Staying on the job is marital therapy for Boomers

Everywhere I look, I see another news story bemoaning delays in retirement plans for Boomers. Most of them feature some poor schmo who says he's going to be working until they haul him off the job toes up.

It's hard for me to be too sympathetic. Part of the reason is that I'm a woman. I spend a lot of time around other women whose husbands are retired or contemplating it and my conclusion is that they would do almost anything to keep the poor dear on the treadmill.

It doesn't have much to do with money, although healthcare is a factor. Many women are younger than their husbands and when he retires, she will have to find private health insurance and it almost certainly won't be as good as she had before.

But the real issue is that if he stays home, he'll drive her nuts. As one of my friends said, "If he retires, I can't stand it. I'll have to go live with my sister in Indiana."