Sounds like you have a decision to make. Do you verbally complain about work to your wife? Do you struggle with stress?

Logically, (if you can help it), you don't want to be in a ship that's sinking. Is it possible to get joy and fulfillment from a company that's going places and doing big things? You never want to settle for good when great is available.

The workplace itself has changed quite a bit in the last 10-15 years and your current company may not be that different from many others out there now. It's time to do lots of networking with your peers in similiar companies to see if the grass really is greener before going elsewhere.

Found-out-the-hard-way

I worked for a company that made a huge business investment that never worked out. Thus we had no new product to sell and revenue continued to dwindle for 3 years afterwards. Besides the obvious cuts in budgets, the first real cracks appeared when paychecks were changed from the last day of the month to the first day of the following month. Next was occasional 30 day delays in paychecks. A year afterwards the doors to the offices were closed without warning one morning and the owner was gone. I had left by then, but there were other employees who held on to the very end but lost 2 or more months pay plus unreimbursed expense reports (including business travel to Europe). In hindsight I believe that there are some personalities like Overcoming that cannot face change and avoid the realities/confrontation by trying to focus on the positives, yet it is still a sinking ship.

If the company is going downhill that quickly, any retirement, separation, and benefits may be in jeopardy. You have to make sure any 401k funds are not invested in your company and that they have no way to take back any of your contributions or any that they made and have vested.

I'm in more or less the same position, however I'm staying still for now because I have a decent health benefits and the large degree of flexibility I have now is needed for family health issues that will continue for a while. The flexibility would be almost impossible to obtain at a new position in less than a few years.
From my experience, I would advise that if you are able to move now, do it before other barriers present themselves.
While you want to ensure that it's a good move, make the move.

I can relate. About 12 years ago, I was at a large company that was refocusing to concentrate on its core competencies. Anything to do with computers was not considered a core competency, hence projects, attitudes and processes were under severe scrutiny and strictly followed. Early retirement packages were offered each year instead of layoffs. However, I enjoyed the work and the relationship I had with my peers, even though there was more and more work as people left.

Unknown to me at the time, all this pressure at work affected my life outside of work. By the time, I was aware of it and got another job, it was too late to save my marriage.

It doesn't matter whether you love your job, your peers, or your manager. If you continue to stay at the job and ignore your wife's concerns, you are unconsciously saying that your job is more important than the relationship that you have with your wife. Find out what is really behind your wife's insistence about changing jobs. Your marriage could be dependent upon it.