Do you or did you plan your retirement as a couple?

[Marmut]

I am just wondering what approach most people take when planning retirement when they are a couple? Do you or did you plan it together as a couple? For instance, agreeing on how much needed per month during retirement and use this to build pension together as a couple? Or do you/did you plan your pension individually?

At the moment, even though I am married, I am kind of planning it individually by calculating how much I need to survive per month during retirement and use this to work out my pension goal. Is this normal? Or unnecessary? 🤔

Yes we have planned it together (early 50s) although probably only in a serious joint way over the past 5-10 years. Prior to this we just had our own pensions and paid into them according to our own plans.
We saw a financial planner around 5 years ago which was a really worthwhile investment for us to really get thinking about it properly.

Individually. But we have kept our finances separate for the last 30+ years, so that's normal for us.

@Shezlong Thanks for sharing. Do you synchronise your retirement plan so that both of you retire at the same time?

@Cynic17 Are you or were you retiring at the same time? Or each followed/follows own plan on when to retire (if not retiring at state pension age)?

We worked ours out individually as our work situations were different (different earnings, different pensions, company savings schemes etc). We both had the same mindset though, after the mortgage was paid off (40's) we made sure we always paid well above the minimum into our pensions (AVC's, additional % etc).
All savings are pooled and are only put into separate names as savings limits are reached. E.g. If we max out an ISA in one name, the rest goes into an ISA in the others name. Likewise PB's, both built up holdings but as soon as one of us maxed out we concentrated on building the others holding.

The plan was that when the time came to retire (we both intended retiring by 60) we could comfortably support ourselves on one of our pensions and the other would provide for luxuries. Savings would cover significant large expenditure.
As it turned out, I went at 57 and my OH (who is three years younger) has gone PT with the intention of finishing completely in a year or two).
All going to plan so far.🤞

I think you need to do both. It’s a sad fact that one of you will outlive the other so you also need to think about that scenario.

We have a rough plan and have done since our mid 30s. But we’re fairly fluid about eg where we’ll live (current plan is to downsize to pay off the mortgage) etc.

Interesting question. We haven't had in-depth conversations about this yet, been together since teens, same age, 30s now. Our priority right now has been making sure we have good pensions, we know we want to travel and both are quite aspirational about retirement whilst not seeking to do it especially early. We are both public sector (and well earning at that) so we know we have good pensions, know what we can take and when, but completely undecided over retirement ages etc.

I think I like the idea of going part time around 60 so I would like mortgage paid off well in advance of that to enable us to save. I'm very much assuming we will have a retirement together, but take personal responsibility for my own pension which is why I have maintained my career really (well one of the reasons) and not worried whilst DH has a good pension also, I think we're doing everything we can at this stage of our lives and only need to reassess if one of us takes a decision that could hamper our currently very positive pension outlook, and I guess we need to figure out what we want to do 60+ but that just seems too far away right now.

Yes we’re planning together (45 and 50). My pension is much better, his investments are. Have started talking about whether I attribute part of my pension to dh so that if he goes first he gets survivors portion and his own but if he goes first I’ve then lost 40% or whatever! Tricky one but worth sorting through in advance I think.

I am in a long term but unmarried relationship. Children and step children (all now adult by some years) involved in the big picture. Plus age difference between us of 10 years or so.

A few years back I was TOLD ie no discussion, that he was finishing at his place of work. As far as he was concerned he had done the financial maths that covered his contribution to our ongoing needs (also calculated by himself without discussion).

I have continued to work (long term part timer but I have increased my hours since the children went to uni/left uni) to supply my "input" and to continue building my savings/pension pot.

It's not what I would have chosen but it's where I am. I would have liked to have been considered more, I would have liked to have been taken better care of. At the end of the day, I suppose I can hold my head high and say all that I have, I have achieved by myself. It's a better position than some of my contemporaries, and a worse (significantly worse) position than others. I remind myself regularly that comparison is the thief of joy 😐

We planned together, have seperate finances but full knowledge and very detailed accounts. There is and always has been lots of fiddling with money to get the absolute best return, discussion debate and a clear plan which has now come in to fruition. We do both have defined benefits final salary pensions though so that made planning easier.

DH has retired earlier than expected as he got the chance of severance that was almost a years salary plus investments did very well recently. DS got on a degree apprenticeship so we ended up saving all the money that we would have funded him with as he would have been on minimum loan, so that was an extra 30k.

DH and I were same sector, he climbed the tree far more than me. I do not have the temperament for managing as I actually turned down promotion. I can still remember the absolute shock when I did this. I had changed careers as worked in the NHS previously for a few years and filled in as head nurse in a unit when my colleague was on maternity leave and hated managing people.

Thanks all for your sharing. It seems like the common approach is to discuss common goals and then work on the pension individually, taking into account different "grim" scenarios @NoDramas Sorry to hear your experience. Hopefully your partner will appreciate your effort more in the future 😕

We had regular meetings with a financial adviser and accountant to put our plans in place. We both retired this summer in our mid 60’s.

we’ve planned together. We are the same age do plan to retire at the same time. All finances are shared (due to his job moving around the world I was a trailing spouse for many years). My pension is quite small so we are putting money into that at the moment as it is the most tax efficient way. Very much a joint project.

We earn similar amounts and are the same age and both went PT when the DC were small so we don't particularly have to do a lot to plan our retirements together. If one of us earnt much less than the other or ended up taking early retirement that would be different.

Not really. We're the same age but DH works in a high-stress, high-paid environment whereas I work part-time in IT - very low stress. He will need to stop sooner than I will. But I imagine we'll only be a few years apart in any case so that we can start travelling together etc which is what we have planned.

If you have kids and take a lower paid job or go part time, then you are going to have a smaller pension. I cant believe some women here are not considering their income and pension as shared. Whats mine is yours etc!

I dont like the fact my pension is so small but after the career sarifices I made, there's no way my husbands pension is just 'his'.

We had our own pension plans but discussed them in broad terms. When we had children, I went p/t and we agreed I should pay in extra to my pension. We have always made joint decisions on expensive items. I have a DB pension and my DH had a DC Pension, due to the nature of our employment. This made detailed retirement planning more challenging, but now we are retired gives us more flexibility. We went on a pre-retirement course which provided us with some helpful advice (not just financial). It was actually quite useful to talk to an independent expert.

Being retired you have to get use to a different mindset. One where you are spending rather than saving money. I found this quite a difficult adjustment at first. However, the fact that we can talk about our finances with each other quite openly helps.

Financial preparation I'd say is pretty much on me (higher earner, plan things to the nth degrees lol) but the plan allows for us to retire when it suits. For me it will likely be next year, DH I think will work for as long as he physically can (musician).

A bit of both. We have a 6 1/2 year age gap and I had a couple of years not working and a decade in a term time only job so it gets complicated.

We have a few years to go before retirement so we are balancing things out as much as we can now, having mapped out what we have together and what each of us would have if we were the one left when the other died.

We have done all the planning together. Partner house was paid off when we met and I have large savings but in rented and much bigger pension pot and lump sum. We have brought together and have a small mortgage together over 10 years. But we will be able to pay it on either on our pensions if we go early eg 55 or via my huge lump sum or our current salaries. But yes we have planned. I also am likely to get a huge inheritance and at that point if that comes through all the child get a house.

We plan to work for no more than 6 years each and go at the same time - 4 years left on a tiny mortgage at that point that we can easily pay off.

Both myself and my wife are working still, bit of an age gap but we plan to retire when I retire. We have decent pensions and we want to enjoy ourselves as much as possible and have as long a retirement as possible. If my wife wanted to keep working when I retire, that's fine, but I'd love it if we were both free to travel whenever we want to.

We didn’t really plan in any detail. I had a workplace pension and my H put what he could afford into private pensions. He ended up retiring before he planned to (made redundant and couldn’t get another job at his age) and I carried on working for another 10+ years.

He would have quite liked me to retire sooner so that we could relocate, but I wasn’t ready, and obviously the extra years of earning were good for my pension.

I think it’s prudent to plan as if you were on your own. You have no way sadly of knowing what could happen between now and retirement, sudden death, accidents, etc. you need to make sure you can afford retirement if someone’s wage stops unexpectedly before retirement or if someone’s pension stops/is halved soon after retirement.