Most long term relationships have their share of communication black spots. You learn to navigate around them, sharing day-to-day life comfortably but avoiding the issues that you suspect are likely to cause conflict or discomfort. For more information, visit us at http://boomersnextstep.com/lifestyle/planning-to-retire-five-issues-you-must-discuss-with-your-partner/

1. Five Issues You Must
Discuss
With Your Partner
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2. BoomersNextStep.com
Most long term relationships have their share of communication black spots. You learn
to navigate around them, sharing day-to-day life comfortably but avoiding the issues that
you suspect are likely to cause conflict or discomfort.
Then suddenly the concept of retirement looms. Someone asks you outright “Are
you planning to retire soon?" or worse still “So what are your retirement plans?” Mild
panic! What to respond? You mutter something generic then go away and find your
mind is running riot with thoughts of how you are going to spend the next phase of your
life. Do we have enough money? Will we travel? Where will we live? What do we want
out of life? And perhaps the biggest (often unspoken) question of all….How can each of
us make sure we are choosing a life that will make us content?

3. Whilst it might be easier to live within your comfort zone, not
bringing up these issues for discussion, the reality is that you need
to come to some agreement on them. The sooner you know the
direction you are going the sooner you will be able to start taking
steps to get to where you want to be.
This is an overview of the issues that will each be addressed in detail
through Boomers Next Step in the next couple of weeks.
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4. If you have been working with a financial planner, or already have a
strong understanding of your financial situation and the strategies you
are using to achieve your financial goals, then this won’t be an issue.
However if you haven’t been communicating about your overall
financial situation then it is vital that you do so. Once you stop your
income-producing work your nest-egg suddenly takes on a huge new
role in your life. For some it will be large enough to provide your living
costs, but the majority of Australians are going to be challenged to live
the life they’d like in retirement.
According to accountancy giant Deloitte, Australian males aged 60 – 65
have, on average, a superannuation balance of $114,000, while women
of the same age average $94,000. This is frightening when you consider
that for a basic comfortable retirement lifestyle men will need around
$340,000 and women $370,000.
What will you need as a couple to live the life you’d like? Do you need
to find a way to improve your finances or to change your expectations?
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5. Do you know when you want to retire? Do you share
goals about this, or is timing going to be an
issue? What impact does the timing of your retirement
have on your tax commitments for that year?
If one of you wants to retire earlier than the other, how
will you manage the lifestyle changes? Will your
everyday roles and responsibilities change? This might
sound basic but, let’s face it, it is often the little things
that get us down. If one person in the relationship has
always been the one who did the grocery shopping or
the house cleaning, is that still how it should
be? Habits are hard to change, but we are talking
about a major change in your lives now and the
beginning of a whole new chapter, so everything is
open to new practices.
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6. Where you choose to live is closely related to the previous
two issues. Your money will obviously dictate the level of
housing you can consider. Your timing will dictate whether
you make a move at all, and when it suits you to move.
But beyond those issues are the big questions of how you
want to live. Are you going to stay where you currently
live, or will you move to a different town or area? Do you
want a free standing home, an apartment or some other
form of housing? Would you like to live in an “over 55s”
complex? How important is it to have family and friends
close by? If you chose to move to be near family and
friends, will they still be there in 5 years?
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7. Many couples share interests and that makes planning
your retirement activities quite easy. You can enjoy doing
more of the same together.
But what about the many couples who don’t have
interests in common? They can have happily co-existed
for years, respectful of the other person’s interests but not
remotely keen to be involved. Time and money are the
two problems here. If someone is passionate about a
hobby they are likely to view the time and money spent
on that hobby to be perfectly justifiable. Their partner,
who doesn’t share the passion, can easily resent both the
time and money. That’s a BIG conversation!
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8. When people are planning to retire, the first thing they
often think about is that they will have free time, the
freedom to do the things they have always wanted to
do. For many people this means travel. Where to go?
What to do? How to do it? Travel brings up so many
possibilities but if you are travelling together there are
likely to be compromises. Would you both enjoy going on
a cruise? What about being a grey nomad? What level of
luxury do you require? Would you like to travel a lot in
less luxury, or just a little but in more comfort? I hope this
is a series of conversations that brings you lots of
pleasure.
Over the next couple of weeks BoomersNextStep.com will
be examining these issues to help you to start planning to
retire and to live a truly fulfilling retirement lifestyle that
meets the needs of both you and your partner.
BoomersNextStep.com