Survey: Lingering debts 'biggest regret of year'

About 53 per cent of people said they wished they had been able to reduce their borrowings more during the past year, while 37 per cent regretted not starting to save for their retirement earlier, according to internet and telephone bank first direct.

A further 14 per cent of people thought they had stayed in a rented property for too long and the same proportion wished they had not spent as much money on their partner.

Around 12 per cent of those questioned wished they had not splashed out so much on an expensive holiday, just over one in 10 regretted buying a car and nine per cent said they wished they had not bought a house.

But only 4 per cent of those questioned said they regretted spending money on an expensive wedding during the past year.

Debt also topped the list of financial things people were most unhappy about, with 82 per cent saying they wished they did not owe so much on credit cards and loans.