Women and retirement planning

Two-fifths (41 percent) of U.S. women say they expect to retire at age 70 or older or don’t plan to retire at all, according to a survey by the Harris Poll on behalf of the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies.

This survey suggests that a significant portion of women in the U.S. expect to work into their 70s or do not plan to retire at all. This could be because of a variety of factors, such as a lack of savings or a desire to continue working for personal or financial reasons. It is important to note that survey results are only a snapshot of a specific population and may not represent the entire population.

Women are at even greater risk than men of not achieving a financially secure retirement because of societal headwinds, including the persistence of the gender pay gap, time out of the workforce for parenting and caregiving and less access to their employer and government benefits

The survey highlights women may face additional challenges in achieving a financially secure retirement compared to men. Factors such as the persistence of the gender pay gap, time out of the workforce for parenting and caregiving, and less access to employer and government benefits can all contribute to a greater risk of not achieving financial security in retirement for women. This highlights the need for policies and programs that address these inequalities and provide support for women to save and plan for retirement.

Society must spotlight women’s longevity and retirement insecurities. Now is the time to implement solutions so that all women can retire with dignity.

It is important to recognize the unique challenges that women may face in achieving a financially secure retirement and to take action to address these issues. Highlighting women’s longevity and retirement insecurity is a step toward finding solutions. There are several potential solutions that can be implemented to support women in saving for and planning for retirement, such as closing the gender pay gap, providing paid parental leave, and increasing access to retirement savings plans. It is crucial that they implemented these solutions in order to ensure that all women retire with dignity.

The gender pay gap affects women with children more

 An interesting idea surfaced about the issue of the gender pay gap that I had not thought about when I was watching the Netflix series “Explained”. The idea is that women who have children are discriminated against for being caregivers. Women who do not have children appear to not have as large of a wage gap as women who have children. This idea has some merit and means that social policy can be used to correct the problem. In Iceland, they have a government program that allows men to take Paternity leave when a child is born. In fact, if the male does not take the leave the family is hurt. According to the Social Security Administration’s 2021 Fast Facts and Figures publication, the monthly benefit of retired women workers was $1,378 per month, compared with $1,714 per month among retired men workers.

I have talked about the gender pay gap during working years. When we look at the gender pay gap in terms of Social Security benefits, retired women are earning about 80 cents per dollar of retired men. In this day and age, $1,378/month just doesn’t go that far. In certain parts of the country, it won’t even cover the cost of renting a 1-bedroom apartment.

Statistically, women live longer than men. According to the CDC’s National Center for Health Statistics, the life expectancy of a 65-year-old woman today is 20.1 additional years, compared with only 17.4 additional years for a 65-year-old man. That means a 65-year-old woman today is likely to live almost three years longer than her male counterpart. So, because women are likely to live longer, we need to plan for more time in the workforce and/or longer retirements.

The first step in solving a problem is recognizing there is a problem and understanding the full dimensions of that problem. Iceland took from the 1980s until the mid 2,000 to open up their thinking and programs to both men and women. It is a model that could be instructive to other western nations. The good news is progress has been made in recent decades, but clearly, there is much more work to be done.

Public policy plays a vital role in addressing structural issues, including continued efforts to bridge the gender pay gap, increasing access to employer benefits to part-time workers, and recognizing (and monetizing) the value of parenting and caregiving.

Until the government decides to give more value to parenting and caregiving, as an individual you could:

·       assess your current financial situation and create a budget. Develop a retirement strategy and write it down.

a.  This may sound really basic, but most people are not doing this yet. If you think about it, it is impossible to reach a destination if you don’t have a roadmap. And that’s what your financial plan and strategy gives you…a roadmap.

·       Consider health, welfare, and retirement benefits when looking at a new job and if you are considering changing your status to working part-time.

a.  These are important benefits that are part of your overall compensation package. They bring insurance protections and the ability to save for retirement. If your employer offers a retirement plan with a matching contribution, take advantage of it.

·       If faced with parenting or caregiving responsibilities, carefully consider any changes to your employment situation – and consider working part-time.

a.  This can help you stay in the game, as an option, versus giving up employment altogether.

·       Knowledge is power.

a.  Become educated and savvy about retirement investing, strategies for drawing down savings in retirement/retirement income, and when to start claiming Social Security.

b.  These decisions can profoundly influence your financial situation when you retire.

·       Build emergency savings and create a backup plan in the event of life’s unforeseen circumstances.

a.  These could range from everything from separation or divorce or loss of a spouse/partner to health issues and being unable to work until your planned retirement.

·        The last idea that I want to leave you with is that we have to start talking about this. I invite you to start a conversation about retirement security and specifically about the vulnerabilities among women with other women and with your government representatives

 

Women's Risk in Life by the Chartered Insurance Institute Part 3

Women will experience longer life expectancy, longer periods of ill-health in later life, and a greater need for care, resulting in higher and more unpredictable costs of care than men. However, many women are not preparing for the costs of care

·   A girl born in 2014 can expect to live to 83.2, nearly four years longer than a boy born on the same day.

·   Women can expect to face 19 years of ill-health typically – from age 64 until age 83 – three years more than a man. On average women will need help to carry out basic tasks for nearly 3 years, compared with 1.5 years for a man.

·   At age 65, women can expect to pay £70,000 on care throughout old age, compared with just £37,000 for a man. A woman entering a care home between the age of 65 and 74 can expect to stay for four years, at an average cost of £132,000. Costs in some areas are far higher, with an average of £186,000 in the South East. These figures are the average, and some may face longer stays and far higher costs.

·   Over half of women in their 30s have not thought about how they will pay for care costs.

Women are marginally more risk-averse than men – but evidence is mixed and the impact of other factors such as education and income level seems to be more significant

• Women are slightly more risk-averse and slightly more ‘present-biased’, but this is largely explained by income and motherhood.
• Women are more likely to report that they lack knowledge relating to financial decisions and to want information and advice.

Women, as a result of lower incomes and greater insecurity at work, are less likely to be saving for a pension than men and there is a very large gap by retirement

·   During the years in which women have young children, they have fewer savings than men, reducing their resilience to economic shocks. Men in their late 30s have 60% more in savings than women the same age.

·   Men are more likely to have a private or occupational pension, and they save much more. Women are more likely to have a Defined Benefit (DB) scheme than men, due to a greater likelihood of working in public sector, but access to DB schemes is falling. The average man retires with a pension pot five times higher than the pot an average woman retires with.

Women’s lower savings and pensions wealth means they are more likely to be dependent on others and to be less financially resilient when relationships break down

·   80% of women under 30 agree they are not saving enough for their retirement, compared with 75% of men.

·   Most women in the bottom 40% of households with a household income have no pension wealth at all.

·   Women are more likely to say they will be reliant on the state pension as their main source of income in retirement (36% compared with 30%) – women who are divorced, separated or widowed are particularly likely to be reliant on the state pension.

·   The average divorced woman has less than a third of the pension wealth of the average divorced man – £9,000 compared with £30,000.

·   Most separated woman have no pension wealth at all.

Women's Risk in LIfe by the Chartered Insurance Institute Part 1

I read an interesting report the other day by the Chartered Insurance Institute. The report summarizes the current research on risks women have in life and how this affects their pension. The report called Women’s Risks in Life: An interim report into risk, exposure and resilience to risk in Britain today. It is summarized over the next few posts. For the full pdf report go here 

The report does not paint a positive picture but it does talk about how the insurance profession may improve its response to women’s needs. This involves understanding the current status of the profession’s relationships with women as customers and drawing on the Women’s Risks in Life work (this interim report and the full version to be published during 2017, and additional deep dives) to highlight areas of focus for reviews aimed at improvement and innovation. The problems faced by women in England are faced by women in all parts of the world.

There is still a significant pay gap with women earning far less than men. This has profound effects on women’s life choices, independence, resilience to shocks, and preparedness for later life

·       Women, and particularly those with children, are more likely to feel financially insecure. 1 in 2 women with three or more children say that their money would not last a month if they lost their primary income, compared with just 1 in 4 women without children.

·       Women are now outperforming men in education, being 9 percentage points more likely to go to university and those that do are 4 percentage points more likely to get a good degree. Women and men aged 22–29 now earn the same. However, a significant gender pay gap opens up later on; women working full time in their 40s earn 12% less than men. This is related to a motherhood pay penalty, whereby women who have children before the age of 33 earn significantly less than both men and women without children.

·       On average women in full-time work earn over 9% less than men, down from 17% in 1997.

·       Women are more likely to be low paid than men – they are nearly twice as likely to be earning below the statutory minimum wage (1.7% compared with 1.0%), and far more likely to be

Retirement Confidence is low for women

A new report shows some interesting facts about women and retirement in the US.  I am highlighting six facts here, but the report contains Seventeen Facts About Women’s Retirement Outlook Select Findings from the 17th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey of American Workers. For the full report (pdf file) go to Women and retirement some facts:

Fact #1. Retirement Confidence is Low Only 10 percent of women are “very confident” in their ability to fully retire with a comfortable lifestyle, compared to 19 percent of men. Nearly half of women (45 percent) are “not too confident” or “not at all confident” compared to only 32 percent of men who share those sentiments.

Fact #2. Many Expect to Retire After Age 65 or Not at All Fifty-three percent of women plan to retire after age 65 (40 percent) or do not plan to retire (13 percent), a similar percentage to that of men (54 percent). One in four women expects to retire at age 65, and 22 percent expect to do so before age 65

Fact #3. Half Plan to Work in Retirement Half of women (50 percent) plan to work after they retire, including 11 percent who plan to work full-time and 39 percent who plan to work part-time. Similarly, 52 percent of men plan to work after they retire, including 15 percent full-time and 37 percent part-time. Continuing to work in retirement can help bridge a savings shortfall; however, it may not be a viable option without taking proactive steps to allow for continued employment in retirement.

Fact #4: Are Women Being Proactive So They Can Work Past 65? A majority of women are taking proactive steps to help ensure they can continue working past age 65. Sixty two percent are staying healthy, while 54 percent are performing well at their current job and 42 percent are keeping their job skills up to date. However, responses were lower for networking (16 percent of women, 22 percent of men), scoping out the employment market (16 percent women, 18 percent men), and going back to school (12 percent both women and men). All in all, 91 percent of women have taken at least one of the six steps identified. More than half (55 percent) have taken at least two steps, 33 percent three steps, 14 percent four steps, six percent five steps – but only two percent of women have taken all six steps.

Fact #5. Most Lack a Plan B If Forced Into Retirement Sooner Than Planned An alarmingly low percentage of women (19 percent) and men (31 percent) have a backup plan if forced into retirement sooner than expected. While delaying retirement and taking proactive steps to enable continued employment during retirement, it is vitally important to have a backup plan if forced into retirement sooner than expected (for example, due to a job loss, health issues, family obligations).

Fact #6: Seven in 10 Women Are Saving for Retirement Seventy-two percent of women are saving for retirement through employer-sponsored plans (e.g., 401(k) or similar plans) and/or outside the workplace (e.g., in IRAs or mutual funds), compared to 80 percent of men. Women retirement investors started saving for retirement at age 28 (median), while men investors got an earlier start at age 26 (median)

Income Insights: Gender Retirement Gap

Some excerpts from the “Income Insights: Gender Retirement Gap” a report by Teachers Insurance and Annuity Association of America-College Retirement Equities Fund October 2016

A cursory view of the US retirement system may appear to be gender neutral; however, after carefully reviewing the data, the Gender Retirement Gap and the significant barriers women face is clear.  In order for the two recent college graduates to have the same amount of money saved for retirement, the man would need to save 10% of his salary while the woman would need to save 18%. Generally speaking, women work for fewer years and receive fewer salary increases among other issues.

Throughout their careers, when both men and women are supposed to be saving for retirement, women face greater challenges than men.

1. Women work fewer years over the course of their lives.

2. When they do work, women earn less compensation than men.

3. Women take on less investment risk, which results in lower investment returns.

Many retirement strategies assume workers will be in the workforce for 40 years. The data demonstrates that neither men nor women tend to work that many years. Frequently, women take time off to have children and then do so again later in life to care to for elder parents. These career breaks add up, resulting in women spending significantly fewer years in the workforce.

As the table below highlights, while men work an average of 38 years, women only average 29 years. This nine-year shortfall means that women work 75% of the years that men work. This fact alone makes it immediately obvious that women need to save a higher percentage of their salary while they are working.

The past decade has marked an important shift in American culture. The number of women opting to leave the workforce to care for their children is on the rise. According to the Pew Research Center, at the turn of the century there were 23% stay-at-home mothers (SAHM).

Today the number is nearly 30%. The largest share of SAHM are married women with working husbands. This may seem surprising given the increase in educational achievement over that period. In 1970 only 7% of SAHM were college graduates, compared to 25% today.

According to the US Census Bureau, in the general population women still only earn 78 cents on the dollar relative to men. Women classified as professionals are even worse off. Professional women earned $996 per week in 2015, compared to professional men who earned $1,383, or, stated another way, 72 cents on the dollar.

Women can be much more risk averse than men and therefore invest somewhat differently. They trade and rebalance their portfolios less often, seek to protect the assets they have, and are much less likely to endure risk in hopes of generating higher returns. One of the keys to long-term investment success is the ability to take well-chosen risks, notably equity risk, the principal source of long-term investment returns. In this regard, women are not particularly effective investors.

Unlike other expenses throughout the course of their lives, the hurdles women face in retirement are not easily managed. Financing retirement needs is distinctly different for women

1. Women live longer.

2. Women spend more money on healthcare.

Examining the Social Security data closely, we discover that after a couple reaches the age of 65 about 1/³ of the men will outlive their wives whereas ²/³ of the women will outlive their husbands. The surprise in the findings is that after losing a spouse the surviving spouse will live another decade.

It is easy to think that the only reason women spend more money on healthcare is because they live longer. The data suggests there is more to the story. According to the Department of Health and Human Services from the age of 65 forward men will spend $18,251 on healthcare whereas women will spend $19,558. This 7% additional spending on healthcare can be attributed to women being more likely to have periods where they suffer through a chronic illness and, as the previous section highlights, they are much less likely to benefit from a spouse-caretaker. They also forecast that healthcare expenses will rise at a rate of 5.8% per year between 2015 and 2025, a growth rate that will impact the financial security of many women.

The economics of retirement for women is starkly different than for men. Women work fewer years, at lower levels of compensation and earn lower returns with their savings. These factors combine to create a resource constraint for women in their golden years. In spite of the fact that women will have fewer economic resources at their disposal, they will incur higher expenses during the retirement phase of their lives, the most prominent one being healthcare.

Despite these odds, countless women successfully prepare for retirement and earn financial security. There are many possible strategies that could lead every woman down the path to success. Below are three noteworthy solutions that are easy to implement. Simple solutions include:

A.  Supplemental savings; even beyond tax deferred amounts

Many women hesitate to save more than the “maximum” amount the government allows taxpayers to put aside for retirement. Trusted advisors might very well encourage women to save more than the maximum. Given lengthening longevity and our increasing desire to have quality time in retirement, putting aside supplemental savings will almost always benefit women in the long run.

B.   Higher levels of risk with savings; marginal equity exposure

Women should consider allocating some portion to higher risk savings. By taking more risk and investing in higher returning assets such as: large cap stocks, international stocks, and real estate, women have the potential to improve the performance of their investment portfolios, resulting in higher levels of lifetime income.

C.   Higher level of guaranteed lifetime income

Many financial advisors suggest obtaining guaranteed lifetime income to cover essential expenses in retirement. These principally include; healthcare, housing, clothing, food and shelter. Just as relying on the average number of years worked can be misleading for women, relying on the average expenses in retirement does not account for the additional economic burden women bear in retirement. Women will both live longer and have higher expenses in retirement.

Women should consider opting for a higher level of guaranteed income recognising that their healthcare expenses are 11% higher and that they are likely to be the sole providers of their household for over a decade. Whenever possible, women should strive to obtain guaranteed lifetime income through their company’s retirement plan.

Even though women have longer life expectancies, the Supreme Court held that when companies offer lifetime income through their retirement plans they must use unisex life expectancy tables. The net result is that men and women of the same age with the same savings will receive the same dollar amount each month by opting into a lifetime income plan offered through their company.

All women, especially those with fewer resources at their disposal, should take advantage of the unisex actuarial tables available through their companies and protect themselves from outliving their assets. Women who decide they want lifetime income outside of their company’s retirement plan will quickly discover that without the benefit of the Supreme Court decision, they will receive a smaller monthly paycheck. This marks a unique opportunity for women to experience an economic advantage in the workplace based on gender. 

The HakiPensheni

 I found a very interesting blog called HakiPensheni which I encourage you to read. To read the posts, you have to move down past the ads they have at the top of the page. Once you get to the actual blog posts, you will find them interesting and informative.
The following is from their Blog page "About Us" The HakiPensheni is a non-profit generating organ and its main objective is to protect and promote the pension rights of workers, retirees, and their families. We inspire to become a leader in East Africa region in providing accessible information about social security rights, entitlements, obligations and responsibilities among the contributors so as to make sure they have enough money to live on when they are too old to work. The aim is to become the east Africa’s leading pension educator, targeting at the forefront of efforts to reform the regional's pension programs, targeting inequities in pension laws, providing policymakers with reasoned analyses of pension issues, and proposing workable solutions to pension problems. 

Our vision is to make pensions accessible and we do this by explaining and resolving pension issues for everyone and to ensure that every retirement system simultaneously meets the needs of employers and workers.

The following is from an article about women and retirement that is on the site.

There are ways for pension providers and employers to optimise women’s engagement with pension plans, including:

•        Encourage women to start saving into their pensions early to make up for any missed contributions

•        Engage women at key points in their lives, such as during maternity leave or a career break, and explain the impact it will have on their pension

•        Improve communication through face-to-face and personal interaction (this could include hosting savings bootcamps, which is a common practice in the US)

•        Auto-escalation schemes that encourage a savings increase to make up for missed contributions

•        ϖ Student loan payments or childcare voucher payments defaulting into pension payments once they are no longer required

•        Provide greater support to improve financial knowledge and confidence.

The challenge for the industry is to come up with easily accessible, flexible vehicles that allow people to save for a variety of differing retirement needs.

In addition to industry guidance, solutions such as auto-escalation of contributions increased contributions for set periods of time on return from career breaks and well-designed, diversified investment options also need to be considered.

Addressing women’s retirement needs requires a multi-dimensional approach at all levels, from government policy, pension providers, employers and women themselves.

When Baby Boom Women Retire

The following is taken from a very interesting book called "When Baby Boom Women Retire", it is on Amazon. The book was written by Nancy Dailey. 

 I would encourage you to read the entire book

The message for baby boom women is clear: baby boom women need to prepare and plan for retirement primarily because they are at a financial disadvantage. They earn less than men, have less access to defined benefit coverage, have more difficulty saving, and carry the caregiving burden for children and the elderly. These differences point to a more precarious financial fixture for women than for men. It is further aggravated by the fact that baby boom women are expected to outlive their spouses by fifteen years

Many believe that Boomer women will do ok in retirement and this is because they make some assumptions:

·       Assumption #l: Baby boom women will be the first generation of women who will have earned their own retirement as a worker, not as a spouse. For some women this will be true but many will be disappointed to learn that their Social Security spousal benefit will be higher than their worker's benefit. Even though they have worked all their adult lives, many will not have “earned" the right to retire on their own.

·       Assumption #2: Baby boom women 's labor force participation will make them eligible for their own pensions. Pension coverage is not pension receipt. The nature of work for baby boom women could very well diminish opportunities for actual pension receipt. lf women do receive pension benefits it will most likely be a small, one-time, lump-sum distribution.

·       Assumption #3: Asset income, the third leg of the income "stool. " will be an important part of retirement income; 90% of baby boomers can expect to receive some form of asset income. Asset income will either be minimal or non-existent for the majority of baby boom women. Baby boom women will have great difficultly accruing personal savings. Home ownership is even at risk given the divorce rates of baby boom marriages.

·       Assumption #4: Baby boom' women will not work in old age. They may not get paid but they certainly will be working as caregivers to the elderly.

Over the years’ female boomers have done much to advance the social slams of women yet their progress is steeped in irony:

·       Baby boom women are redefining the institution of marriage yet marriage, as with their mothers, is their best bet for a secure retirement.

·       Life-long employment for women is no guarantee of an “earned” entitlement to retirement.

·       Working outside the home, even with young children, may not give a baby boom woman any more financial advantages in retirement. For many women, not working at all could prove more profitable in their old age.

·       Just as women become eligible, pension benefits will most likely be minimal for the majority of baby boom women.

·       Investment in human capital and increased labor force attachment offered self-sufficiency and some financial independence. but affirmed baby boom women's social role as caregiver.

Are you widowed? Here is some advice on retirement planning

70% of recent widows fire their current financial advisers.  Kimberly Foss has some advice on how to keep widows as clients as well as advice for widows on how to cope. Her full article is here.  Everyone wants advisors who understand their concerns and goals. Although many advisors think they have a good relationship with a couple, keep in mind that the widow’s perspective may not have been fully voiced previously — and it may also have changed due to her loss. 

How can advisor's help get widows on the right road after losing a spouse? I recommend a few guiding principles.

• Allow time to grieve. As tempting as it is to begin with the numbers, a widow’s first priority must be dealing with her emotions. Many widows feel a sense of panic, especially if they spent the past months or years in a state of crisis, caring for an ailing spouse. It’s wise to avoid making major decisions for at least six months to a year.
• Stay flexible. A life insurance disbursement should be placed in a money market fund rather than a certificate of deposit or any other fund that would tie the money up for a period of time.
• Develop a plan for bills and paperwork. A widow who has not been the family’s chief financial officer may need a crash course in personal finance. Set up a system to deal with bills and evaluate investment account statements. Break down the long list of complex financial issues so that they can be addressed in an orderly fashion.
• Look beyond financial matters. In addition to a financial advisor, the widow may also need to work with an attorney, a psychologist, grief counselor or even a career counselor. Certain professionals have greater skill and empathy for working with widows and women in transition. Drawing from your network, offer to coordinate the work of other professionals, monitoring their progress and systematically identifying and addressing any new needs that may emerge in the future.
• Transition from immediate tasks to long-term planning. After the immediate concerns of locating the will and filing for life insurance benefits, it’s time to deal with life planning, including funding the children’s education and retirement and other goals. That’s tough when a client is alone. Develop a plan that takes a holistic view of the situation.
• Take a team approach. Many recent widows turn to family members and friends for financial advice. But while an individual may provide essential emotional support, it is unlikely he or she can serve as a source of dispassionate expert advice. And if overused, this relationship can create an unhealthy dependency that prevents your client from making her own decisions. No one can take the place of a lost spouse, but you can help a widowed client create a team of experts.
• Make retirement saving a priority. Workplace retirement plans mean tax-advantaged savings. So it’s a mistake to focus only on investing the life insurance settlement. Encourage widowed clients to contribute the maximum amount to their 401(k)s and, if they are over age 50, to make the additional catch-up contribution.

Why Women Worry

The following was taken from "Why Women Worry" a slide show at the Hartford and the MIT age lab. The full slide show is here

Retirement investing for females

This was posted on a site called AQ5757 which appears to be a blog originating in the United States. The information is topical but I can find no information on the author of the information. 

The idea which investing for retirement will be different for girls than it will be for guys can appear silly plus even somewhat insulting at initially glance. The idea isn’t meant to be sexist in almost any means, nevertheless there are a amount of factors which are different inside lives of females which create this topic vitally significant.

The initially is that females are paid less for the same job inside the contemporary staff. While this margin has been getting small plus small over time, it’s nonetheless extensive. In a latest research by the United States Department of Labour, ladies were shown to make 24 % lower than males for doing the same job. This can have severe implications with regards to investing for retirement.

The same research by the Department of Labour additionally showed which girls, about average, invest less time functioning than males. A gap of 7 years was present inside the research due to time which certain girls remove to have youngsters, raise a family or care for elderly or sick parents. While the apparent impact to the amount cash earned inside a life is apparent, there is furthermore the impact about any type of savings program from function, plus less social protection.

As when which wasn’t bad enough, the last United States Census showed which females are living a typical of 7 years longer than males. So, not just are girls generating less plus inside fewer years inside the staff, they additionally reside longer meaning they require to conserve more for retirement.

What does all of this mean? It signifies which females could should take a somewhat more aggressive path towards investing for their retirement. It additionally signifies which girls have to begin even earlier than guys to begin saving plus investing. Other wise secrets are to set different objectives than the spouse, because a set of circumstances are different. We could moreover wish To have more diversification inside a portfolio than many thus which when a few of the investments go sour, we won’t be left with nothing. It’s additionally a wise decision to remain over the investments. Reviewing them regularly lets we learn where the doing effectively plus where we could should create changes.

While it’s unpleasant a female might want a completely different investing program for retirement than her spouse, the truth remains which there are forces conspiring against females inside the workplace. However  here is some information to help you plan. Did you know that

• 75% of all married women will become widows?
• the average age a woman is widowed is 70?
• There is a 50% chance one of a couple will need nursing home care in their life?
• women are 3 times more likely than men to become care-givers for their spouse or one of their parents?
• 75% of all inheritances go to women.

Here is a great resource: What Women Need to Know (pdf download) from the Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement (WISER), challenged WISER staff to compile a book about retirement issues that would provide women with information they could readily use. She believed, as do we, that because women live longer and because they are the majority of the nation’s caregivers, that it was especially important for them to know how to take control of their own retirement future—if they don’t, no one else will. 

Working women only putting enough aside for €2,000-a-year pension

This story written by Charlie Weston,  and published in March, related to the Irish situation, but I am sure the situation is the same in other western countries.

THE average woman wants to retire on €40,000 a year, but most only put enough money aside to get a pension of €2,000 a year.

Working women want to retire on big pensions but most are putting too little into a fund to realise their dream.

A new survey, from pensions provider Standard Life and the Connect Women in Pensions group, found the average working woman has a pension pot of just €45,000 – this would provide an annual income of around €2,000.

These women should get a state pension worth around €12,000 a year, but will still need a pension pot of €500,000 to meet their expectation of a €40,000 a year pension, Standard Life's Aileen Power said.

"If you are 20 that means saving €240 per month, if you're 30 that means saving €432 per month, if you're 40 it means saving €840 per month and so on," she said.

Ms Power said it was clear that most women were not saving nearly enough to provide the sort of pension they were seeking.

"If working women want to aim for half their final salary as a pension, they need to save at least 30pc of their annual salary per year," she said.

If women want less, they should try to calculate how much they need to live on in retirement and work back to see how much they need to save monthly, she said.

Meanwhile, trade unions have claimed that the recovery in jobs is leaving women behind.

There is no sign of a significant employment growth for women, an Irish Congress of Trade Unions conference in Wexford was told. Unite regional equalities organiser, Taryn Trainor, said that women must share equally in the recovery.

Ahead of International Women's Day on Saturday, Ms Trainor said: "The latest figures show that total employment growth, including self-employed, over the past year, was just 1.2pc for women.

"When it comes to employees, there was only a fractional increase – 0.4pc for women, and employment for young women – those aged under 35 – has actually fallen.

"At the same time, nearly one in 10 women is under-employed – either working part-time because she cannot access full-time work, or working part-time and unable to get sufficient hours to earn a decent wage.

"All the evidence shows that women were disproportionately impacted by the recession and the austerity response. Now we are witnessing a 'womanless jobs recovery'," Ms Trainor said.

Irish Independent

Healthcare costs in retirement

This was published in November 2013 in the Madison Press  written by Ronald Garver, CFP®, CRPC®, and speaks to one of the challenges my American friends have when they retire. 

Health Care in retirement is a concern for all of us, but the costs of healthcare in Canada are less than the US but many of the prescriptions and other needs we have are not covered by our medicare programs and with the current government thinking they will not be. One of our Premiers, Kathleen Wynne warns that "Canada is headed for a huge economic crisis if the provinces and the federal government don't improve retirement incomes," preferably by enhancing the CPP,

Whether there is federal or provincial action, much thought must take into account that simply increasing the contributions by employee and employer, without additions that factor in the lower wages, particularly of women, workers' precarious jobs, leaving the workforce to care for family members, and immigrant workers who lack the residency requirement, does little to increase and protect the income security for these workers.

On average, women live longer than men and face distinctly different challenges in maintaining their health. Perhaps as a result, women tend to spend more than men on out-of-pocket medical expenses in retirement. According to a 2012 Employee Benefit Research Institute (EBRI) study, retired men spent an average of $124,000 on healthcare, while retired women spent $152,0001 — $28,000 more than their male counterparts. In addition, women are more likely to need (and to spend more money funding) long-term care, some of which isn’t covered by Medicare. (Employee Benefit Research Institute, “Savings Needed for Health Expenses for People Eligible for Medicare: Some Rare Good News,” October 2012.)

With these expenses in mind, it’s not surprising that the cost of healthcare is one of the biggest retirement planning concerns for Americans. Though it’s essential that everyone plan financially for healthcare needs in retirement, it’s especially important that women understand the specific challenges they may face. This knowledge may help women work toward preparing for these expenses and to help avoid a financial shortfall in retirement. Start by:

Estimating your healthcare costs — Begin by assessing your overall health and family health history. Calculate your current annual medical and dental expenses as a starting point. For help projecting what these costs may be in retirement, use an online healthcare calculator or estimator to help you become familiar with treatment costs for a variety of health and dental conditions. Also become educated about various long term care insurance options to determine if a policy might be right for your situation.

Being realistic — If you think you’ve got it covered with Medicare, think again. Today Medicare only pays about 60 percent of retiree healthcare costs and it doesn’t reimburse for most long-term care expenses. Plus, there’s uncertainty about how much it will cover in the future due to potential entitlement reform changes. Knowing the challenges you may face with your health — and what they may cost — can make a difference in being prepared. (Employee Benefit Research Institute, “Savings Needed for Health Expenses for People Eligible for Medicare: Some Rare Good News,” October 2012.)

Creating an emergency fund — Reducing your debt and saving as much as you can before you retire is the simplest way to prepare for an unanticipated need — medical or otherwise. If your balance sheet is healthy, you’ll likely be better positioned to absorb medical costs not covered by Medicare.

Being proactive about your health — Schedule and keep routine dental and medical check ups and stay up-to-date on preventative services including the flu and pneumonia vaccines, colorectal cancer screening and mammography. Thoughtful prevention and early detection can help prevent minor medical issues from becoming major ones. Maintaining a healthy diet, exercising regularly and avoiding tobacco and other addictive substances is important to quality of life at any age. It’s also one of the best and most inexpensive ways to keep medical bills at bay.

Consider setting up a health savings account (HSA) — An HSA allows you to make tax-deductible contributions when you put money in. The money builds up tax-free and you can withdraw it tax-free for qualified medical expenses. Unlike a flexible spending account, you don’t lose money you don’t use. It rolls over and is 100 percent portable. Plus, you can use it anytime during your lifetime to pay for qualified medical expenses. Keep in mind that if you withdraw funds for non-medical purposes, you are subject to a tax penalty. (Note that an HSA is only available with a high deductible health insurance plan .)

Unfortunately, when it comes to healthcare costs in retirement, there is no silver bullet solution. But by following these tips, you can help take control of the things you do have influence over now to help prepare. Consider working with a financial professional who can help you factor real and potential healthcare costs into your overall financial plan for retirement