Many partners want to retire together, but quite a few fail to do so. The role of the age difference is shown by a study by the German Economic Institute.
Cologne - One third of couples in Germany intend to retire together. But what does it look like in reality? This question has been investigated by the German Economic Institute (IW). The study was based on data from the German Pension Insurance and the Socio-Economic Panel.
Basically, a distinction is made between couples born before 1947 and in 1947 and after. The reason is that working people born in 1947 and later are affected by the increase in the retirement age. Since 2012, this has been gradually increased until it reaches 2031 years in 67.
The greater the age difference, the fewer couples retire together © nsp226bMicro/IMAGO
Joint retirement of couples: those born before 1947 are better able to implement this
According to the study, those born before 1947 are more likely to succeed in retiring together than younger people. The proportion of couples who retire together is 1947.1 percentage points higher for those born before 5 and whose age gap is between two and a maximum of five years than for pensioners born in 1947 or later. Joint retirement is considered to be a joint retirement if the interval between the retirement of both partners is a maximum of two years.
In the case of couples for whom the age gap is one to a maximum of two years, a third of older pensioners realize a joint retirement, while for those born after 1947 it is just under 29 percent.
Joint retirement of couples: Despite the small age gap, only half of them succeed
Unusually, only about half of the couples for whom the age gap is only one year retire together. The authors of the study justify this with the fact that the employment trajectories of men and women are very different and that motives for retirement other than the desire to retire together as a couple dominate.
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The study also shows that the probability of realizing a joint retirement decreases when the age gap within a couple is larger. If this gap is more than five years, less than ten percent of couples succeed in doing so, regardless of age. The reason for this is that in Germany, pension deductions can be drawn for a maximum of four years. This makes it difficult to implement a joint retirement start for couples with a larger age difference.
Standard retirement age for couples: The younger partner works longer than the older one
The study also shows that in couples born after 1947, the younger partner retires on average only about one year earlier than the standard retirement age. The older partner, on the other hand, takes this step two years earlier. For those born before 1947, it's the other way around. In these relationships, the younger ones retire earlier.
