Getting Remarried After 50? 12 Financial Issues You Need to Stop and Consider

Getting married can be exciting no matter what age you are, but there can be some extra concerns if you’re getting remarried after 50.

Your financial fitness may look different than when you got married young, and there could be extra issues you have to deal with when you’re older.

Add these issues to your checklist as you start to plan your trip back down the aisle after 50 years old.

You may each be bringing savings from your single lives so it’s important to discuss what you plan to do with your savings. Talk about whether you want to combine your savings or keep them in separate accounts. 

You’ll also want to consider how to pay for things in retirement with your savings, which could include creating a new high-yield savings account or other solutions such as a joint account to use for bill payments.

Each of you may be bringing your own retirement account into the marriage so you’ll need to talk about how you will manage them after you retire.

It’s also important to consider how to use money in retirement accounts if one of you has much more money than the other. You could also have enough to retire early so you may want to work on when you want to retire.

Depending on your age, you may not be thinking about Social Security yet, but it can be an important factor to consider no matter how old you are.

You’ll need to talk about how long you both expect to work before you retire, when you want to start collecting Social Security, and if you’re going to need different strategies when it comes to Social Security income.

If your previous marriage ended in divorce, there are also issues that could affect your Social Security if you or your ex-spouse remarries, so factor those concerns in as well.

If you and your soon-to-be spouse both have homes, you will have to decide what your living situation will be going forward.

Consider which house you may want to sell or if you want to sell both homes and find a new place to live together instead.

It’s also important to factor in the homes as part of your overall investment portfolio. Perhaps you could hold on to one or both of them to rent out, use as an Airbnb, or just hold to be passed down to your heirs.

You may have children still living with you so consider the costs of caring for them and how you will handle those costs in a blended home.

And don’t forget your older children, as there may be financial and legal issues with your new blended family even if your children no longer live with you.

Alimony payments and child support may be money you have to take into account if you divorced and are receiving money from your former spouse.

Factor in any potential impact if your alimony or child support payments change when you marry. You may decide to hold off on your wedding depending on how those payments could be affected.

If you are eligible for a pension, it’s important to check with your employer to see if and how your pension may be affected if you remarry.

You should also double-check if you can name a beneficiary for your pension and decide if you want to change it to your new spouse when you tie the knot.

Life insurance can be an important issue as you get older regardless of whether this is your first marriage or your most recent marriage.

Talk about whether either of you have life insurance policies and how much those policies are worth. You may elect to end those policies if you no longer need them or continue those policies to support the survivor in case of death.

If you decide to keep your life insurance policies, it’s important to also check on your beneficiaries to make sure you have changed them to reflect your current life situation.

Your will determines how your assets will be distributed upon your death. The last time you edited that document, though, was probably when you were single or in your previous marriage.

Review your will and living will or advanced health-care directive and discuss them with your potential spouse. 

You may want to revise your will to include stepchildren or grandchildren. And you want to be sure you both understand what your final wishes are, especially when it comes to your health care.

Merging households also means merging expenses so think about how you’re going to do that before you’re married. Will you keep separate accounts or have a joint account or both?

You can find a solution that’s best for both of you such as putting money in a joint account to cover utilities, groceries, and other household expenses. You may also decide to assign certain bills to each person such as having one of you pay the electric bill while the other pays the gas bill, for example.

Debt is an important topic that you need to be honest about before you get remarried.

Talk to each other about the debt you’re carrying including credit card debt and student loans, which may affect your financial life, especially if one has debt and the other doesn’t.

You should also consider things like a car loan or mortgage. Dealing with your debts could help decide which house you may want to sell or whether you just need one car instead of two.

You may not have considered a prenup when you married the first time. You were younger and probably had fewer assets.

But a prenup may be a good idea for both of you now that you’re older and bringing different assets to your relationship. 

A prenup can protect you as well as any assets that you want your children to have. It can also clarify who is responsible for debts or how assets will be divided in case of divorce.

As you approach retirement age with your new partner, you want to make sure you avoid wasting money as seniors so you can enjoy your second-act years together. 

While you may be busy planning a wedding and a life together, your finances together are as important. 

It’s good to be in love and enjoy all the benefits of that, including remarrying no matter what age you are. But it’s also important to consider the financial issues involved with getting married when you’re older.