Retired couples spend more time following separate dreams
July 21, 2011
Some couples may be looking forward to spending as much time together as possible in retirement, but not every pair likes to be attached at the hip. Separate retirements are becoming popular alternatives to the traditional idea of “growing old together.”
“We are both pretty independent people, and so it really helps us to have our own interests as well as things we do together,” Susan Ross, a retired teacher, told ABC News of her relationship with her husband, Jim.
The news source reports that Susan and Jim spend much of their time apart, and Susan is often gone for weeks at a time – volunteering abroad or in neighboring towns, while Jim stays home and pursues his passion for biking. They, and other retirees, can consider a personal medical alert system that can send a medical alert if one is injured while alone.
Couples can afford to do this because they tend to have an easier time saving for retirement than solo-retirees. A recent Rand Corporation survey found that only 23 percent of married couples in their mid- to late-sixties are at risk of outliving their savings, whereas about half of single people will run out of their retirement money, The Huffington Post reports.
