Research by Partnership found 8% of people over 40 regretted not buying earlier in life. This figure rises to 11% for all those aged between 40 and 50.

The second biggest property regret was buying a property which was not good value. Some 6% of all over 40s believe they had overspent or purchased an unsuitable house in the past.

Outside of property, the major regrets were not saving enough (36%), not saving into a pension (25%) and getting divorced (13%), the survey found.

The insurer said people were being asked to make complex decisions about their finances earlier in life, but many did not fully understand the long term implications.

Andrew Megson, managing director of retirement at Partnership, said: “While everyone makes mistakes in life – it appears that the two most common financial regrets relate to people taking no action at all rather than making an error because they took a huge gamble.

“The new pension freedoms mean that people are going to be facing an increasing number of choices.  This research suggests that not only do people need to work hard to put aside money while they are working but also need to carefully consider how they intend to use this money when they eventually retire.”