Dispatch from the retirement front

InvestmentNews contributing editor gives an update on how life has changed since her husband retired.

My girlfriends whisper, “How are things going?” I think they half expect me to rant about 24/7 togetherness with my recently retired husband. I hate to disappoint them, but life is grand!

My husband, Mike, retired after 20 years as a federal employee at the beginning of the summer, topping off a 40-year career that included stints as a Washington reporter and a self-employed public relations consultant. He is grateful for the break while he recharges his batteries and figures out what to do next

In the meantime, I hope by offering a glimpse into our new day-to-day life, I can provide some insights for advisers working with retired clients.

A different mindset set in rather quickly as Mike traded his blaring pre-dawn alarm clock and soul-sucking commute for a box full of Saturdays. He’s busied himself with household projects, painting almost everything that didn’t move. With a four-color Victorian house, the wood trim touch ups alone have occupied much of his summer. Sometimes, I’m afraid if I stand still too long, I might become his next project!

Mike also found time to re-shop our homeowners and auto insurance policies as well as our cable and internet service packages — cutting our annual bills by more than $1,000. It’s something we’ve been meaning to do for years but never got around to.

One friend joked that she married her husband for better or for worse — but not for lunch. In our case, Mike and I enjoy our midday meal together, often al fresco on the back deck when the weather is nice. That led to one of his other summertime projects: resurfacing the deck.

But we don’t exist in a state of constant togetherness. Instead, we go about our individual routines, which consist of gym time for both of us, my writing assignments and his projects focused on building my brand via a new website and press releases. I couldn’t ask for a better back office!

Time and money take on new meaning in retirement. I am reminded of a symposium of retirement researchers I attended earlier this year. Some of the scholars debated whether retirees cut their post-career consumption because they have less money to spend or because they use their new-found time to tackle services and projects that they would have purchased in the past.

Based on our experience, the answer is a little of both. I think Mike panicked initially at the prospect that his net pension check — after deductions for continued health insurance and taxes — would be less than half of his former take-home pay. As we discussed our investments with our financial adviser, we decided to keep a large cash cushion to assuage Mike’s concerns and give him a ready resource of money to augment his pension.

It turns out that his first pension check is still idling in his bank account as his normal daily expenses have dwindled. No commuting costs. No downtown lunches. No dry cleaning bills. They’ve been replaced by more modest expenditures for gas, groceries and paint.

And we have new freedom to travel. Mike can now accompany me — at our expense — to some of the more exotic locations of my speaking engagements, which have included New Orleans, Las Vegas, Puerto Rico and Maui. Adding a few days to the front or back end of a business trip has created several low-cost vacations for us, as my travel and hotel costs normally are covered by the host group.

I realize this is just the beginning of a new phase of life, and the novelty of endless free time could give way to boredom — particularly once his beloved baseball season ends. But we’ll figure that out when and if it happens.

At the moment, I believe we have the best of both worlds as Mike eases into retirement and I continue to work. My continued earnings allow me to shoulder bigger household expenses like the monthly mortgage, quarterly estimated tax payments and contributions to my solo 401(k) plan. It’s a real life example of how dual-income couples can retire at different times and make it work.

Granted, I have the luxury of working from home. If I was commuting to the city five days a week while my husband sipped a second cup of coffee, I might feel differently. But now we can both linger over breakfast rather than rushing out the door. Often, the biggest question is what’s for dinner and who’s cooking — a chore that we now share.

(Questions about Social Security? Find the answers in my new e-book.)