I have some disturbing news where women are definitely not living life equal to men.
Women tend to live 5 years longer than men on average. Yet they save far more less money for retirement than men, and they tend to invest too conservatively, according to a new study from Vanguard.
When you just save money, rather than investing it, inflation will ravage your savings over time. Then you factor in that women who have children tend to be in and out of workforce, so they have less time to save.
It all adds up to a perfect storm that’s facing women.
The Sun Sentinel found that women in Florida have a 50% greater chance of being impoverished after age 65 than men. So they’re impoverished and, because they worked fewer years on account of child rearing, they have less of a Social Security check too.
That’s a pretty bleak picture. How do you take that as a woman and use it as knowledge to have a better future?
Check out these 4 retirement tips for women
- Save more money when you are working. Be sure to pick up any employer match at work. That’s free money!
- Consider investing, not just saving. In the short term, yes, your portfolio can take some significant hits. But in the long run, there’s hope for great returns on your dough.
- Keep it simple. Investing doesn’t have to be complicated. With the target-retirement funds I recommend in my investment guide at clark.com/invest, you select the year that’s closest to your expected date of retirement and pop your money in. Then the fund’s manager allocates it for you. No mess, no fuss on your part. When you’re young, they have you heavily in stocks. Then as you age, you get less and less stocks and more bonds.
- Work at least part-time past the age when you’d hoped to retire. If you are physically able and planned to stop working in your 60s but don’t have a lot saved, consider working as long you’re healthy.
