Spousal influence on retirement: His, her, and their perceptions

Drawing on a life course perspective, we examine husbands' and wives' perceptions of spousal influence on the decision to retire. Data from 228 couples in the Cornell Retirement and Well-Being Study reveal that retirees and their spouses agree that spouses do influence the retirement decision, but spouses view their role as more minor than the retirees, themselves, see it. For retired husbands and their wives, discussing retirement is most closely associated to seeing the wife as influential. For retired wives and their husbands, the impending retirement of the husband is related to perceptions of his influence on her retirement.