Transamerica: Most Women Not Saving Enough

Seven in 10 women say they could work until age 65 and still not have enough saved for their retirement needs, the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies finds.

Nearly 60% of women say they are not currently building a large enough nest egg according to the center, a non-profit foundation funded by Transamerica Life Insurance Co., Los Angeles. The company findings are based on a study of nearly 1,800 American women workers.

The survey respondents estimated needing a median amount of $500,000 to achieve a secure retirement. Yet almost 40% of women have only $50,000 or less saved in all of their household retirement accounts combined.

While half of women are not confident in their ability to retire comfortably, they know what they need to improve their chances of financial security, according to the survey.

Of those polled in the survey, 56% said they want to be educated about how to save and invest for retirement. And three-quarters agreed that they do not know as much as they should about retirement investing.

The study also found 82% were unsure or didn’t know of fees that may be charged to their employer-sponsored retirement plan. In addition, 84% were unaware of the “saver’s credit” available to low-to-middle income workers who are saving for retirement.

When asked if they know that that people age 50 and older may be allowed to make catch-up contributions to their retirement plan, 57% said no.

When asked to identify which sources of information they rely on for retirement planning and investing, the most frequently cited responses by women in the survey included:

–34% trust the advice they receive from friends and family;