Skip to navigationSkip to main contentSkip to right columnADVERTISEMENTVawn HimmelsbachSun, July 19, 2026 at 5:00 PM GMT+2 6 min readWhat happens if you're ready to retire, have enough money to spend your golden years in comfort, but your partner is too scared to stop working?Meg, 63, has been married to Jo, 58, for more than 20 years. Meg, a social worker, is ready to retire. But Jo, who works in finance, is paralyzed over the question of when to retire.Must Read"I'm ready to retire. I'm afraid that my wife's nervousness will keep me at my job longer than necessary," Meg said during an episode of Ramit Sethi's "I Will Teach You To Be Rich (1)."They have $2.1 million in assets, $4.3 million in investments and $133,000 in savings, along with $510,000 of debt. That gives them a net worth of about $6.1 million."It might seem a little absurd to watch hand-wringing over retirement. It's like, isn't that whateverybody wants?" said Sethi."You have to understand that if you have been working for 30, 40, 50 years, it is really difficult to just turn that off," he added. "People are good at what they do. They like being wanted." And, of course, they like getting a regular paycheck.Meg and Jo have the money to retire by the end of this year. But it isn't