![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Deciding when to retire
Aug. 4th, 2005 04:55 pmToday I went to a presentation my company had on their new website to help you manage your retirement situation. The instructor for the personal finance class I audited was there. She likes to talk, so after the presentation we did.
One interesting thing she said was that men and women tend to make the decision about when to retire differently. Men's decisions tend to be based on their health--they retire when they can no longer work. Women's decisions do not. They tend to be based on the plans of their spouse. In some cases, it's related to the health of the spouse--when the spouse gets too sick to work, some women retire to take care of the spouse, others put off retiring so they can hang on to their good insurance.
I like to think the differences are due to the longer lifespans of women rather than to doormat characteristics of women, because I am biased that way. I also wonder what happens with gay couples and to people who aren't in couples.
I never really thought about the health side of the retirement timing decision before. When I'm fantasizing about retiring, it happens in a wonderful land where no one really gets sick (at least no more than when we were younger). And the people I've talked to at work all seem to retire either as soon as their company allows it, as soon as their kids are out of college, or never.
One interesting thing she said was that men and women tend to make the decision about when to retire differently. Men's decisions tend to be based on their health--they retire when they can no longer work. Women's decisions do not. They tend to be based on the plans of their spouse. In some cases, it's related to the health of the spouse--when the spouse gets too sick to work, some women retire to take care of the spouse, others put off retiring so they can hang on to their good insurance.
I like to think the differences are due to the longer lifespans of women rather than to doormat characteristics of women, because I am biased that way. I also wonder what happens with gay couples and to people who aren't in couples.
I never really thought about the health side of the retirement timing decision before. When I'm fantasizing about retiring, it happens in a wonderful land where no one really gets sick (at least no more than when we were younger). And the people I've talked to at work all seem to retire either as soon as their company allows it, as soon as their kids are out of college, or never.