and the power of compounding can help provide extra motivation to get started."
Face your financial fears. Confronting financial statements can be difficult, especially if you feel like you should have your money situation figured out by now. But avoidance can be costly in the long run, especially if it means racking up late fees or losing out on investment returns.
Pick a time in the next week to finally face it all — your account and debt balances — and then make a financial plan to meet your long-term goals. It may feel easier to put your finances on the back burner, but it’s worth the effort to attain the future you want.
Focus on what’s next, not “what if.” Not everyone who has taken on student loan debt feels good about the decision — 49% say they regret it or have mixed feelings about it — but what happens next is just as important as what happened in the past.
If you’re working to pay off your student loans, make sure that your repayment plan makes sense for you (the available federal repayment plans have changed recently, so look into that if you haven’t yet). And then take steps to pay off your student loan debt more quickly.
“Financial regrets are real — and they’re worth paying attention to,” Palmer adds. “Use your past regrets to guide better choices in the future so you feel good about your money decisions.”
Cite as NerdWallet (2026). “Spending Scaries: The Financial Regrets Haunting Americans” Retrieved from https://www.nerdwallet.com/finance/studies/2026-financial-regrets-study
Methodology
The 2026 Financial Regrets survey was conducted online by The Harris Poll on behalf of NerdWallet from Aug. 4-6, 2026, among 2,086 U.S. adults ages 18 and older. The sampling precision of Harris online polls is measured by using a Bayesian credible interval. For this study, the sample data is accurate to within +/- 2.7 percentage points using a 95% confidence level. This credible interval will be wider among subsets of the surveyed population of interest. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables and subgroup sample sizes, please contact [email protected].
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