The worry that most heading towards retirement have is “Have I saved enough?”. This can be someone in their forties starting to think seriously about their future. It can also be someone approaching retirement with just months to go.
There’s usually anxiety behind it. They’ve done rough calculations, maybe used an online calculator, and they’re worried they’ve left it too late or haven’t put away enough.
We help them work through the numbers: their pension pot, likely expenses, other assets. We build projections showing different scenarios, accounting for inflation and changing needs over retirement.
But the number itself is only part of the story.
The regret that doesn’t exist
Working with bp employees for this long, we’ve had countless conversations with retirees. Some are delighted with their financial position. Others wish they’d done things differently.
But here’s what I’ve never heard: “I wish I hadn’t saved so much. I have too much money in retirement.”
Not once.
I’ve had plenty of the opposite conversations. Retirees who wish they’d started earlier, saved more consistently, taken better advantage of bp’s generous package. People who realise they could have lived more comfortably, travelled more, worried less about money if they’d been more disciplined.
But regret about saving too much? It simply doesn’t happen.
Why this changes everything
This observation shapes how we think about retirement planning. When someone wonders whether they should put extra money into their pension or spend it on something else, I share this perspective.
We’re not suggesting you should deprive yourself today for some unknown future. You need to live for the moment, enjoy your earnings, have experiences whilst you can. But within that balance, you should save and invest as much as you reasonably can.
Because retirement regret is painful and permanent. The regret of not saving enough lasts for decades. The regret of saving “too much” just doesn’t exist.
Contributions beat cleverness
Here’s something else that strikes me: successful retirement outcomes are much more about how much you put in than how clever you are with investments.
bp employees often ask about investment strategies, which funds to choose, whether they should accept more volatility risk to increase the chances of higher returns. These things matter, but they’re secondary to the fundamental question: are you putting enough money away?
Someone who consistently saves a good percentage of their salary in straightforward, diversified funds will almost certainly end up better off than someone who saves half as much but tries to be clever with their investment choices.
The maths is simple: double your contributions, you roughly double your retirement pot. Find an investment strategy that gives you an extra 2% annual return? You might increase your pot by a quarter over a career.
Contributions compound reliably. Market timing doesn’t.
Freedom in retirement
What really strikes me about well-prepared retirees is their sense of freedom. They’re not stressed about money. They make choices based on what they want to do, not what they can afford.
They can help their children without worrying about their own security. They can deal with unexpected costs without panic. They can be generous because they’re not anxious about running out.
That freedom comes from having saved enough during their working years.
Aiming higher than “enough”
So when bp employees want to know “how much is enough?”, we calculate the numbers. But I also suggest aiming higher than “enough”.
Because “enough” assumes everything goes to plan. That you stay healthy, that costs don’t spiral, that your family doesn’t need help, that nothing unexpected happens.
Life rarely goes exactly to plan.
The bp employees who are happiest in retirement aren’t the ones who saved just enough. They’re the ones who saved more than enough, who built in a buffer, who gave themselves options.
Your future self will thank you
If you’re working at bp and thinking about retirement planning, remember this: I’ve never met anyone who regretted saving too much.
But I’ve met plenty who wished they’d been more disciplined about it whilst they had the chance.
You can’t go back and save more in previous years. But you can start putting more away from today.
Your future self will thank you for it.
Who can you think of that’s wondering if they’re saving enough for retirement? Share this article with them. It might give them the nudge they need to secure their future.
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This is for educational purposes only. It’s not personal advice and we’re not recommending any specific investment strategies. Everyone’s situation is different, so what’s right for one person might not be right for another.
While we have extensive experience helping bp employees and alumni optimise their benefits, Emery Little operates independently and is not affiliated with or endorsed by the bp group, including BP Pension Trustees Limited, on behalf of the BP Pension Fund. This allows us to provide objective, independent guidance focused solely on your best interests.
