Women are closing the gap in retirement savings [Infographic]

Women have long lagged behind men in the retirement savings race, but recent research shows that they’re starting to catch up to their male counterparts. According to the 15th Annual Transamerica Retirement Survey, the gap between the two is getting significantly smaller. The average retirement savings balance for women is up 17 percent from a year ago, and up 71 percent from 2009. The gap between the average balance between women and men narrowed to 37.8 percent in the second quarter of 2014, from a previous 40.5 in 2010. 

Although women are earning 22 percent less than men on average, they are 10 percent more likely to enroll in a workplace savings plan, according to a Vanguard analysis. When it comes to saving outside of the workplace, however, women are still significantly behind — 64 percent of men save outside of work, compared to 55 percent of women.

And although women are more committed to saving than man are — and catching up to men in terms of contributions — women are lacking across the board in terms of retirement confidence. According to the Transamerica survey, men are more likely than women to feel that they are building a large enough nest egg and that they’ll be able to retire with a comfortable lifestyle.