A new research study by Fidelity Investments indicates that many boomer and preretirement couples are not "in sync" with regard to retirement planning issues.
   Among the findings:
 41% of couples disagreed when asked whether one or both spouses would work during retirement.
 Wives generally had an accurate picture of when their husbands expected to retire, but husbands tended to underestimate the retirement age of their wives.
 37% of couples could not agree whether their overall lifestyle would be better, worse of the same as it is currently, with husbands indicating a more optimistic outlook than wives.
 When asked about their top three sources of income, most respondents answered workplace savings plans, pensions and Social Security; however 61% disagreed on which of the three would be the primary source of retirement income.
 Only 39% of husbands and 48% of wives know how to calculate a surviving spouse's Social Security income.
 While only 23% of couples reported being jointly involved in decision-making, these couples appeared to be better-prepared and more optimistic about retirement than other respondents.
   According to Steven P. Akin, president of Fidelity Personal Investments, previous studies of this nature have surveyed married men and married women, but not couples married to each other. This study looked specifically at married couples born between 1937 and 1964 with incomes of at least $75,000 or investable assets of at least $100,000. It compared the answers of one spouse with the answer of the other spouse. The average couple consisted of a man and woman who each were between 53 and 54 years old, and they were married for an average of 24 years.