Women and retirement more infor

Women do not invest as much money as men, either for savings or for  retirement. here are many reasons given for this lack of investing which range from a lack of confidence to a congenital fear of risk to a simple lack of information—when women gather, they apparently don't talk about their financial futures. But here's a reason that may be too simple to get much attention: It could be that women invest less than men because they don't have as much money.

A new report from the Employment Benefits Research Institute about participation in employer-based pensions notes that women are less likely to take advantage of employer-offered retirement plans. This is in keeping with past studies.

But EBRI lists several social factors, besides being female, that are associated with lower levels of participation: being "nonwhite," uneducated, unhealthy, underemployed will do it, as will working in certain occupations, like farming, fishing, forestry or service jobs.

Read more information here and Dowload the full report here:

The report is ineresting but here is some information at a glance: 
 In 2011, the percentage of workers participating in an employment-based retirement plan was essentially unchanged from a year earlier. Specifically, the percentage of all workers (including part-time and self employed) participating in an employment-based retirement plan moved from 39.6 percent in 2009, to 39.8 percent in 2010, to 39.7 in 2011. 

• The increase in the number of workers participating in 2011 halted the three year decline from 2008–2010. 
• Some of the categories examined had increases in the probability of workers participating and others showed decreases. Many of the categories of workers remained near their 2009 levels of participation.
• The type of employment has a major impact on participation rates. Among full-time, full-year wage and salary workers ages 21–64 (those with the strongest connection to the work force), 53.7 percent participated. This rate varies significantly across various worker characteristics and the characteristics of  their employers. 
• Being non white, younger, female, never married; having lower educational attainment, lower earnings, poorer health status, no health insurance through own employer; not working full time, full year, and working in service occupations or farming, fisheries, and forestry occupations were all associated with a  lower level of participation in a retirement plan. 
• Workers in the South and West were less likely to participate in a plan than those in other regions of the country. 
• The overall percentage of females participating in a plan was lower than that of males (the retirement plan participation gender gap significantly closed from 1987‒2009 before slightly widening in 2010 and 2011).  
• But when controlling for work status or earnings, the female participation level actually surpasses that of males.  
• Non native-born Hispanics had substantially lower participation levels than native-born Hispanics, even when controlling for age and earnings. This results in Hispanics as a group looking to lag significantly in terms of retirement plan participation, when only the nonnative Hispanics actually have participation levels substantially below those of all other workers. 
• The downturns in the economy and stock market in 2008 and into 2009 showed a two-year decline in both the number and percentage of workers participating in an employment-based retirement plan. The 2010 and 2011 participation levels stabilized as the economy recovered.