Call [1 (800) 123-1234] to speak with a licensed insurance agent.

Call [1 (800) 123-1234] to speak with a licensed insurance agent.

Retirement Planning for Couples With an Age Gap

Posted by [Your Company Name], July 18, 2018

All couples face a number of decisions while making their retirement plans. However, if your marriage is one where there is a significant age gap between you and your spouse, then you might face a few additional challenges. It’s less likely that you will both retire at the same time, so we recommend that you take a closer look at these three planning issues.

When to claim Social Security. If the older spouse is the also the higher-earning half of the couple, proceed with your Social Security claim carefully. This is of particular importance if your spouse is a homemaker or otherwise won’t qualify for their own Social Security benefit.

The younger spouse is likely to outlive the older, often by many years, and that means depending upon survivor benefits or their spousal benefit (which is roughly half of the higher earning spouse’s benefit). If the higher-earning spouse claims Social Security too early, these other benefits will be lower.

Planning for long-term care. One might assume that within a May-December couple, the younger spouse will one day provide long-term care for the older spouse in the event that it is needed. This isn’t a terribly irrational idea, of course, but keep in mind that nursing care might be needed around the clock, or very specialized care (beyond the skill level of the spouse) might be necessary.

Also, if the younger spouse outlives the older, you still have to plan for their long-term care needs. With 70 percent of all retirees needing specialized nursing care at some point in their lifetimes, everyone should plan for this expense rather than hope it won’t occur. So, you must plan for both the older and younger spouse’s care, regardless of your ages.

Providing health insurance for the younger spouse. Assuming the older spouse waits until age 65 or later to retire, they will be able to rely upon Medicare for health insurance. But what about the younger spouse? If they don’t have health insurance through work, purchasing a policy through an insurance broker or on the state exchange will probably be necessary.

If you have questions about these matters, we can offer some assistance. If your situation is a bit different from the norm, give us a call and we can help you pinpoint the solutions that can support your retirement goals.

Need more information on your insurance options?

Contact us online to learn more

Contact Us

Close Accessibility Tools
Accessibility Controls Reset
Content Adjustments
Font Size

Default

Line Height

Default

Content Scaling

Default

Highlight Titles
Highlight Links
Highlight Forms
Align Left
Align Center
Align Right
Focus Mode
Color Adjustments
Desaturate
Monochrome
Contrast

Default

Saturation

Default

Accessibility Statement

Despite our attempts to make this website accessible for everyone, there may still be some pages or sections that are not completely accessible, are in the process of becoming accessible, or do not have a suitable technological solution to make them accessible. Nevertheless, we are always striving to enhance our accessibility by adding, updating, improving its options and features, and incorporating new technologies.

We want to provide our users with the best experience possible, so we strive to support as many browsers and assistive technologies as possible.

If you wish to contact this website's owner, please use the contact form on the website.

Our User Interface Adjustment Options

Font adjustments - With this tool, users can modify font size, style, letter spacing, and line height for improved alignment and readability.

Color adjustments - Users can customize their color contrast profiles to light, dark, desaturated, and monochrome.

Content highlighting - Users can prioritize key elements such as links, forms, and titles.

Content focus - Users can enable focus mode to highlight the current page information based on their mouse movement.

Close