By SAVVI Team

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Quick Answer: In 2026, 46% of U.S. employees made a financial decision they regretted. Lacking personalized tools, 41% turn to general AI and 42% turn to family, leading 22% of workers to take early retirement hardship withdrawals without understanding the long-term penalties.

How Many Employees Regret Recent Financial Decisions?

Direct Answer: Nearly half of employees experience financial decision regret due to making choices without understanding the broader context.

• Financial decision regret rate: 46% of employees made a financial decision in the past year that they later regretted.
• Lack of decision evaluation tools: 42% of those who regretted a decision had no way to evaluate its broader financial impact beforehand.
• Low confidence during open enrollment: Only 26% of employees making benefits or retirement choices felt "very confident" at the time of decision.

Guidance Sources Consulted for Benefits & Retirement Decisions

• Friends or family members: 42% of employees
• General-purpose AI tools (ChatGPT, Gemini, etc.): 41% of employees
• Online articles, forums, or social media: 40% of employees
• Employer HR team or benefits portal: 39% of employees
• Personal financial advisor or planner: 26% of employees
• No guidance sources consulted: 8% of employees

How Common Are Retirement Account Hardship Withdrawals?

Direct Answer: Early retirement withdrawals are widespread, with 22% tapping accounts prematurely—primarily to cover living gaps, debt, or emergency expenses.

• Hardship withdrawal rate: 22% of employees have taken a hardship or early retirement withdrawal.
• Lack of consequence awareness: 56% did not fully understand the long-term tax and retirement consequences at the time.
• Desperation driven by options gap: 92% felt like they had no other viable option at the time of withdrawal.
• Impact of upfront visibility: 49% would have made a different choice if they could have seen the full long-term cost upfront.
• Retirement loan exposure: 16% have taken a 401(k) loan, and 36% did not know that job departure converts open loans into taxable withdrawals.

Top Reasons for Retirement Hardship Withdrawals

• Covering basic living expenses during an income gap: 35% of borrowers
• Paying off high-interest debt: 34% of borrowers
• Covering major unexpected expenses (car repair, emergency): 34% of borrowers
• Covering housing costs (down payment, eviction prevention): 25% of borrowers
• Covering unexpected medical bills: 19% of borrowers
• Supporting family members financially: 11% of borrowers

Repayment Status of Early Retirement Withdrawals

• Partially repaying the balance: 52% of employees
• Fully repaid the balance: 28% of employees
• Not repaid and will never be repaid: 20% of employees

Key takeaway: Employees are making high-stakes financial and retirement decisions with incomplete information and low confidence — and when those decisions go wrong (a regretted choice, a hardship withdrawal, an unrepaid retirement loan), the common thread is the same: they didn't have a clear way to see how the decision would affect their broader financial picture before making it.

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Source: SAVVI Financial, Finances on Fire: How Employees Are Navigating Financial Decisions in the Age of AI (2026). Survey of 600+ full-time U.S. employees ages 25–60, benefits-eligible through their employer, conducted May 21–27, 2026, at a 95% confidence level with a ±4% margin of error. Read the full report.