If you look at the math behind retirement, you can see why most of us stick around the office a bit longer than we might like. For every year early that you retire, you pay three penalties: you lose a year of potential savings, you lose a year of growth for your retirement savings, and you gain one more year of retirement expenses.

Consider a woman who hits 55 in good financial shape, with a paid-off condo and $100,000 in savings. She can count on her savings to produce $4,000 or $5,000 a year in returns, but she’s too young to start collecting Old Age Security or Canada Pension Plan. Unless she resorts to desperate measures, such as selling her condo or burning through her savings, retirement is impractical.

But look at what a difference five years can make. If she buckles down and contributes $10,000 a year to her retirement fund during that period, and achieves a 7% annual average return, her savings double to $200,000. That bankroll can generate $8,000 to $10,000 a year in income as long as she lives. At 60, she can also start collecting Canada Pension Plan. If she combines those sources of income with part-time work, a phased-in retirement becomes quite practical.

2. You’ll live longer than you expect
When we’re doing our retirement planning, many of us figure that we’ll live to 80, the average lifespan in Canada. But that average is misleading. It reflects what a newborn baby can expect in the way of lifespan and is dragged down by all the unfortunate people who die relatively young.

If you’ve managed to reach 65 without suffering a terminal illness, you’ll probably live considerably beyond 80. According to StatsCan, a 65-year-old man can expect to live to 83; a 65-year-old woman can look forward to blowing out the candles on her 86th birthday.

And remember — those are averages. Half of retirees live longer, some much longer. Moshe Milevsky, an associate professor of finance at Toronto’s Schulich School of Business at York University, says there is a 41% chance that at least one member of a 65-year-old couple will live to 90. So even if you don’t quit work until 65, there’s a good chance that your retirement could still wind up spanning a quarter or more of your life.

3. You’ll see more of your partner — a lot more
Sure, you love your spouse, but let’s do a little math here. Chances are, for most of your married life at least one of you has worked outside the home. Subtract sleep, travel time and other away time and you’ve seen your beloved for — at most — six hours a day.

In retirement, that figure can easily double. And continued exposure can cause even happy couples to bicker. Fred and Janet Barnes (not their real names) retired to Dickey Lake, Ont., to renovate a cottage after living in and around Toronto for most of their lives. “His perfectionism drove me a little crazy,” says Janet. “My slapdash methods were hard for Fred to take.” The Barneses eventually figured out ways to divide the work so they wouldn’t get on each other’s nerves.

Other retired couples strike different bargains — maybe the kitchen becomes her territory, while the garage becomes his — but whatever the specifics of the deal may be, the important point is to realize that retirement is not just a financial journey. It’s also an emotional odyssey and you should plan ahead to make the most of it.

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