HEALTH A-Z
Females OVER
IT’S TIME TO PUT YOUR
financial house IN ORDER words | ELISSA EINHORN
The state of financial health for women older than 50 could easily read like a label on a poisonous house cleaner. Warning! Not planning for your financial future may be hazardous to your future.
A glance at select findings from several studies tells why:
14%
Percentage of women who are “very confident” in their ability to retire with a comfortable lifestyle.
A
Only 14 percent of women are “very confident” in their ability to retire with a comfortable lifestyle, compared to 17 percent of men.
B
Among Baby Boomers (born 1946 to 1964), an alarmingly low 26 percent of women have a backup plan if forced to retire sooner than expected.
C
D
26%
Percentage of Baby Boomers who have a backup plan if forced to retire sooner than expected.
E
Because of parental or caregiver responsibilities, women are more likely to work part-time than men – 28 percent versus 14 percent. This translates to a lower wage base for women and a lesser likelihood of access to employee benefits such as healthcare and retirement plans. Of women who are offered 401(k) or similar plans, 77 percent participate, a rate that lags behind that of men (82 percent). More than 80 percent of women between the ages of 60 and 75 failed a financial literacy quiz.
Referring to this last statistic, Jamie Hopkins, co-director at The American College of Financial Services, which administered the quiz, says, “I would expect a gap. But it was actually double. That shocked me.”
Financial Fitness First Although several other factors are at play for women – they are more risk averse, earn 78 cents for every dollar a man earns and they are likely to outlive a partner or spouse – adhering to a financial fitness regimen can put them back on track. 28
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