Linda Stern presents the issues of negotiating retirement with a spouse:
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I've seen plenty of divorces before this point, but not for retirement reasons. However most of our shipmates & neighbors aren't ER'd.
Business & Financial News, Breaking US & International News | Reuters.com
You would think that after a few decades of marriage, raising kids and going through the ups and downs of life together, retirement would be a cakewalk for couples. But you'd be wrong.
Spouses who have managed to negotiate a lifetime of decisions together are finding that their well-oiled partnership machine may break down when they face those post-career issues.
It's no wonder there has been lots of talk (albeit with few statistics) about "gray divorce" becoming epidemic.
Husbands and wives aren't even on the same page when it comes to the facts and figures of their retirement finances, according to a study released today by Fidelity Investments.
Roughly 62 percent of couples approaching retirement don't agree on when they should retire, and almost half don't agree on whether they should continue working in retirement, said the new study.
Moreover, 73 percent of pre- and post-retirement couples couldn't even agree on whether or not they had a detailed retirement-income plan. Almost a third -- 30 percent -- of already retired couples couldn't even agree on how comfortable their current retirement lifestyle was, while they were living it. Of those couples working with a financial adviser, a third disagreed -- by at least three years -- on how long they had been working with the adviser.
I've seen plenty of divorces before this point, but not for retirement reasons. However most of our shipmates & neighbors aren't ER'd.