What the data actually shows
People differ in a stable way in how they relate to spending. Scott Rick's research describes 'tightwads,' who feel too much pain at the moment of paying and tend to under-spend, and 'spendthrifts,' who feel too little and tend to over-spend. Both report regret, but of different kinds: tightwads more often regret passing things up, spendthrifts more often regret what they bought. Notably, this work suggests tightwads are at least as common as spendthrifts, against the usual assumption that over-spending is the main problem.
On where money goes, a line of research by Van Boven and Gilovich (2003) finds that people tend to derive more lasting satisfaction from experiences than from possessions — partly because experiences resist comparison, become part of our memories and identity, and don't fade the way objects do. Regret research in the same tradition (associated with Gilovich and Roese) is consistent with this: impulsive material purchases are commonly regretted, while spending on meaningful experiences rarely is.
Looking back across a life, reflections often tilt toward 'I wish I'd worried less about money and done more.' This is a pattern in how regret accumulates rather than a precise statistic, and it should be read carefully — but the weight of the evidence suggests that over the long run, regrets of inaction around meaningful experiences tend to loom larger than regrets about money spent on them.
Why this feels different from how it actually is
Spending feels riskier than saving in the moment because the pain of paying is immediate and concrete, while the cost of not doing something is invisible and deferred. You feel the money leave; you don't feel the trip you never took or the milestone you missed. So in the short term, holding on usually feels like the safe, responsible choice — even when, in hindsight, it becomes a regret.
Material purchases also feel like the obvious thing to be careful about because their downsides show up fast: buyer's remorse, clutter, the thrill fading. Experiences, by contrast, tend to improve in memory, which is exactly why they are regretted less. We are wired to notice the immediate sting of a bad purchase and to underweight the slow, quiet cost of an experience forgone.
And money's emotional charge — fear of running out, the security a balance represents — can make under-spending feel like prudence long after it has tipped into self-denial. For a natural tightwad, spending on something meaningful can feel reckless even when it isn't, which is part of why those regrets surface mainly in hindsight.
You feel the money leave; you don't feel the trip you never took or the milestone you missed.
What the research says to do about it
Where the evidence is reasonably consistent, it favours directing discretionary money toward meaningful experiences over accumulating possessions, because experiences tend to deliver more durable satisfaction and are regretted far less. This is a modest effect, not a guarantee, but it points steadily in one direction across the research.
It also helps to know your own tendency. If you recognise yourself as a tightwad — feeling real pain at spending even when you can afford it — the research suggests the corrective is to give yourself structured permission to spend on what matters, rather than treating restraint as automatically virtuous. If you lean spendthrift, the corrective runs the other way: building friction around impulsive material purchases.
For the long view, the regret literature suggests weighting experiences you can have now somewhat more heavily, since inaction regrets around meaningful experiences tend to grow over time while the sting of having spent fades. The point is balance — a buffer against real shocks and a willingness to actually use money on a life worth living — not maximal saving or maximal spending.
What the research says does not help
Maximal saving at the expense of living is not the safe default it feels like. Over-saving to the point of self-denial is a documented source of late regret, and treating every dollar spent as a loss tends to crowd out exactly the meaningful experiences the research says people seldom regret.
Buying possessions to feel better — including impulsive material splurges and 'retail therapy' — is among the most commonly regretted forms of spending, because the satisfaction fades quickly while the comparison with newer or better things does not. Spending more does not reliably reduce regret when it is aimed at things rather than experiences.
Assuming that being careful with money is always the responsible choice can itself be a mistake. The research doesn't endorse reckless spending, but it does suggest that chronic under-spending on what matters is a real and underrated source of regret — so 'just save more' is not a complete answer.
Impulsive material purchases are commonly regretted, while spending on meaningful experiences rarely is.
What this looks like in real life
The natural tightwad
Someone who feels genuine pain at spending, even when they can afford it, tends to pass things up and call it prudence. But over-saving to the point of self-denial is a documented source of late regret, and treating every dollar spent as a loss crowds out exactly the meaningful experiences people seldom regret. For this tendency, the research suggests the corrective is structured permission to spend on what matters — not treating restraint as automatically virtuous.
The impulse purchase versus the trip
A material splurge bought to feel better delivers a fast thrill that fades, while the comparison with newer or better things does not — which is why impulsive purchases are among the most commonly regretted spending. A meaningful experience runs the other way: it resists comparison, becomes part of memory and identity, and tends to improve in hindsight. The pain of paying is immediate; the cost of the experience never taken is invisible and deferred.
Real numbers in context
The strongest claims here are about direction and tendency rather than precise percentages, so they are best read that way. Scott Rick's research suggests 'tightwads' are at least as common as 'spendthrifts' — meaning under-spending is roughly as widespread a problem as over-spending, contrary to the usual framing. And Van Boven and Gilovich's (2003) work finds people consistently report more lasting satisfaction from experiential purchases than from material ones.
The often-quoted idea that people end up wishing they'd 'worried less about money and done more' reflects a pattern in late-life reflection and regret research rather than a single hard figure, so treat it as a well-supported tendency, not a statistic. Taken together, the evidence suggests both extremes are regretted, but that meaningful experiences are the thing people seldom wish they'd skipped.