On paper, retiring at the same time as your spouse sounds like a no-brainer! If you both retire together, then you would be free to travel the world, take up some new hobbies, and spend more quality time together as a couple. Chances are that you’ve not been able to enjoy these luxuries much over the past 20, 30, or more years. This is because, by the time we are nearing retirement, we have only recently said our goodbyes to our youngest child, and spouses have seen little of each other as day-to-day obligations eat up alone time.

It is for these reasons that simultaneous retirement has its appeal. However, it is vital, especially for women, to know where the pitfalls lie.

Sometimes, the unknown can be a bit scary. Previously, I’ve shared several financial tips that will allow you to plan for your financial independence and to own your future. Today, I want to ask you to give me a few somber minutes of your time.

I am asking you to turn off your emotions and turn on your intellect only. This way, you will be protected from your emotions entering in and shutting you off from discussing a tough but important topic: Long-Term Care. Come out from under the blanket for a few moments to learn about this important element of financial planning. Let’s look at what it is, and I promise you, it’s not as scary as you might think.

Oh, the dichotomy of money talks with your spouse. They’re so vital to have, yet they are often uncomfortable. So, not surprisingly, most married couples aren’t properly communicating about financial habits and money values.

When a couple marries, they bring their individual money values into the union, which can be as unique as their fingerprints. These values have been created over a lifetime, often through observing parents, and most people are deeply entrenched in them. The trouble is that most couples don’t discuss these values.

The money discussion is an important one to have, though. To make the topics easier to broach, think of your spouse as a business partner. Viewing your household as an operating business may help set emotion and discomfort to the side and allow you to engage in meaningful conversations.

If you’re ready to get on the same financial page as your spouse, check out these nine ways couples can get in sync and avoid money conflicts.

For the 11th year in a row, president and founder Echo Huang was awarded the 2022 Five Star Wealth Manager award.  Using an in-depth research methodology with 10 objective criteria, including client retention rate, client assets, and households served, this award honors top local investment professionals for their commitment to professional excellence.

Driving requires a glance at the dashboard on a regular basis to monitor all of the various gauges that let us know when things are on track and when we don’t have enough gas to get to our destination. The same is true for your finances.

In our time together previously, we have driven through financial planning topics at a relatively high rate of speed. From investment planning, tax strategies, estate planning, and more, we’ve covered a lot of ground.

Throughout this road trip, I’ve mentioned that every good financial team needs a tool to help consolidate all your information to help in planning for your wealth management. At Echo Wealth Management, I have used a tool called the Echo Dashboard for over 15 years, developed and supported by eMoney Advisor. Today, I want to show you the value of utilizing a tool like this.