6 upvotes, 1 direct replies (showing 1)
View submission: Living with no Retirement money
This has been a provision of SS since the beginning. The reasoning is that some household expenses (groceries, Medicare premiums, clothing) will decrease after one spouse dies. I know that rent/mortgage, utilities and other relatively fixed expenses don't- I'm a widow myself- but there's no reason to be blindsided by this provision. One of the widows I know had told me that after she retired she and her husband blew their retirement savings on their dream trip to Greece but they'd be fine on SS.
Then her husband died. She sold her little 2-BR house and her car and moved into a small apartment in a retirement community run by our denomination, most likely with some subsidy.
Comment by Murky-Assumption5758 at 07/02/2025 at 03:04 UTC
2 upvotes, 0 direct replies
I just turned 40. Hubby and I recently sat down with our financial planner to discuss retirement. We were told we are doing great. Based on the little money we have in Roth IRA and other smaller retirements accounts, both of our SS, and both of our state teacher retirement funds we would be set.
My husband got diagnosed with stage 3 colon cancer two months ago. Our lives obviously got flipped upside down and it’s been a lot to deal with. I can’t help but think about how our retirement plans always consisted of the two of us retiring and having both incomes and how much different that looks if one of us were to die.
The last few years my husband had been more of an earner than me. He has more in his SS and more in his teacher retirement account. He works at a college so his income is higher. If he were to die I would only get a fraction of the retirement money in a lump sum and then just my SS. If he passes I can honestly say that I wouldn’t be prepared for retirement.