This Valentine’s Day, light some candles, crank that Barry White and . . . discuss retirement security? Though it might not seem like the most romantic topic, getting your partner involved with retirement planning will help secure a financially happy future, for both of you. Below are a few points you could write down on index cards for a fascinating V-Day dinner conversation.

Let’s talk about our future—How would YOU like to spend retirement? Sailing the world? Great, me too! It’s important to start saving early, even in our 20s, so we can fully take advantage of the magic of compounding!

How about doing some math together? Let’s calculate how much we’ll have to save in order to make our retirement dream a reality—I brought my calculator to spice things up! First, we need to know what we have already. Our funds will probably come from Social Security, retirement plans from our employers and personal savings. Perhaps we should experiment with a real retirement calculator, like the AARP Retirement Calculator, the Smart Money Retirement Calculator from the Wall Street Journal and the Charles Schwab Retirement Calculator.

Let’s look at our investment allocations and make adjustments to our budget. I think we both could be saving more each month in our personal savings account. (We should probably cut back a little on dinners like this.) We can take more risky investments while we are young but, as we get closer to retirement, we should move to more stable investments. Let’s get a trusted financial advisor to help make sure we’re on the right track!

I know there are many “what-ifs” ahead of us—and continuing with our retirement plan won’t be easy. We don’t know what lies ahead for the stock market, or the future of our family, or with our careers. We can make sure we have a solid foundation to start with, and this helpful Retirement 101 tool from the International Foundation will help us understand how to prepare.

So your romantic Valentine’s evening may not include a calculator and an investment risk analysis, but just having the conversation of how you might spend your time together in retirement is a terrific first step.  By visualizing what your plans might entail, you can start thinking about the steps it will take to reach your goals.

Showing you care about a combined future is truly romantic. Tell your partner you want to “grow old together” by feeling the love for retirement planning this Valentine’s Day!

Anne Killian
Communications Associate at the International Foundation