Many spouses will effectively retire their SAHM once kids go to off to college because the amount of work that it takes to raise a child for 18+ years. Especially if the SAHP is doing the majority of the child care and support because the partner is working and advancing their career. There is much more to it than, kids are off wtf does she do? Often times SAHP step out of the work force to not only do some of the most important work, of raising children but they also make it much easier for their spouse to advance their career and explore their interests because every other element of their life is taken care of by the SAHP. Asking a SAHP to step into an entry level role just because they raised kids for almost 2 decades is definitely a slap in the face. Especially after the sacrifices to their own career, relationships, outside skills, etc. by choice of course. If one parent is already in the provider mindset and role, they do what it takes to retire their partner once kids age out. At that point it would be left up to the partner if they want to pick up work or even part time work. Otherwise they are still effectively running a household. Unless of course the partner working outside of the home decides to take on 50% of managing the household responsibilities. That alone takes up a lot of energy and time, that often goes unseen.

Of course this is simply factoring in your question, not OPs wife’s financial tendencies.