Single, never-married retirees (pension, divorce, divorced, spouse)

[SunGrins]

I'm trying to convince my 30 year old daughter to save up for retirement. She is single and looks to stay that way for a while. She is working at a good (public service) job with a career path and paying off her college loan and has few other debts. She has nothing going toward retirement that I know of apart from a future work pension and social security.


Most retirees I know were couples with two incomes and gained some financial leverage over time. I have one friend who has remained single and just retired but she is fearful of every bump in the road. How does a single-for-life person plan for retirement? How different from a couple?

[John7777]

Show her a long term chart of the DOW, going back to 1974 or so. Or, show her a long term chart of Apple computer or some of the other blue chip companies. Explain to her that even a small investment today can yield big results in 30 or 40 years. Give her some literature about Roth IRAs.

[MAXIALE02]

How about you two volunteer at an assisted living or retirement home for some in your face realism. I'm sure the elderly would appreciate the company and the wise stories they could tell would be priceless.

[PAhippo]

also point out that it's even more important for her to save. She will get less SS than a couple but still have rent/mortgage, utilities, etc.

[NewbieHere]

My sister saves like crazy. Always get upset when she can't work, in between jobs, that she can't contribute to 401k. But at leas your daughter has a pension so I think she'll be alright, much better than most people.

[NYgal1542]

I'm sitting here wondering why the OP wrote about the single, never-married women.

I was married for 21 years. I am divorced almost 33 years. I got nothing out of divorce except for a little more than half of our house value. I used most of it to put a down payment on a condominium. That was 1982/83. I did not receive half of his pension or half of his SS. I received nothing from the secret (to me) account he had. Thanks to my divorce attorney who thought I should be "just fine" with the job I had. However, at the time, companies were not laying off, downsizing, etc. I was in an extremely emotional state having learned some very ugly information during time of divorce. I just wanted out. Get me away from him. I was just 40 and far from thinking about retirement, etc. And no close friend who could help me get through it. I felt like I was tossed into the deep end.

My retirement is far from grand. He, however, has done quite well.

Before those with the grand retirement funds point a finger and tell me how I screwed up, I invite you to take a walk in my shoes.

So what the OP is writing about does not just involve the "never married."

[matisse12]

Pertaining to the category of 'single never-married retiree' which the OP has specified....

being married, then divorced, then single upon becoming a retiree, can easily be basically the same thing as 'single never-married retiree' because one often does not benefit at all from having been married, then divorced, then single upon retirement.

And don't even entertain the idea of collecting on a former husband's social security benefits.....a woman with a decent paying career will almost always receive a higher social security monthly benefit by collecting on her own social security, not the former husband's....

the two categories being similar will depend on how long ago one was divorced and how long one was married and whether any property/equity was gained in the divorce....

but being a 'single never-married retiree' can be basically the same as a 'formerly married, divorced, single retiree'.

[imagardener]

NYGal2NC said:
I did not receive half of his pension or half of his SS.

You need to talk to someone at Social Security. Anyone married for 10 years and divorced has a claim on their ex-spouse's SS. If his amount is higher than yours you can collect his amount and he will never even know it (he is not contacted and has nothing to do with it).

I disagree with matisse12's comment that retired women get higher benefits than retired men, statistics do not confirm this at all. But every person needs to check the numbers for themselves and compare. I know 2 divorced retired women who gained a lot by checking into it and making a SS claim on their exes, it was much larger than their own claim.

[matisse12]

Originally Posted by imagardener

NYGal2NC said:
I did not receive half of his pension or half of his SS.

You need to talk to someone at Social Security. Anyone married for 10 years and divorced has a claim on their ex-spouse's SS. If his amount is higher than yours you can collect his amount and he will never even know it (he is not contacted and has nothing to do with it).

I disagree with matisse12's comment that retired women get higher benefits than retired men, statistics do not confirm this at all. But every person needs to check the numbers for themselves and compare. I know 2 divorced retired women who gained a lot by checking into it and making a SS claim on their exes, it was much larger than their own claim.

That is not what I was saying......."that retired women get higher benefits than retired men"....one needs to understand how social security calculates a divorced women, who has had a career or jobs of her own, collecting on her former husband's social security.

It is not that simple. The formula used usually results in a divorced women collecting a very small sum on her former husband's social security, and most often the women is better off collecting her own social security sum gained during her own career because the formula used on her former husband's earnings results in a very small sun compared to what she can collect on her own earnings. (one cannot collect both)

(if a divorced woman has not worked or worked little or made a very small salary or made a much smaller salary than her former husband, then that is a whole different scenario )

And your following statement is not accurate: "If his amount is higher than yours you can collect his amount" It is not nearly that simple nor that good. A formula is used. My former husband made more than I, but using the formula, collecting my own social security from my own career earnings still gave me a larger sum of monthly social security payment in retirement.

[Escort Rider]

Originally Posted by SunGrins

......................


Most retirees I know were couples with two incomes and gained some financial leverage over time. I have one friend who has remained single and just retired but she is fearful of every bump in the road. How does a single-for-life person plan for retirement? How different from a couple?

I married late in life (age 27) and was married for nine and a half years. That means I've been single (divorced) for 35 years (from age 36 to age 71) - long enough so that it feels at times like I'm a single "never-married" retiree. So while technically I do not qualify to answer the thread question, I will do so anyway because I think I'm close enough.

I think a single person plans for retirement exactly like a married couple does. True, the married couple has some advantages tax wise, and they have another big advantage if they are a two-earner household, but that doesn't fundamentally change planning for retirement. That is because people have to plan given their income level and their spending habits as well as the specifics of their job situation, and all that remains true for couples and for singles.

In one respect the single person has fewer complications in making choices; just think about the whole complex spousal benefit issue with Social Security. If the single person has a pension, all those options about survivors benefits purchased through reductions in the primary pension amount are simply moot.

Your single friend being "fearful of every bump in the road" may be more the effect of her own personality than the effect of being single, it seems to me.