Are you ready?

In the article Is your Marriage ready for Retirement, The Globe and Mail reported:

• men with nonworking spouses had greater marital satisfaction than those with working wives
• men who didn’t work but had a working spouse reported the most marital conflict
• Women experienced the highest marital satisfaction if they entered new jobs after retiring and their husbands were also working
• Husbands and wives reported greater marital satisfaction if they retired at the same time
• men who worked after retiring from their primary job experienced more marital discord than those men who didn’t work
• women’s fears in retirement include losing one’s identity (becoming more prevalent with the increase in the number of retiring professional women), being responsible for their spouses’/significant others’ social life and entertainment, experiencing a disruption of their established patterns, needing to take care of everyone, financial and health issues and outliving their spouse
• Men’s concerns include lack of status, lack of social support, lack of purpose, declining physical abilities, poor communication with significant others and boomerang kids.
• women’s fantasies include returning to school, becoming an entrepreneur, performing meaningful volunteer activities, renewing relationships and enjoying life.
• Men’s dreams include an active lifestyle, getting in shape, reviving romance with spouse, more involvement with grandchildren and developing new skills. Both men and women include travel on their wish lists
• The first two years of retirement are comparable to the first two years of marriage or parenthood; it’s a time to negotiate (or renegotiate) roles and share ideas and dreams

Finally the article poses the following: if you’re struggling with the decision to retire or not, ask yourself these three questions:

— Do I have enough?

— Have I had enough?

— Do I have enough to do?