Everyone Retires, Even the Unemployed

When you think of retirement, you probably think of people (maybe even yourself) who have worked long and hard and who are now ready to start relaxing and enjoying life. The truth is, however, that absolutely everyone enters into retirement age if they’re lucky, regardless of whether they have been employed in their lifetimes or not.

The most commonly unemployed people are mothers, and sometimes fathers, who have chosen to stay home and care for their children instead of having careers. Many of these parents have worked in the past, but regardless of that fact, they often have currently-neglected financial accounts and no real retirement plans of their own, which can be dangerous with all of life’s unexpected twists and turns. Fortunately, there is still a way for married, unemployed individuals to plan for retirement.

Being married, you see, is a big plus- at least as far as retirement planning is concerned. Married people are eligible to open Spousal Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs). Through this arrangement, the working spouse can contribute to the non-working spouse’s retirement funds. This account can be a traditional one or a Roth IRA. The only requirement is that the married couple file a joint tax return and abide by federal contribution limitations for each tax year.

While it is, as mentioned above, required that couples opening these accounts file jointly, the actual account itself is held only in the name of the non-working spouse. This fact offers a certain degree of protection to the non-working spouse. The non-working spouse even has the power to designate beneficiaries to the account who are not the working spouse. Furthermore and even more importantly in this day and age, these assets can be considered separate in the event of a divorce. While no one likes to think about divorce, it’s important for the non-working spouse to protect himself or herself, and, in any case, to have a retirement plan in place. These specialty IRAs are the perfect way to do that and are definitely worth looking into for married, non-working individuals.