Apr 17, 2025
“Don’t let me hear you say life’s taking you nowhere,” David Bowie crooned in his 1970s hit, “Golden Years”. And the reality is, as your life progresses eventually your career sunsets.
This has Jada, 52, facing the existential dread of retirement even though she doesn’t plan to clock out until she turns 65.
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Still she’s been saving for her golden years since her mid-20s. During her youth, she saved whatever she could scrape together. But over time, as she started to make more money, she put aside 10% of her salary annually.
While she’s crushing it with her savings, her husband of 20 years hasn’t put aside anything for retirement — and he doesn’t plan to. Instead, he’s relying on his pension and Social Security retirement benefits — along with Jada’s savings to — finance their golden years.
Jada worries he doesn’t understand how much they’ll need in retirement and feels resentful that she’s making all the sacrifices for their future. Now she’s wondering if she is, “doing all right,” and how they “gotta get smart” when it comes to saving.
What if your spouse isn’t saving for retirement?
There’s no need to run for the shadows just yet. But you do need to start a conversation — and that’s not as easy as it might sound. One in three Americans (32%) say they’re uncomfortable discussing finances in their relationship, according to Talker Research survey.
Those conversations are difficult because sometimes each spouse have different ideas about how much to save. Add to that a quarter of Americans saying they feel their partner is less responsible with finances than they are.
Jada and her husband may want to start by ensuring they’re on the same page with their goals. Maybe Jada wants to volunteer or work part-time while her husband wants to travel. Whatever the case, they’ll need to have an heart-to-heart conversation about what they want to get out of retirement.
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Not to forget how much money they’ll still need to reach those goals. A general rule of thumb is to aim for about 60% to 80% of your pre-retirement income. If Jada and her husband are finding it difficult to talk or even crunch the numbers, they may want to enlist the help of a financial adviser.
But it’s not just about math. They may want to look at the issue of why Jada’s husband isn’t saving. With that in mind, the question of will they have enough to cover an uninsured medical emergency or long-term care?
On the topic of health, there may be some underlying psychological issues that could be at play. All the more reason to sit down with a financial adviser to work through these concerns.
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Strategies for saving for retirement later in life
Once Jada and her husband are on the right track, they can start working together on a savings plan that meets their retirement goals.
While there is such a thing as a spousal IRA (aimed at helping a non-working spouse), 401(k)s and IRAs are individual accounts. Since Jada’s husband is also in his 50s, there may also be some hesitancy to open an individual retirement account.
While it’s ideal to start saving for retirement when you’re younger in order to benefit from the power of compounding, it’s never too late to start.
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For example, even if you’re starting later in life, you could still benefit from opening a 401(k) and funding it to the maximum amount — especially if your employer matches your contributions. For the 2025 tax year, the maximum contribution limit for a 401(k) is $23,500.
Jada’s husband could also contribute to a Roth IRA, which uses after-tax dollars and grows tax-free. That means, as long as he follows the withdrawal rules, those withdrawals aren’t taxed as income.
For the 2025 tax year, the maximum contribution limit for a traditional IRA and Roth IRA is $7,000. Contributions to a traditional IRA are typically tax deductible during the year you contribute, but married couples who file jointly are subject to income limits — and those contributions might not be deductible.
If you’re 50 or older, you can contribute extra cash to your retirement accounts, including 401(k)s and IRAs. For the 2025 tax year, you can contribute an extra $7,500 to your 401(k) on top of the $23,500 limit. You can also make a $1,000 catch-up contribution to your traditional IRA or Roth IRA in addition to the $7,000 limit.
For Jada and her husband, having those uncomfortable conversations about money could help them synergize their retirement goals — and take some pressure off Jada.
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Vawn Himmelsbach is a veteran journalist who has been covering tech, business, finance and travel for the past three decades. Her work has been featured in publications such as The Globe and Mail, Toronto Star, National Post, Metro News, Canadian Geographic, Zoomer, CAA Magazine, Travelweek, Explore Magazine, Flare and Consumer Reports, to name a few.
