Page 15 - Ready Set Retire

Ready. Set. Retire!

Wouldn’t it be good for him to have the option to sell it and
move into assisted living? But their arrangement has closed
that off. If she dies and he cannot handle things on his own,
that asset is sold off and goes to their relatives, pulling it out
from under him.

Besides this, they keep and manage their money separately. No
coordination of Social Security, pension benefits, savings, or
investments. They have split their living expenses and each is
responsible for their own. The problem is, she has all the
money and he has most of the income flow. So, he is paying
his out of cash flow with very little inflation protection, and
she is drawing down her savings to meet her obligations. At
the rate they are spending, they will be out of money in 10
years, and have only about half the income they need.

Yet when I pointed all this out to them, she wouldn’t budge. I
even crafted a plan that coordinated their income and assets
and showed them how much more efficient it was. She
remained unimpressed. At one point when Dan was out of the
room I even asked if they planned to split up, because their
arrangement made no sense to me. It hurt them financially.

“Oh, goodness, no,” she said. “Dan and I are a unit. We’re in
for the duration.”

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