What Happens If My Spouse and I Are Retiring at Different Times?

It is very important to get on the same page as your spouse when you’re thinking about retirement and estate planning goals. This may be the only way for you to protect your interests and to avoid unfortunate conversations or challenges in the future.

Although most couples know that retirement is important and assume they are on the same page, research has shown that many of them are thinking about things differently. This can be very problematic when you only realize this as you get closer to retirement. In fact 34% of couples disagree on whether or not they are spenders or savers, and 8/10 couples anticipate and desire living a comfortable retirement life but nearly half of them disagree on the age that they will retire at. Have a conversation with your spouse about when you intend to retire.

This can occur for several different reasons, such as age differences or one person may not be ready to retire. It can be advantageous to accrue more substantial benefits to your social security and save more and can even get a trial run for retirement when one couple plans to retire first. Retirement is a difficult transition and you need to have open and honest conversations with your spouse about it as well as adjust any estate and retirement plans to ensure you have accounted for any differences in your strategies.