A Day Late & A Dollar Short

Enter the Workforce
Thurber says many Boomers with a non-working spouse are realizing that their spouse may need to go to work for the next 10–15 years. Why? This would enable the spouse to start funneling money into the 401(k)—potentially an additional $22,500 each year.

There are also Social Security implications. Non-working spouses are eligible for 50 percent of the working spouse’s Social Security retirement benefit. However, if they can amass 10 years of employment, they would be eligible for their own benefit or 50 percent of their spouse’s benefit—whichever is greater.

Work Longer
The easiest way to catch up is to work longer, says Thurber. “That has a compounding effect. One, an extra year worked is a year they don’t have to save for; and two, it gives them another year of saving and investing for retirement.”

Or, a Boomer could go ahead and take retirement, then work part-time for a few years to generate some extra income.