Scary Statistics About Retirement For Women

This story was originally published by Investopedia.com on April 25, 2012

The 2012 “Women: Let’s Talk About Retirement 12th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey” found thatout of more than 1,800 women workers, 53% expect to self-fund their retirement through 401(k)s, 403(b)s, IRAs or outside savings and investments. Thirty-one percent expect to rely on Social Security. However, a huge disparity exists between younger and older women. Sixty percent of women in their 60s expect to rely on Social Security, while 77% of women in their 20s expect to self-fund. Most women are aware that they are not building a large enough nest egg. Only 8% strongly agree that they are building a large enough retirement nest egg compared to 33% who strongly disagree. Women are as statistically likely as men to report they have been offered (44% vs. 51%) and contribute to (36 % vs. 41%) a workplace retirement savings plan according to the 2012 “Retirement Confidence Survey (RCS).”

However, 60% of women are more likely than 52% of men to indicate they have not tried to calculate how much they will need to have saved by the time they retire. This is a scary prospect, but luckily there are many retirement calculators available to help women take the first step to proper retirement planning. The key is to know how much you’ll need. The RCS reports that women are more likely to say they do not know how much they will need to save (12% vs. 7%). Since women tend to face higher healthcare expenses in retirement due to living longer than men, women need to pay close attention to planning for their retirement.

Read more: http://www.investopedia.com/financial-edge/0412/scary-statistics-about-retirement-for-women.aspx#ixzz27OKLN4oZ