<p>Do you and your spouse, partner, significant other agree about when and what about retirement? And are you both on board about what you want to do after retiring?</p>
<p>I am unsure. My H is two years younger than me and totally into his job. I am so over my job. I am not yet ready to retire, but will be in a few years. Not sure H will be for a decade. It seems like a waste of time and money for me to retire before him because I would not choose to do a lot without him.</p>
<p>I am also not sure we want to do the same things when we retire, Actually an argument tonight prompted this thread, He was off doing his thing and I was too.</p>
<p>Ok to have different interests, But when does it go to far? </p>
<p>H retired at the end of 2012. He then went back for 6 months and is now totally done. I have started a nonprofit in 2007. I still run it and it has not interfered with us enjoying travel and spending a lot of time together or apart as we prefer bee both have separate interests as well as some joint ones. </p>
<p>Our neighbor is a. Prof and continues to work full time. The wife was a business consultant and now mainly a community volunteer. It works well for them. </p>
<p>I’d be looking around to transfer to a new job within your company, and see if it is possible. You should not be miserable for ten years waiting for him.</p>
<p>In our case, my spouse may retire 10 years before me due to pension reasons, although we likely will move at that point if I can get a job where we want to move to. </p>
<p>I agree 100% with @HImom; you need to work out plans for the way to maximize your time together (if that’s what you want - some relatives of mine HATED both people being retired, even when they traveled two months or more each year) even if one of you will still work.</p>
<p>Since I teach, it will be fine to not teach in the winter and summer, and have a lot of time to travel and so on. Right now, I often teach in the winter and summer for money reasons plus he has a regular job so we could not go anywhere anyway. This won’t change until our children are out of college.</p>
<p>If your husband has a lot of vacation (four weeks or more), you can be not working and you can travel. </p>
<p>If he doesn’t want to travel and you do, I don’t see an issue with you retiring earlier than he does, and doing some traveling on your own. Better to do more active traveling, if you are interested in that, while you are younger.</p>
<p>Another note - you could just go part-time / on a consulting basis instead of retiring, if that is an option. Some people find that much better, even if they are doing the same thing, because they feel more needed and usually get paid more.</p>
<p>We would both retire tomorrow if it were feasible. I don’t think one of us would dare do so if we both couldn’t, lol.</p>
<p>We are fortunate in that we are on the same page as to what we like to do and where. We already have the 'where" and we like the same activities, plus we both do reading/writing type stuff that does not need the other’s participation.</p>
<p>I think I’d like to travel a little, and he feels the need less, but I think we can work that out, if the funds are available.</p>
<p>I never think of it as being “retired”. I’m lucky enough that I can think of it as going from a paid job I am no longer that interested in, to a bunch of unpaid activities that I love. </p>
<p>My husband has little to no interest in my hobbies. The compromise we’ve had to work out is that he has learned never to complain when I attend one of my conferences, and I’ve learned that I am capable of traveling alone and making friends. </p>
<p>When we have vacation, we decide jointly on places to go. I’m retiring this January, he’s not, and we’ll have to make it work. Learning to enjoy traveling by myself was hard at first, but it also makes me appreciate our time together more, and telling him about what happened and the characters I meet is fun. </p>
<p>Could you clarify what Wharton has to do with this question?</p>
<p>You might also want to read the very good and lengthy thread about how much do you need to retire, and when will you do this…or something like that. The question of spouses agreeing…and such…is discussed on that thread.</p>
<p>I think Wharton is probably an autocorrect. My guess is *whats not.</p>
<p>I would let husband work because he still enjoys it, a nice health benefit, travel together when you can but have friends that you can do things with. Like for example, my husband is not too fond of Las Vegas, I have not been there for 10 years but my secretary and I could go there for a day or two. I’ve done trips with one of my daughter without my husband.</p>
<p>I could happily retire from my job tomorrow if I could afford to. But i can’t. I do plan to work a part time, low stress flexible job when i retire and because I am an artist who has little time now to paint. I will paint, paint, paint…</p>
<p>Me too EPTR (the would happily retire tomorrow part, not the painting part. I have no ability in that area - if I could choose to be given a talent that is what I would choose)</p>
<p>^^haha. I just came back to this thread and saw the “Wharton.” I have no idea how it got there. I did not type it. I would say autocorrect as well. But now I do not remember what I wrote!!</p>
<p>Anyway, it is Sunday night and I do not want to go to work tomorrow. I have a great job. But I am just done with it. H an I work at the same place, a college. He just started a new position and seems to be really into it. IDK</p>
<p>A lot of people have their identities defined by their work. If you don’t feel that way, it’s time to discover new likes and new hobbies and meet new friends.
I play mahjongg regularly with a group of women and we do a lot of other things together.We have a new beginner join us last week and she is 85 years old. Now she has a new group of friends.
Don’t let your H limit you.</p>
<p>I retired in June. I couldn’t stand it any more. H will probably work a few more years. I have gone on three trips since retiring- two with H, one alone. I am 60. Next Spring I will begin to volunteer giving ESL classes, but many months I will be spending time in Spain w/family.</p>
<p>Sounds lovely! I’d like to retire at 60, but we don’t have the kinds of salaries and investments that many on CC seem to have. Even living frugally inflation will eat us alive if we quit before 67, I think. Enjoy your trips Gloworm!</p>
<p>I am retired and my husband will be working for a few more years. After his open heart surgery last year (he is doing well) he changed it up a bit and though during the course of the day he is putting in the same number of hours, he is in the fortunate position where he can work remotely - which he does at least half of the time whether we are at our home or on the road. We now take numerous long weekends during the year. H’s MO is to find a coffee bar at our temporary location where he can set up shop. He takes breaks during the day when we both will go for a bike ride, a walk on the beach or to visit a museum. Vacation Rental By Owner is our friend. I have to be at home enough to be helpful to my 95 year old uncle and DH needs to put in enough office face time that his team continues to feel like a team but these mini-vacations have made us feel that we are spending much more time together. We are both independent enough that we will be perfectly happy doing whatever we want to do as long as we come together once in a while for a joint activity.</p>
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