Are you and your significant other in synch on how you'll spend your retirement years?

Saturday's Wall Street Journal's "The Journal Report" devoted the entire section to Encore: A Guide to Retirement Planning and Living  (subscription required) and boy, was it interesting. Apparently, not very many Boomers have had "The Talk." You know... the one where you come to agreement on several issues regarding retirement.

The article cited research by Fidelity Investments that revealed that 41% of couples (when interviewed separately) disagreed when asked whether at least one partner would work in retirement. Some 35% differed when asked about each other's expected retirement age. Then, drum roll, please...  38% said they "worked together on financial planning for later life."

One has to wonder if these people are waiting until retirement to finally find time to talk with one another. By then it'll be too late. That's one reason the article offered "The 10 most important questions you and your spouse should ask one another about retirement."   

1.      Do we really want to retire, and if so, when?

2.     What is our vision of retirement - and do we share the same vision?

3.     Where do we want to retire?

4.     What's our strategy for building and preserving a nest egg?

5.     What assets do we have for retirement - and are they invested in the most beneficial ways to achieve our goals?

6.     How much money will we need to support our lifestyle in retirement?

7.     Do we have an estate plan - and where is it?

8.     What will our legacy be?

9.     What kind of relationships - personal and financial - do we want to have with our children and parents in later life?

10.   How will each of us approach, and manage, getting older?

Although this particular article addressed only married couples, it's certainly safe to assume these questions are just as applicable to  those in committed partnerships. The point is, we need to get the dialogue going with whomever we plan to live out our retirement years with.

Many people don't really start thinking seriously about "the retirement years" until 10 years out and they get really serious about five years away from packing up their office for the last time, according to  several studies. This seems to be especially true of Boomers, who have always been very focused on the "now."  We tend to take great vacations, buy second homes, generously give to our children and charities, and financially support our parents.

All of a sudden, we realize the money faucet won't flow forever and our overscheduled lives will seem almost empty if we don't plan for how we'll fill them. Many Boomers will devote their time to volunteerism. Most will "re-career" in some way, working at jobs we want to do just because they interest us or are fun.

WHAT we do isn't as important as the fact that we know ahead of time what we'll be doing and how.

Watch this space over the next few weeks for more information about Boomers and their later years.

And Ralph... if you're reading this... this answers are 1) I plan to re-career in retirement; 2) I want to quit working full time by the time I'm 62; and 3) you already know we have a financial plan in place - and we're SO close. I had three numbers right in the lottery this week!