Navigating Retirement with Different Goals

There’s nothing more painful than working for over forty years and waiting to reach the promised land of retirement, fully prepared financially for it, and then some health reasons stop you from being able to enjoy what you had dreamed of.

You can’t buy back good health, and that’s just a reality.

Those with other reasons that get in the way of enjoying their dream retirement are in a better place, even if they don’t see it.

A common problem is differing goals in retirement. One may find themselves ready to head to Arizona in the winter months, while their spouse is getting ready for school runs with the grandkids in September. You can’t be in two places at once, or can you?

It’s rare to find a couple who work in the same industry, unless they are self-employed and run the business together. We can easily adjust to different 9-5s and friend groups, but when it comes to retirement, we are less flexible.

If we treated retirement the way we do other parts of our working life, or even the long-distance dating of university days, we could come up with so many solutions that better reflect the individuality of our priorities and journeys, and still respect the sanctity of marriage.

The biggest challenge is that decision-making around retirement is highly emotional and should not be relegated to an Excel sheet exercise. It is best had intermittently, over the years, if time allows, especially about using home equity to finance retirement. Direct conversation can be had, but only to narrow down specific points.

Think of it like trying to decide what you want to study in university, where you want to go, and how you’re going to pay for it…all over again. You may remember how tight you got when people asked you direct questions. How uncomfortable you felt when you were thinking about how you were going to pay for university and if it was going to be worth it.

Now there are two of you, in the same house, going to adult university at the same time.

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