The Weight of Money

Tired but Happy recently posted about contributions to their retirement accounts: Annual Retirement Contributions. In talking about their progress she also brought up an interesting concept that I hadn’t considered yet — how each partner’s retirement account affects the family.

Having just started my first post-college job, my first retirement contribution was made this month. I’m saving about 11% of my salary and my employer contributes 5% (they will increase their contribution to 10% next year and I will increase mine to 15%).

I’m in my mid-twenties and I know that this will keep me focused for my retirement goals (especially with my planned increases). My partner, on the other hand, is not on the same track and I’m starting to wonder how this will affect us in the long run.

Tired but Happy states, “we’re partners, and so his financial health is my financial health.” This is true and is reflected in my recent discussion of I/we in personal finances. However, where is the partnership when each partner establishes an individually focused retirement plan?

I established my contributions solely considering my later in life position. I want to know that I have provided for myself and that I have ability to retire when I want. What about the partner?

The partner is in his late-thirties and not currently contributing anything to his retirement accounts. He has an older rollover account with a couple thousand dollars but hasn’t made any new contributions. The partner is planning to start contributions this year, but only at about $30-50 a paycheck – this will only total about 2% of his income. Is this going to seriously affect our financial health?

With the “I” mentality, I can see it as a “his” issue and not worry about it. However, when I look at it through the “us” lens, suddenly our financial health feels at risk.

For me, this is something to think about. Read Tired but Happy’s article, there are some wonderful comments that follow up on this issue.

This entry was posted on Sunday, October 15th, 2006 at 11:45 am and is filed under relationships. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.