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Question: We retired last year at 67 with $3.1 million and get $5,000 a month in Social Security. My husband insists on working two days a week to keep his mind busy (and he secretly loves the challenge). But his side gig is interfering with the travel plans I want to make for us. We’re not getting any younger. Help!
Answer: As of 2022, the most recent year for which data is available, the average retirement savings balance among 67-year-olds was about $609,000, per the Federal Reserve. Meanwhile, the average Social Security retirement benefit today is $2,076.41.
If you retired at 67 with $3.1 million in savings and a $5,000 monthly Social Security benefit, you probably have considerably more financial resources than many of your same-aged peers. But that doesn’t mean you’re ready to say goodbye to earning an income.
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It may be that your husband wants to work two days a week to keep his mind sharp and have a way to structure his time. And there’s nothing wrong with that in theory.
But if it’s interrupting your travel plans, you may need to negotiate a new arrangement. The key is to do so in a way that acknowledges your spouse’s need for work and doesn’t minimize the importance of having that job as an anchor.
It’s important to align on goals
When you and your spouse aren’t on the same page, it can cause tension, no matter the situation. The good news is that in this scenario, you don’t have the burden of financial stress to worry about. This gives you the opportunity to have an honest conversation about the real purpose your husband’s job serves and the wiggle room there might be in his schedule.
“With a $3.1 million portfolio and $5,000 a month in Social Security, this couple is sitting on a very solid foundation,” says Andrew Izyumov, CFA, CEO and co-founder at investment platform 8FIGURES. “If we assume a standard 4% withdrawal rate, they’re looking at around $184,000 in gross annual income. In this context, the income from a two-day-a-week job is basically a rounding error.”
However, Izyumov continues, due to your financial circumstances, your husband is probably well aware that his job isn’t needed to generate cash flow. Rather, the purpose is to provide structure and mental stimulation. A good way to address the conflict, therefore, is to acknowledge his need and see if you can align on goals.
Your goal, for example, may be to travel. But the driving force behind that vision may be to keep busy yourself and avoid growing restless in the absence of a job.
With some digging and open conversations, you and your spouse might realize that you do, in fact, have similar goals. And from there, it’s a matter of figuring out how to make things work for both of you.
Figure out a reasonable compromise
When you’re fairly new to retirement, which is still the case even if you ended your careers last year, it’s common for spouses to have different expectations, says Joseph Patrick Roop, President at Belmont Capital.
“One spouse may see retirement as a time for travel and freedom, while the other still wants structure, purpose, or mental stimulation,” he says. “Neither perspective is wrong, but they do need to align.”
One thing Roop suggests is to see if your husband can schedule work intentionally so you both end up getting what you want.
“For example, the husband could continue working two days a week but block off extended travel periods during the year, perhaps several multi-week trips,” Roop says. “That allows him to keep the mental engagement he enjoys while still preserving the flexibility retirement is supposed to provide.”
Izyumov agrees that there’s probably room for more flexibility. Your husband may, for example, be able to move to a consultancy model where he works intensely for three weeks and then takes six weeks off, Izyumov suggests.
Also, Izyumov says, “We’re in the age of AI and remote connectivity. If he’s keeping his mind busy, can he do that from a villa in Italy just as easily as an office?”
Say something like: “Your $500-a-week hobby is devaluing our primary asset — our remaining healthy years.” — Andrew Izyumov
Remember why you saved so well in the first place
Your husband’s desire to work may stem from a desire to keep busy and less so from fear of running out of money.
Still, Izyumov says it’s important to remind your spouse why you hustled to build the nest egg you did. He suggests saying something like, “We’ve spent our lives building this $3.1 million fund. The goal of this fund was to buy us total freedom. Right now, your $500-a-week hobby is devaluing our primary asset — our remaining healthy years.”
Roop agrees.
“Time is our most valuable asset,” he says. “This year, I have watched two lovely clients pass away at age 69. They did not plan for that. It was not in the brochure. That is not financial planning. That is heartbreaking.”
While there’s no need to start planning your early demise, it could help to remind your husband that you don’t know how many healthy years you have left. That, combined with very strong financials, could sway him to adopt a more flexible approach to work that doesn’t interfere with the travel plans you’ve always dreamed of.