A couple with $6.1 million can't agree on when to retire — Ramit Sethi says 'it's not the numbers' holding them back

What 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.

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"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 what

"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 money that's holding them back .

Not getting a regular paycheck — and not being needed anymore in all of the ways you're used to — can be scary. That's why Sethi says people keep pushing their retirement date. Just one more year. And then another year. "When you don't know how much enough is, it's never enough. And you just keep working."

While there's no universal number for retirement, Americans believe they'll need to save $1.46 million on average to retire comfortably, according to the 2026 Northwestern Mutual Planning & Progress Study (2).

High-net-worth Americans — those with more than $1 million in investible assets — believe they'll need at least $2.67 million. That's not surprising, since they'll want to maintain their lifestyle in retirement.

But nearly half (48%) of survey respondents believe it's likely they'll outlive their savings, thanks to persistent inflation, longer life expectancies and uncertainty about the future of Social Security .

Americans' greatest fears about retirement include declining health that will require long-term care (39%), a reduction or disappearance of Social Security retirement benefits (38%) and outliving their savings and investments (36%), according to a survey of 10,000 Americans by the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies (3).

These fears are legitimate: For example, the Old-Age and Survivors Insurance Trust Fund is expected to run out of funds by 2033, after which beneficiaries will receive just 77% of their benefits (4).

At the same time, the number of baby boomer 401(k) millionaires is growing, according to Fidelity Investments (5). And for millionaires like Meg and Jo, even that may not seem like enough to retire.