We're 10 years apart. Can we retire together?

A couple with a meaningful age gap, the husband 63 and his wife 53, write in wanting to know whether they can retire together at the end of 2027 despite being a decade apart in career stage and life expectancy. Allan treats the question the way he treats most retirement timing questions, by running the numbers under more than one assumption rather than settling on a single verdict. He models a handful of scenarios across different investment return rates and spending levels to see how much room the plan actually has, and works through the withdrawal restrictions that come with a LIF, since locked-in money does not behave the same way an RRSP or RRIF does. Where the scenarios come up short, he points to real levers rather than giving up on the date: trimming the house through downsizing, or one spouse working a little longer. The piece closes on a point worth repeating for any couple sizing up a retirement date, that a plan built today needs an annual look back, not a one-time answer.