Retirement

Women’s 3 Biggest Retirement Concerns

Ella Baker
Women's 3 biggest retirement concerns
Reading time 4 Mins
Published on Jul 1
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Every worker worries how to manage their retirement, however women often face an uphill battle when it comes to preparing for retirement. Women typically take on additional responsibilities than their male counterparts, resulting in lost wages, fewer years of work, and lower retirement income. These responsibilities combined with other issues can often place women in an overall less financially stable retirement situation. Here are the 3 biggest retirement concerns of women in the workforce.

Shorter work histories for less pay

Between taking time off due to pregnancy, staying home to raise children, or leaving the workforce early due to a spouse’s retirement, women have a 12-year shorter average work history than their male counterparts. Combine that with a well-known wage gap, and women are more likely to be behind the retirement curve.

Women often hold more temporary and part-time jobs resulting in overall lower career earnings. These lower earnings lead to lower Social Security and pension benefits, making retirement even more precarious for women.

To offset these issues, some women opt to consider delaying their retirement as long as possible, often until age 70, to maximize their Social Security benefits. Additionally, women should talk to their employer’s retirement plan administrator to ensure that they’re taking advantage of all of the perks their employer-sponsored plan offers. Check out Help Your Employees Prepare for Retirement to make sure that your employees are on track to a happy and stable retirement.

Longer life expectancy

The Social Security Administration reports that women turning 65 today can expect to live until 86.5 on average. One out of every three 65-year old people will live past 90, and one out of seven will live past 95. With these long life spans, women need to be more prepared to fund their retirement for longer.

Whether a result of divorce, widowhood, or their longer life expectancy, women are more likely to be alone in retirement than men. So women must be more proactive in planning for years or decades of single-income retirement. Share Common Retirement Concerns Every Employee Has with your employees to help them plan for retirement.

Caring for dependents

Women have traditionally been the caregivers in the household. Women often provide care for aging parents as well as their children. Although older women are employed at higher rates than ever before, women are still cast in the role of caregiver.

Whether full-time or part-time, women have traditionally been the providers of care for their aging parents and in-laws. Women often reduce their paid working hours or leave employment altogether to provide care to parents. They also spend their funds on care that might have otherwise been earmarked for retirement.

In addition to parents, women are often tapped to support their children far beyond childhood. Grown children who are unemployed and underemployed often return home to live with their parents while they look for a job, finish school, or while going through life transitions. The financial burdens of supporting grown children can often lead to disruptions to retirement savings and unplanned spending. More employers are seeing The Benefits of Dependent Care Reimbursement to help workers better prepare for the demands of caring for aging parents and children.

Plan administration you can trust

Selecting the right retirement plan for your company and employees can be a daunting task. Sheakley Retirement provides individual retirement accounts support for small to medium-size employers, that can help ease that burden. It starts with a consultative meeting to determine the plan design that best meets the needs of the business and its employees. Then we’ll manage the retirement planning services, ensuring simple, efficient and successful administration of your retirement programs.

Learn more about Sheakley Retirement and contact us for your free consultation today. Stay up-to-date on all things Sheakley by subscribing to our blog and following us on social media. Join the discussion by commenting below.


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