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October 23, 2012 at 01:42 PM
LIMRA discovered a disconnect between women’s concern about retirement risk and the steps they’ve taken to prepare, the organization announced Monday. The report found more women were concerned about retirement risk than men, but 32% have done no retirement planning at all.
“We know from earlier studies that working women, on average, have accumulated 40% less than men for retirement, which was confirmed again in this study,” Cecilia Shiner, senior analyst for LIMRA retirement research, said in a statement. “Even though 6 in 10 women are concerned they aren’t saving enough to last throughout their retirement, we see few women taking steps to mitigate for this risk.”
Overall, men are more likely to have taken steps to plan for retirement. Half of men have determined what their income will be in retirement and 43% have determined their expenses. By comparison, 47% of women have determined their income and 39% have determined their expenses.
Over a third of men have estimated how long their assets will last in retirement, compared with 29% of women. This is especially troublesome, as women are likely to have a longer retirement than men.
One explanation for women’s lack of action on retirement planning is that they are simply too busy and haven’t made it a priority, said Alison Salka, vice president and director of retirement research for LIMRA, on Tuesday. “They’re focused on different things and may be balancing family and work,” she told AdvisorOne.
An even larger issue, Salka (left) suggested, is women’s lack of knowledge regarding investing. “We find if people are knowledgeable, they’re more likely to take steps,” Salka said. “Knowledge is the key to engagement.
