10 Retirement Woes of Female Investors: New York Life

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Newly released data from a recent survey of American investors finds that despite the many strides that women have made, there’s still a long way to go before they catch up with men when it comes to saving for retirement.

Historically, retirement has been a goal that many Americans expected to reach when they get older. But, over the last several years, the entire concept of retirement has changed and, for some investors, it has become unattainable, New York Life Investments points out.

“A significant shift has taken place” that can, at least in part, be attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to the company.

In conjunction with AARP, New York Life Investments spent 2021 engaging with more than 3,000 investors, men and women 20-74 years old, on their feelings about retirement and the activities needed to achieve a successful retirement.

For one thing, how the four different female investor segments — the suddenly single, married breadwinners, married contributors and single breadwinners — view retirement is quite different, Janet Koh, director of the Advisor Advancement Institute at New York Life Investments, told ThinkAdvisor on Monday.

Women are outliving men, but advisors are seeing a lot of the same issues with female clients as when she started in the field several years ago, she said, adding that these issues tend to surface when women get married.

For example, women are “falling just shy of men” when it comes to financial literacy, she noted.

There continues to often be a “disconnect” when it comes to advisors meeting the needs of female investors and it is more important than ever to “meet our female clients where they need to be met,” she said.

In the gallery above are 10 key takeaways from the survey.

(Cover image: Adobe Stock)

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