17 Things You’ll Deeply Regret Not Doing Before You Turn 70 (And How to Start Now)

The things you’ll most regret not doing before you turn 70 are rarely big or dramatic. They’re the quiet ones: getting strong while it’s easier, taking the trip your knees can still handle, saying the words to the people you love, writing down the family stories, and getting your money and papers in order so your choices stay yours.

Your 60s are a sweet spot. For many women, they’re the first decade with real free time, enough health for adventure and enough life behind you to know what matters. The catch is that some doors close quietly. Not at 70 exactly, but slowly, and usually while we’re busy saying “next year.”

This list isn’t meant to scare you. Each of the 17 things comes with why it matters, one small step to start this week, and a gentler version for when money, health or caring for someone makes it harder. Pick one. Then pick the next.

A quick note: I’m not a doctor or a financial advisor. Use the health and money tips here as a starting point for a conversation with yours.

The Regrets People Talk About Most

Palliative care nurse Bronnie Ware spent years caring for people in their final weeks and wrote about what they wished they’d done differently in her book The Top Five Regrets of the Dying. The same themes came up again and again:

• Not having the courage to live a life true to themselves instead of the life others expected
• Working too hard and missing time with the people they loved
• Not expressing their feelings
• Losing touch with friends
• Not letting themselves be happier

Notice what’s missing: nobody wished for a bigger house. Most regrets are about people, courage and time, and almost all of them can still be changed in your 50s and 60s. The list below turns those themes into practical steps, plus the body, money and paperwork moves that protect your independence.

Your Before-70 Checklist at a Glance

11. Get Strong While It’s Still Easier to Build Muscle

Why it matters before 70: Muscle and strength decline with age, and the slide speeds up in your 60s and 70s. Strength is what lets you get up off the floor, carry your groceries, lift a grandchild and stay in your own home. Walking is wonderful for your heart, but on its own it doesn’t build much muscle. The CDC recommends that older adults do muscle-strengthening activities at least two days a week, on top of about 150 minutes of moderate activity such as brisk walking.

Start this week: Do the chair test. Sit in a sturdy chair with your arms crossed and count how many times you can stand up and sit down in 30 seconds. Write the number down. Then do two short sessions this week: 10 chair stands, 10 wall push-ups, 10 heel raises holding the counter and 30 seconds of carrying two full grocery bags around the kitchen. Repeat the circuit three times. Test yourself again in a month and watch the number climb.

If life makes it harder: If you have joint pain, osteoporosis or a heart condition, ask your doctor for a referral to a physical therapist, who can build a plan that’s safe for you. Many community centers and YMCAs run low-cost strength classes for older adults, and many Medicare Advantage plans include a fitness benefit.

22. Train Your Balance Before a Fall Changes Everything

Why it matters before 70: More than one in four older adults reports a fall each year, according to the CDC, and one bad fall can change everything from where you live to whether you still drive. Balance is a skill. Like any skill, it fades when you don’t practice it and improves when you do.

Start this week: Stand at the kitchen counter and balance on one foot for 10 seconds while the kettle boils, then switch feet. When that’s easy, let your hand hover just above the counter instead of holding it. Add heel-to-toe walking down the hallway, like walking on a tightrope.

If life makes it harder: Tai chi is one of the most studied ways to improve balance, and many senior centers offer free or inexpensive classes. At home, add night lights, remove loose rugs and put a grab bar in the shower. Those changes cost little and prevent a lot.

33. Get Your Hearing and Eyes Checked (and Use What Helps)

Why it matters before 70: Many people wait years to treat hearing loss, and in that time they slowly stop going to noisy restaurants, stop calling friends and start nodding along to conversations they can’t follow. Research links untreated hearing loss with loneliness and faster cognitive decline. Vision changes such as cataracts creep in too, and they affect driving, reading and your risk of falling.

Start this week: Book a hearing test and a dilated eye exam. If you’ve already been told you need hearing aids, wear them every day for a full month before deciding they’re not for you, because your brain needs time to adjust. Since 2022, over-the-counter hearing aids for mild to moderate hearing loss have been sold in US stores without a prescription.

If life makes it harder: Original Medicare doesn’t cover routine hearing aids, but many Medicare Advantage plans include some hearing and vision benefits, so check yours. Local Lions Clubs and hearing charities also help with costs.

44. Stop “Living With” the Health Issue You Keep Ignoring

Why it matters before 70: The knee that “just aches,” the shoulder you stopped lifting, the screening you keep postponing. Small problems left alone make you move less, and moving less makes almost everything else worse. Many joint problems respond well to physical therapy when they’re treated early, before you change the way you walk to avoid the pain.

Start this week: Make a list of every “I’ll deal with it later” and take it to your next appointment. Ask your doctor which screenings and vaccines are due for you. For many women in their 60s that includes colon cancer screening, a bone density scan (recommended for women 65 and older, and earlier for some) and the shingles vaccine, which the CDC recommends for adults 50 and older.

If life makes it harder: If you’re caring for someone else, put your own appointments on the calendar first, just as you would theirs. Telehealth visits and pharmacy clinics can handle the small things.

55. Take the Big, Physically Demanding Trip First

Why it matters before 70: Travel planners talk about the “go-go years,” the stretch when your body can still handle long flights, cobblestones and steep stairs. The hiking trip, the safari, the multi-city European tour: those are harder at 78 than at 64. Cruises, river cruises and scenic road trips will still be there later.

Start this week: Write two lists: trips that need your legs and trips that don’t. Pick one from the first list and choose a month and a budget this week. Even a savings jar with a date on it makes it real.

If life makes it harder: If money is tight, the adventure can be closer to home. US citizens and permanent residents 62 and older can buy a lifetime America the Beautiful Senior Pass for $80, which covers entrance to national parks and other federal recreation sites. Check with your doctor before a strenuous trip, and buy travel insurance that includes medical evacuation.

66. Try the Thing You’ve Always Said You’d Do “Someday”

Why it matters before 70: Painting, piano, writing a memoir, learning Italian, singing in a choir. If you’ve carried a quiet dream for decades, it isn’t going away on its own. The regret isn’t about never becoming great at it. It’s about never finding out what it felt like to try.

Start this week: Give it a 30-day trial with a tiny goal: one watercolor a week, 15 minutes of piano every morning or one page of your memoir every Sunday. Sign up for one beginner class, where everyone else is learning too.

If life makes it harder: Libraries, community colleges and senior centers offer free or low-cost classes, and many public colleges let older adults audit courses for little or no tuition. Free online tutorials cost nothing but time.

77. Make Peace With Someone, or at Least Say What Needs Saying

Why it matters before 70: Family rifts rarely heal by waiting. Silence tends to harden into a story both sides believe. You can’t control how the other person responds, but you can make sure you’ve done your part, so you’re never left wondering.

Start this week: Write a short note of three or four sentences, with no defending and no rehashing. For example: “I’ve been thinking about you. I’m sorry for my part in what happened between us. I’d love to talk if you’re open to it. Either way, I wish you well.” Send it, then let it go.

If life makes it harder: Reconciliation isn’t always safe or wise. If a relationship involved abuse or ongoing harm, peace can mean letting go privately instead of reaching out. A family therapist or counselor can help you decide what’s right, and some will guide a first conversation.

88. Invest in the Friendships That Feed You (and Make New Ones)

Why it matters before 70: Losing touch with friends is one of the regrets people mention most. Friendships thin out after retirement, moves and loss, and loneliness is more than sad. The US Surgeon General’s 2023 advisory on loneliness compared its health risk to smoking up to 15 cigarettes a day. Meanwhile, one-sided friendships drain the energy you could be giving to people who give back.

Start this week: Write down the five people who leave you feeling better every time you see them. Call one of them this week and put a date on the calendar. Then notice the friendships where you always give and never get, and let them become smaller.

If life makes it harder: Making friends after 60 takes repetition, not luck. Join something that meets every week, such as a walking group, choir, church group, book club or volunteer shift, and keep showing up. Friendships grow from seeing the same faces again and again.

99. Tell the People You Love How You Feel, Out Loud

Why it matters before 70: Many of us were raised to show love by doing: cooking, driving, helping. But the words matter too, and it’s the unsaid ones people regret. Your children, grandchildren and friends may not know exactly what they mean to you unless you tell them.

Start this week: Write one letter to someone you love. Share a specific memory and tell them what you admire about them. Mail it. A handwritten letter is the kind of thing people keep for the rest of their lives.

If life makes it harder: If saying it feels awkward, start smaller. A text that says “I was just thinking about how proud I am of you” still counts.

1010. Put People Before Busyness (and Work)

Why it matters before 70: Working too hard is one of the most common regrets, and it isn’t only about jobs. Committees, endless errands and always being the one who says yes can eat the years too. Whether you’re still working or retired, the question is the same: is your calendar full of what matters to you?

Start this week: Look at last week’s calendar and circle the hours that went to people and things you love. Then block one protected time each week for family or for yourself, and treat it like a doctor’s appointment.

If life makes it harder: If you need to keep working for the income, phased retirement, part-time hours or consulting can buy back time without giving up your paycheck. Ask your employer what’s possible. Many have more flexibility than they advertise.

1111. Record Your Family Stories While You Still Can

Why it matters before 70: When the last person who remembers something is gone, the story goes too: how your parents met, what the old house looked like, why Grandma never ate peaches. Your grandchildren will want these stories one day, usually after it’s too late to ask.

Start this week: Use your phone’s voice recorder or the free StoryCorps app to record 10 minutes. Start with one question: “What was your childhood home like?” Record yourself, and record the oldest relative you can still ask. Then follow this simple four-week plan:

1. Week 1, childhood: your home, your parents, your neighborhood.
2. Week 2, growing up: school, first jobs, first love.
3. Week 3, big decisions: marriage, moves, faith and the hard times you got through.
4. Week 4, wisdom: what you’d want your great-grandchildren to know.

Name each file with the date and topic, save it in two places, such as a cloud folder and a USB drive, and share the folder with your family.

If life makes it harder: If talking feels hard, write instead. One page a week for a year is a 52-page memoir.

1212. Label Your Photos and Tell the Stories Behind Your Heirlooms

Why it matters before 70: A box of unlabeled photos is a mystery to the next generation, and a ring without its story is just a ring. Labeling takes minutes now and saves your family hours of guessing later.

Start this week: Take one album or one shoebox. Write names, places and years on the back of each photo with a photo-safe pen, or on a sticky note. Then pick three heirlooms and write a sentence or two about each: who owned it, and why it matters.

If life makes it harder: If your photos are digital and chaotic, start one folder called “Best Family Photos” and add 10 a week. For big boxes of prints, many local camera shops and online services will scan them for you.

1313. Get Your Papers in Order (It’s a Gift to Your Family)

Why it matters before 70: No one likes thinking about it, but a will, a durable power of attorney and a health care directive protect your choices if you can’t speak for yourself, and they spare your family painful guesswork during an already hard time.

Start this week: Make a simple list of where everything is: bank and retirement accounts, insurance policies, the house deed, passwords and who to call. Then check the beneficiaries on your retirement accounts and life insurance, because those forms usually take priority over what your will says.

If life makes it harder: If a lawyer feels too expensive, check whether your state offers a free health care directive form, and ask your local Area Agency on Aging about free or low-cost legal help for adults 60 and older.

1414. Make Your Money Decisions on Purpose, Not by Default

Why it matters before 70: Some of the biggest money choices of your life land in your 60s: when to claim Social Security, how to sign up for Medicare and how to draw down your savings. Social Security is a big one. According to the Social Security Administration, your benefit grows by 8% for each year you wait past your full retirement age (67 for anyone born in 1960 or later), until age 70. Waiting isn’t right for everyone, but it should be a decision, not an accident. Medicare timing matters too: if you sign up for Part B late without other qualifying coverage, you can pay a penalty for as long as you have it.

Start this week: Create your free my Social Security account at ssa.gov to see your estimated benefit at different ages. Then book one session with a fee-only fiduciary financial planner, who is paid by you rather than by commissions on products. And give yourself permission to spend some of what you saved on the life you saved it for.

If life makes it harder: If you made money mistakes in the past, you’re far from alone, and replaying them won’t change them. Make the best choice with what you have now. For free, unbiased Medicare help, contact your State Health Insurance Assistance Program (SHIP).

1515. Decide Where You Want to Live Next, While It’s Your Choice

Why it matters before 70: Stairs, a big yard and a house full of things feel different at 75 than at 60. Women who decide early, whether that means downsizing, moving closer to family or making their home safe to age in, get to choose. Waiting for a fall or a crisis usually means someone else chooses for you.

Start this week: Walk through your home and ask, “Could I live here with a bad knee?” Note the stairs, the bathtub, the lighting and the front steps. Then declutter one drawer a day. The Swedish call it “death cleaning,” but it’s really about living lighter.

If life makes it harder: If moving isn’t possible or wanted, small updates help you age in place: grab bars, a handheld shower, brighter bulbs, a raised toilet seat and a bedroom on the main floor if you have the space.

1616. Let Go of Old Grudges and Old Regrets

Why it matters before 70: Carrying an old hurt is like carrying a heavy bag everywhere you go. You get used to the weight and forget you’re allowed to put it down. Forgiveness doesn’t mean what happened was okay, and it doesn’t require an apology. It means you stop letting it take up space in your days. The same goes for regrets about your own past choices.

Start this week: Write down one grudge or regret. Next to it, write what it has cost you and what it taught you. Then write one sentence you’re willing to say to yourself, such as “I did the best I could with what I knew then.”

If life makes it harder: If a loss or a grief won’t lift, especially after losing a spouse, a grief support group or a counselor can help. You don’t have to carry it alone. For more on this, read 15 things to stop doing after 60 if you want to keep your peace of mind.

1717. Wear the Dress, Say Yes and Live Your Own Way

Why it matters before 70: The regret Bronnie Ware heard most often was not having the courage to live a life true to oneself. For many women it shows up in small ways: the red dress saved for “an occasion,” the bold haircut, the trip alone, the opinion swallowed to keep the peace. In your 60s, you’ve earned the right to stop asking permission.

Start this week: Use the good china, wear the outfit you’ve been saving and say yes to one invitation you’d normally turn down. If you’d like ideas, start with these fall outfits for women over 50.

If life makes it harder: If confidence is the hurdle, start where no one’s watching. Dance in your kitchen, try the bold lipstick at home, then wear it to the grocery store. Courage grows with practice.

Fun Things to Do Before You Turn 70

Not every item on your list has to be serious. Here are bucket list ideas that women in their 60s love, from small to once-in-a-lifetime:

• See the Northern Lights
• Ride in a hot air balloon at sunrise
• Visit five national parks with your Senior Pass
• Take a cooking class abroad
• Learn to dance: salsa, swing or line dancing
• Take a cross-country train trip
• Go on a girls’ trip with your oldest friends
• Take each grandchild on a trip, just the two of you
• Learn to swim or snorkel
• Get the pixie cut you’ve always wanted
• Sing in a choir or take a singing lesson
• Put together a family cookbook with your best recipes and the stories behind them
• See a show on Broadway
• Volunteer for a cause you love
• Plant a tree your grandchildren can climb one day

A 30-Day No-Regrets Plan

Seventeen things can feel like a lot. You don’t have to do them all at once. This plan covers your body, your heart and your legacy in about 20 minutes a day.

Frequently Asked Questions

What do people regret most when they get older?

Most regrets are about what people didn’t do rather than what they did: not living true to themselves, working too much, not expressing their feelings, losing touch with friends and not letting themselves be happier. Many people also wish they’d taken better care of their health while it was easier.

What should you do before you turn 70?

Build strength and balance, check your hearing and eyes, take the physically demanding trip, repair or release important relationships, record your family stories, get your will and health care directive in place, make your Social Security and Medicare decisions on purpose, and decide where you want to live next.

Is it too late to start strength training at 65 or older?

No. Research shows that people in their 70s, 80s and even 90s can gain strength with regular resistance training. Start with bodyweight moves such as chair stands and wall push-ups, go slowly, and check with your doctor first if you have a heart condition, osteoporosis or joint problems.

Should I wait until 70 to claim Social Security?

It depends on your health, savings, marriage and whether you’re still working. Your benefit grows by 8% for each year you delay past full retirement age, up to 70, which can help a lot if you live a long time or want a bigger survivor benefit for your spouse. Claiming earlier can make sense in other situations. Look at your numbers on ssa.gov and talk it through with a fee-only financial planner.

How do I reconnect with an estranged family member?

Keep the first message short and warm, take responsibility for your part without rehashing the past, and leave the door open without pressure. Then accept whatever response you get. If the relationship involved abuse, or you’re unsure it’s safe, talk with a counselor before reaching out.

What are fun things to do when you turn 70?

Celebrate with a trip with your favorite people, a hot air balloon ride, a family story night where everyone shares a memory of you, a dance class or a national park road trip. The best birthday plans mix something adventurous with time with the people you love.

How do I stop dwelling on past regrets?

Write the regret down, name what it taught you, and take one small action that fits who you are now. Regret loses its grip when it turns into a decision. If it keeps you stuck for weeks, a counselor can help you work through it.

Is 70 considered old?

Seventy is a number, not a verdict. Many people in their 70s travel, work, volunteer and stay strong. How “old” you feel depends far more on your health, independence and connections than on your birthday, which is exactly why the steps you take in your 60s matter so much.

If regret, grief or low mood has felt heavy for more than a couple of weeks, please mention it to your doctor or a counselor. Depression is not a normal part of aging, and it is very treatable.

Final Thoughts

The things you’ll regret not doing before you turn 70 aren’t really about 70. They’re about the ordinary weeks in between, the ones where “someday” quietly becomes “never.” You don’t need to do all 17. Pick the one that made your heart catch a little as you read it, and take the first step this week.

For more on living your 60s well, read 15 things to stop doing after 60, find a fresh look with these haircuts for women over 50 with thinning hair, and save this list to your Pinterest board so it’s there when you need a nudge.