(The Washington Post) I’m a planner. Always have been. When it comes to retirement, my husband and I are working the numbers, discussing whether we want to stay put or move and talking about how much traveling we want to do.
We are just a year apart in age — he’s older — so the plan has generally been that we would retire together. I’m looking forward to spending even more time with my “boo.”
But a reader raised a question recently that could create problems for some couples: “What can age difference mean when it comes to retirement?”
The Pew Research Center looked at the age gap in couples. For the most part, people marry someone close in age. However, one stereotype proved to be true: Men who are remarrying tend to wed younger women.
“Not only are men who have recently remarried more likely than those beginning a first marriage to have a spouse who is younger; in many cases, she is much younger,” wrote Gretchen Livingston, a senior researcher focusing on fertility and family demographics at Pew Research Center. “Some 20 percent of men who are newly remarried have a wife who is at least 10 years their junior, and another 18 percent married a woman who is 6 to 9 years younger. By comparison, just 5 percent of newlywed men in their first marriage have a spouse who is 10 years younger, and 10 percent married a woman who is 6 to 9 years younger.”
One of the biggest issues when there is an age gap is when to retire.
“Couples with big age differences may need to plan for different retirement dates and life expectancies — with related implications for portfolio-withdrawal strategies, asset allocation, and Social Security filing,” wrote Christine Benz, Morningstar’s director of personal finance. “Long-term-care considerations can also take on greater prominence for couples where there’s a big age discrepancy.”
Benz offered advice on how to plan when there is a significant age gap.
“Couples with big age gaps should craft their plans to accommodate the partner with the longest life expectancy,” she suggests. “That means that a 70-year-old husband and a 58-year-old wife should plan for their portfolio to last over the wife’s longer time horizon — 28 years, on average, and even longer if she has good health and a family history of longevity.”
Be careful about retirement withdrawals, and definitely give more thought to when you both will start taking Social Security, Benz said.
“If the older partner had the higher income over his or her working career, delaying Social Security filing past full retirement age, as late as age 70, may be especially valuable” she said. “Not only will that enlarge the higher-earning spouse's benefits during his or her lifetime, but it will also enhance the lifetime benefits for the surviving spouse.”
For more on her recommendations, read: Retirement Planning When There’s an Age Gap
