Retirement can be defined in many ways.
Stop regular working, extended holiday, life of financial freedom etc etc.
This is not about how to retire, instead “who all to retire”.
As an insurance advisor I am privileged to assist many of my clients with their retirement planning, and each one is a new learning experience. Everyone has their own amazing concepts and ideas. Some simple, some not so. Common denominator is – money. We all need that to retire.
There is one thing that’s overlooked most times – Is the retirement just for you (husband) or does it include your wife too. Of course, the answer always is that it is for both. That’s very nice, but does that retirement planning you have, include your wife’s retirement too.
To retire your partner means giving her the same freedom you have. Freedom from taking care of the kids, regular household chores, cooking, cleaning, just about anything she does now.
Today you are working hard to give your family the best life, good education for your children, later college and only once done with all those commitments and responsibilities can you decide to retire. Remember – all this while your partner was also busy – taking care of the children, attending PTA meetings, coordinating with school, cooking, household chores, basically converting your “house into a home”. I am not even talking about the case where the homemaker is also working. There the responsibilities increase further. You might have a maid today to support, but a mother or wife will still be involved.
So, when all that’s done, the children leave for their universities and you are ready to retire, don’t you think she deserves one too. A well-earned retirement from the (mostly) unpaid lifelong career, where she can continue to be by your side, in every sense. On a lighter more practical note, some women may go nuts not having anything to do.
Solution is simpler than you think – Just include that small cost of a maid/cook/cleaner to your monthly pension plan. The additional investment will be minimal but trust me it makes life lot easier for your partner and yes you too.
Won’t that be the real retirement.
How about telling that to your wife today & you will see
“There is much more that money can actually buy“.