At 70 Years Old, These Are The 5 Life Mistakes I Truly Regret Making Most
Master of Stocks | Shutterstock I spent nearly five decades building a career across three regions of the world. The first half of my professional life was in India, where I learned the value of hard work and perseverance. A brief chapter in the Middle East exposed me to a truly international work environment and broadened my perspective.
The latter half of my career unfolded in the United States, where I continued to grow professionally and eventually retired after more than 45 years in the workforce. I am grateful for the opportunities, friendships, and experiences my career provided. I do not regret working hard.
But now, at 70 years old, a deeper question has arisen: Did I work harder than necessary, at the expense of other important aspects of life? With the benefit of hindsight, I would like to share a few observations.
At 70, these are the life mistakes I regret making most:
1. Prioritizing a bigger paycheck over flexibility
At some point in a successful career, responsibilities grow, income rises, and opportunities seem endless. This is also when many of us begin postponing parts of life we hope to revisit someday, assuming those opportunities will still be there when we are ready.
I know because I made that mistake myself. For decades, I worked long hours. Like many professionals, I believed that staying late demonstrated commitment and loyalty. If my supervisor was still in the office, I felt obligated to remain as well.
Being available after work hours, on weekends, during holidays, and even while on vacation became part of my routine. I rarely traveled without my office laptop, believing that commitment meant always being reachable.
It felt normal. It felt necessary. Today, I am not sure it was. As my career progressed, I often accepted greater responsibilities and more demanding roles.
I do not regret being ambitious, but I sometimes wonder whether every promotion was worth the trade-offs that came with it. The rewards that came with those roles often came at the expense of time, energy, and opportunities outside of work.
In hindsight, I would have benefited from occasionally choosing roles that offered more flexibility, even if they came with a smaller paycheck.
That extra time might have allowed me to travel more, spend more time with family, pursue interests beyond work, develop new skills, volunteer, or simply explore activities that I kept postponing for “someday.” Those experiences would likely have created memories that lasted far longer than the satisfaction of another salary increase.
2. Treating life like something I had to save for
For much of my career, I assumed that the more I accumulated for retirement, the better prepared I would be. Financial security is important, and I am grateful that I was able to save for the future. Yet, over time, I came to realize that beyond a certain point, additional savings did not improve my quality of life as much as I had expected.
I sometimes wonder whether I focused too much on growing my retirement nest egg and not enough on enjoying the years along the way. Like many people approaching retirement, I spent considerable time worrying about future healthcare expenses and other uncertainties.
In the end, I learned that it is impossible to prepare for every scenario. Some uncertainty is simply part of life. Over time, I came to wish I had worried a little less about preparing for every possibility and spent a little more time appreciating the present.
3. Confusing having more with living better
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Another lesson I learned late in life is the value of minimalism. The fewer things we feel compelled to own, the less pressure we place on ourselves to earn, upgrade, and accumulate. Contentment often comes not from having more, but from wanting less.
I was surprised by how much stuff we had accumulated over the years when we moved from New Jersey to Maryland. Twenty years earlier, we had arrived in this country with just four suitcases.
4. Not retiring sooner
My biggest regret is not retiring earlier. I continued working beyond age 65 because I believed I should. When I finally retired, I began traveling extensively, including visits to all 63 U.S. National Parks. Those journeys became some of the most rewarding experiences of my life.
Yet I often found myself thinking, "I wish I had started in my 50s." At that age, I would have had the strength and energy to tackle more challenging hikes and fully embrace certain adventures that were no longer practical later in life.
5. Not spending more time with my parents
I also regret not spending more time with my parents in India. Like many people building a career far from home, I convinced myself that I could spend more time with them when life became less busy.
One memory that stays with me is not being able to spend more time with my father as he recovered from bypass surgery. At the time, work commitments seemed urgent and unavoidable. With the benefit of hindsight, I wish I had made different choices.
What matters when you’re older? When I look back on my life, I rarely think about titles, promotions, performance reviews, or salary increases.
I think about family. I think about the people I wish I had spent more time with. I think about opportunities I postponed because there always seemed to be a more urgent work commitment.
Some of those opportunities were still available years later. Some were not. Perhaps that is the lesson I learned too late: While a career can provide financial security and professional satisfaction, it should also leave room for the relationships, experiences, and personal interests that enrich life.
The career I built served me well. I only wish I had made a little more space along the way for the people, experiences, and interests that were waiting outside the office.
Sivakumar Ramanathan is a retired finance and IT professional, traveler, and writer. After a career spanning India, the Middle East, and the United States, he now writes about retirement, purposeful living, travel, and the lessons learned along the way. Having visited all 63 U.S. National Parks, he enjoys inspiring others to make the most of life beyond work.
