Women: Reluctant Retirees?

Posted March 17, 2011 at 10:55 am in Living Savely

Here are two truths we’re widely familiar with when it comes to gender: Women are more likely to live longer than men. And women are more likely than men to control household finances. (Are these two truths coincidence…or causality? O, snap.)

Against this backdrop, let’s examine another truth: When it comes to retirement planning, American women lag behind men in a big way.

It’s a big gender gap and an even bigger disconnect: On a micro level, women are traditionally financial planners, managing day-to-day expenses and bookkeeping. But take a macro snapshot and it’s pretty obvious that women aren’t looking at the big picture and thus aren’t planning for the distant reality of life in retirement, a life that on average is three years longer than that of their male counterparts.

Gulp.

A few unsettling stats underscore this great retirement divide:

Of the 62 million wage and salaried women working in the United States, just 45 percent participated in a retirement plan.

Women overall are 71% more likely than men to live below the poverty line in retirement. When you compare unmarried women to married couples, the statistics are more shocking: Single women are four times more likely than couples to live in poverty.

A survey by the Employee Benefit Research Institute shows that whereas men say they need a million bucks or more for retirement, women say they don’t know how much they need.

Our hope? That everyone reading this—man and woman alike—is a Saver, defying these trends. That you’re all planning, saving and portfolio mixing, building a comfortable stash of ETFs, 401Ks, and “rainy day” funds.

So tell us, ladies—and gents, too (this is an equal opportunity Savers’ blog): Do you have a financial grip on your golden years? Share your stories, your worries, your hopes and your advice. We’re sure there are plenty of women, men and couples who can relate.

Editor’s note: We realize that there are many variables that impact the circumstances of women and retirement planning. Divorce, death, income disparity, single parenthood—all may contribute to the retirement savings gap. We know each case is different.

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In a word, Saver: The joy of receiving a tax refund is called ________.

KJS

When I was 30 my husband and I invested $2000 each in our IRAs. I’m now 62 and you would think, having an IRA rolling over for 32 years, that I would have a solid nest egg. I got my IRA in my divorce 14 years later. But 16 years ago, when I was 46 and the IRA had grown to $33,000, it suddenly was halved to less than $15,000 because its unethical Wall Street managers committed unlawful crimes with a huge fund. They went to jail but so what? That still left me starting with only $15,000 at the age of 46 even though I had done the right thing at 30, due to a bunch of fund managers robbing me. By that point I was a divorced single mom of two boys. I did not have the time – between their care, the fact I’d been bankrupted by their medical bills, and my job – to research stock investments. I just moved my $15,000 into another IRA and have hoped I don’t get robbed by fund managers again. In 2002, due to the dot.bomb collapse of the electronics industry, I was laid off – twice, within one year. A scarring experience, with one child still at home and one in college. (My sons did both graduate from college eventually, with $30,000 of student loan debt each.) I have a job now and my IRA was working its way back up in value over the years – until 2008, when it was halved again – due to GUESS WHAT – more robber barons robbing us. What would really be helpful is if ING would use any influence it has LOUDLY and persistently, to really try to change the ethic on Wall Street and at banks (I do realize ING is a bank) – whether these people get bailouts or not, whether they go to jail or not, none of that matters to them. It does not matter for single moms’ bottom line – because unless fund managers’ way of operating changes, it will just happen again.Obviously this hurts women more often than men, but the fund managers do not care that their predecessors went to jail, they do not care that former customers despise them, they never will, and they’re at it again. What is going to be the point of getting women to be accountable when IRA fund managers aren’t?
Fem Eng

Thank you Dee! Exactly- the Cinderella story hits it right on the head.
It is 50+ women that have had the most influence on me (for watching out for myself).
janice

I handle the money in our household, the day to day and the long term. I work hard at it. We have done fairly well through all the market swings and career redirections. Now that we are nearing retirement with large assets I would welcome guidance. What happens, though when we talk, to financial professionals is that the conversation is directed to my spouse He is a master in his work life and he has been well rewarded financially. In addition, his personality fills a room. Yet he has no handle on or interest in our finances–just wants to know if we have enough, when he asks me for a summary about once a year. Routinely, the planners, male and female, listen intently to my spouse as hetells them his view of our finances as he sounds so authoritative and authentic. My corrections and input is generally tut tutted. So I sit back and we end up with a plan based on fiction. I keep looking for that clairvoyant financial advisor/marriage counselor.

I have to wonder how many woman have had similar experiences and just give up after their input has been repeatedly slighted and disregarded.
Melissa Raue

Joe Veronick, I can tell you that I do not spend $120 on my hair and $80 on my nails to stay pretty, then depend on Prince Charming to carry me into my retirement years. What I did do is work in the low paying field of rehabilitation while being the primary caretaker for my children, move overseas with my husband so he could advance his career, come back and get an additional Masters degree, get a higher paying job, watch my husband loose his job, Lend him money so he could start a business, and continue to live sparingly while sending two kids to college. Together we have sufficient retirement income but large debts from the business and college, in my name. The far larger retirement account is in his name, accumulated during his 30 year career as an executive–an achievement enabled by having a working wife who took care of things at home and worked her career around family obligations. If he should divorce me, I would be poor. If you want to blame women for coming out behind, blame them for sacrificing their own welfare so the husband could sleep well, drive a nice car, and advance his career.
Tricia Barrett

I don’t think that it’s any coincidence that women are less invested financially in their retirements. We spend 20 years of our working life raising children (yes, I’m well aware that there are exceptions: women who choose not to breed, men who parent on their own). Our careers are stalled during that time (we often don’t get to work 60-80 hours a week to make the big bucks) and we need to achieve a greater work/life balance in order to participate in our childrens’ activities. In addition, many of the jobs that women are hired for are the ones that women traditionally have held in the past…Executive Assistants, Receptionists, Nursing, Education, etc. These jobs often don’t pay well enough to support a family, much less plan for retirement. Yes, we have women doctors and lawyers and professional women entering higher paying fields all the time. But if you add to that the fact that women who break into traditionally male-dominated careers make closer to 75 cents to the man’s dollar and you can see that again, it is no wonder men have more to invest in retirement. This isn’t meant to be a rant on sexism in the workplace, simply a matter of what is reflected still in the statistics of female finances over a lifetime. As a single woman with twins, I can tell you that I am working my buns off at my job full-time to keep my house, pay my bills, feed and clothe my children and though I think about my retirement savings all of the time, I still don’t have extra to put away outside of what I fund through my pension at work. It is a struggle to be sure.
Stephanie

Shame on the author, and ING, for publishing this article – not only because it is offensive to women, but it also takes these statistics out of context – assuming that women aren’t looking at the “big picture” when only 45% invest in retirement accounts. To my knowledge, the Department of Labor doesn’t use multiple regression techniques. Therefore, the statistics we see are simple counts of the number of women who participate in savings plans, divided by the total women in the labor force. This means that crucial factors aren’t controlled for, including income, whether the company offers a retirement plan, and whether the job qualifies for a retirement plan. Only until these factors are controlled for can the author claim that women can participate in retirement plans at rates similar to men. I’d venture a guess that once these factors are controlled for, men aren’t significantly more likely to invest than women. Next time, rather making inferences based on percentages, ING and its writers should try analyzing the data to ensure that the relationship between two variables is significant and not the result of other factors. A simple editor’s note at the bottom of the article is not an effective means of addressing these differences between men and women.
marlene kurban

Another issue is college expenses. If you’re a single mom, saving for college for your kid(s) and saving for retirement often means short-changing both funds. Tuition keeps going up every year and financial aid is a fraction at best of what is needed, even for public universities.
http://Guy Guy

I really don’t think women look at the big picture, in general, I am sure there are those that do, but few, out of the population of women in the U.S. I have asked many what is important to them, and they tell me the most off the wall answers, like clothes, how they look etc. What about your future income, their reply something will happen, yea right. Magic is not going to happen. No one is going to come along and pay your way through life, not at thgis stage of the game. Yea I know a tall, dark good looking rich guy will just sweep you off your feet, fat chance of that.
My advice, you better start looking out for your own future.
Cute story, a young 27 year old women, had an 8, but waiting for a 10 to fall in her lap, now at 40, it’s hard for her to get a 5. think about it.
ELS

It’s interesting to read the article and the comments. Both contradict magazines like Cosmopolitan and Redbook, which suggest that women are outearning their boyfriends and husbands. What is the truth? In this day and age, truth has become a relative term.
I never have and never will marry. This decision is NOT out of bitterness, but for me is GOOD FINANCIAL common sense. If you want to discuss social stigmas, the ones I see in the media and the dating world (when I was participating) suggest that a woman making it on her own is ‘successful’. A man doing the same is a ‘failure’ because he is not paired off or he’s ‘selfish’ for not sharing his resources.
In the final analysis, everyone needs to decide who and what they want to be and make that happen, but keep their finances in mind first.
http://MoonwishesStore.ecrater.com Gail

Very interesting convesation. For many years I have studied and learned all I could about finances, but not all life experiences equal being able to do what you learn. Divorce can wreak havoc with savings and retirement plans. Women generally lose out the most in those situations and it is hard to make it back up. I’ve gone down all those different roads, but now have a husband that we are of one mind when it comes to finances.

Although it is hard as I got chronically ill almost the minute we got married, we finally have an IRA going for both of us and since I am the oldest, mine gets priority funding simply because it is the one we will be able to access soonest without penalty (he is 9 years younger). I have happily been sticking bits into Sharebuilders and it is exciting to see those little bits, deposited maybe $40 at a time growing, and now seeing our savings growing. We run several businesses from home which saves on driving, gas and wear and tear on our 12 year old car and hubby can wear yard sale clothes to work. We do what we can to get by and we look with hope to the future. One thing we did do was get rid of credit card debt. That is a huge stress reliever.

As a woman would I do anything different if I could have looking backwards? Absolutely! I probably would have never married until I met current husband (although since I met him at a party for my son that makes things ackward). I do realize now that I had the skills and ability to make good wages and save like crazy. It was only during the period of time I was married that I had trouble saving. This is one of the reasons I just cringe when I hear of single girls helping out their boyfriends with his bills. Girls if he has bills now and wants your help paying them, run the other way!
shaz

Are you kidding ING? I am your customer because I thought you didn’t judge me…well as a single mother who is struggling to catch up after a very messy divorce and trying to raise my daughter AND afford to send her to college…BY MYSELF… I wouldn’t have thought to get this sort of crud from you. I am disappointed to say the least. Keep trying to help us help our selves not tell us that we are losers! Thanks but NO thanks.
AF in NY

As a female, I do believe that a lot of the blame falls on both women individually, and society. I am 30 years old, I have personal savings of about 50k as well as a Roth worth about 60k(with rollovers of retirement savings from previous jobs) and personal insurance. I am engaged, but I do not plan to join anything more than a checking account with my fiance. I was not raised with a financial education or responsibility, my mother married young and had no college education or decent career, so she did not know any better. Therefore, I was not raised to know any better, either. I did not start saving and investing until I was 25. Prior to that I had been spending and accruing $20,000 in debt from college on. I am not blaming anyone but myself. I now have $0 debt, I have a good amount in assets, savings and retirement, and I have only paid off my debt and started saving 2006. I live in NY and have a good career, but not making six figures, and I have been living on my own since college. I’m giving my personal situation to prove that if you are smart about investing, you can save a lot and retire a multimillionaire by retirement, and to show that I have not always been this wise about investing and saving, quite the contrary.

Many people in this country are not taught the basics about finances, quite the contrary. We spend a year teaching kids in high school about trigonometry (90% of people never use that in their careers or anywhere else the rest of their lives), and yet not 5 minutes teaching kids to balance check books or the basics of investment and interest rates. If you weren’t taught by your parents, then like me, it is up to you to teach yourself. For women especially, I believe that this is not a priority. Women are now focused on getting a good education and a good career, but once they have that good career and are making some money, they are not saving and investing that money like they should be doing, especially for the income levels and tax brackets that some women are now climbing to.

Yes, it is true that women make less than men, and that they take lower paying, menial jobs on average. With my generation, that is starting to finally shift. But you have to keep in context whom you are referring to. A woman living in a larger city with an advanced education is likely going to make more money or be more likely to be financially savvy and to save than a woman living in a rural area, married by 20 and kids by 22, who never went to college and living paycheck to paycheck. Women also seem to get screwed by divorces, left shouldering the burden fiscally, and being the primary caretaker of children.

We could get into another separate debate about how perhaps women should make better choices of whom they choose to marry and have kids with, or about the value of not being too young when you get married and have kids, but that is getting off of the point. Like others have mentioned, women sacrifice and put the family before themselves, they perhaps trust too much and assume that a man isn’t going to change or that a marriage is going to work out, but most importantly, WE ARE NOT TEACHING OUR DAUGHTERS ABOUT INVESTING!!! There is still a double standard in this country, and we treat sons very differently than daughters. We teach sons that they will someday have to support a family and be the breadwinner, and that they need to earn a good salary to afford a family, and we teach daughters to cook and clean and take care of children.

I have other friends that have great careers (lawyers, doctors, etc), but just because they are highly educated or have a great career, does not mean that they all invest wisely, live below their means and plan and save for their future aggressively. Coupled with the fact that we have a society that lives by the motto of “buy now, pay later”, and “we are all entitled, someone will fix the mess that we made”, I don’t see these dynamics changing anytime soon. It seems that a lot of women wait until they are forced to save or support themselves on their own to start.

I don’t think that this article was sexist or off-target, I think that it is very accurate. I can’t tell you how many people tell me that they are amazed that I invest and participate in retirement plans. I spoke with an HR admin at my company who told me that most people my age, particularly women, don’t invest in our company’s retirement plan. They give away free money, and pay more in taxes, because they don’t realize the importance or the benefit. I think if anyone is working full time, they can go without that cup of starbucks and save at least 3% a year. That is the least that you can do for yourself, ladies.
Christina

Thank you, Femaie Saver… Good stuff for me to hear, & you’re astute about the PhD not necessarily having been a terrific life choice. I’m workng on getting a job with compensation commensurate with the experience II actually do & the high quality of the work I perform..

The generations: my mother’s, mine (I’m 49), and my neices’ (for whom I have at times served as primary caretaker) and 20-something students, display how deeply they bear the shifting gender norms of the past 50 years. As a child, I was explicitly expected only to “be a mother” for my lifework. It turns out I’m a thinker and teacher and writer. Yet, there is always an inner hill to climb in order to live beyond that pleasing child I became before I knew I was becoming. I am not making any kind of excuse or blame. But in these postings, I hear a deeply ingrained sense of a certain “less than others” tone especially in women who are 50ish or older. The “what” of a woman changed entirely during our own lifetimes. Oh, so so much for the better! Yet there is more than a single generation slightly “lost” in the shift.

So, yes, it is time for me, personally, to wise up. I read all the posts and appreciate most the practical investing advice, as well as the encouragement from women of my own generation who are “playing catch-up” successfully. Nevertheless, very hard to do when one is single, care-taking, and working so hard at low-paying jobs that it is difficult to have the energies to make or look for what is better. I will, however, as well as turn my considerable intellect toward learning something about investing. Female saver, thank you for the gentle shake.
Krisha

Interesting post and comments – I do not find this post offensive since it brings into light some of the challenges women face regarding personal finances. Women (in fact, everyone) should take charge of their own finances and not rely on spouses, children, SS, etc. However, the plight of people not saving enough for retirement and not understanding personal finance seems inevitable as long as people are proud to admit that they are “no good in math” or can’t balance a checking acount, etc.

I am in my mid-twenties and consider myself a saver. Most of my friends are single and female, and I would also consider themselves as savers.
Carrie

Here’s one more you may not have considered that has an impact on what you can save for retirement & what benefits you qualify for like Social Security and the monthly amount you’ll get–caregiving for older parents, which often goes to the women in the family. I took care of my Momma who had Alzheimer’s, mild Type 2 diabetes, COPD, and glaucoma, for 13 years from when I was ages 45.5-59. In the beginning, I tried to juggle me working and caregiving, but as the diseases got worse, I needed to cut back to me working part time. A lot of my savings just went to paying my own basic bills; as others have mentioned, the two recessions in the past 10 yrs. cut things like my stock market based IRA’s value in half twice. In the end, Momma got cancer; ironically only one year after Momma died, I was also diagnosed with cancer myself.
Madeleine

This is not a sexist article, nor does it abuse or under analyze statistics. It reports sad and well-known truths. Get over it. Look them in the face and on your own level do what you need to do. My great grandmother told my mother to make sure she always had a nest egg of her own. It was true in the 1920s and it’s true now.
Brooke

Wow…horribly offensive.
Happy Camper

This article started out as offensive because it attributed general characteristics to women. I am a health care professional with a net worth just below 10 M. I got this by working hard, selecting a profession that pays well, has lots of potential, and getting four college degrees. I made my career choices based on opportunities that had risk and reward. Fortunately, it worked out well.
I notice that many people are not interested in finance and investment, regardless of . It is rare that I find another person who enjoys all the intricacies of personal finance, and world economics. Certainly our society does not value economics. Basic economics are not taught in schools. Most parents do not teach the subject to their children, rich or poor. It is unfortunate that so many responders tended to blame their financial circumstances on others…….fund managers, spouses, recessions, the government. We all make our own choices. I am female and am so glad to be living in these times, with educational and financial opportunities. It sure helped that I grew up in the USA and love math and science.
A happy camper
Cindy

I didn’t find the article offensiv – it just missed HUGE pieces of information!
I controlled the finances in my marriage, managing savings and debt very well. Contributions to our retirement and kids college were always a priority. When hubby took over finances all that changed. Over one year’s time he had siphoned off more than 40K from savings into two secret bank accounts in prep for divorce.

Most women lose their retirement in a divorce, like I did, if they had a joint retirement fund. I got the house – and the mortgage payment. HE got the retirement fund and the money he took. So there I was in my late 40′s with NO retirement and two kids to support. I have taken a big hit in income due to the economy, drastically reduced child support because ex has lost 5 jobs and declared bankruptcy. I can barely scrape by let alone try to build a returement!!

Oh – and I certainly don’t make enough to purchase health insurance!

Get real!

55% of women don’t invest in retirement because they CAN’T, not because they won’t.
Gail

I’m certainly not in poverty – but I could have been if it hadn’t been for the Lord in my life. I don’t have as much as I’d like – but He is still taking care of me now. I was divorced after having three children; so I’ve been a single mom for many years now.

You see – when I was raised up, it was always thought that I would be a wife and mother some day and would be an at-home mother and my husband would take care of me. My parents didn’t have the foresight to consider anything different for me. And I went along with their thinking. I only went to a two-year college because my step father couldn’t afford to send me and my two brothers to college at the same time.

However, as it turned out, I got married later in life, age 28. And then ended up with three children and a divorce. I stayed at home to raise my children for 10 years while I was still married, as was expected. When they got to school age I started back to work part-time during the transition of divorce and then full time. But when you’re divorced and poor, you may know that retirement is important – but how can you “save money” when you don’t have the money to take care of your children’s needs. Well – the only choice I had was to look UP. I made Jesus Christ my Savior. But I also made Him my LORD. He got me a full-time job which automatically took out retirement for me. Therefore I have a retirement check each month today – along with Social Security (which I hope doesn’t run out!!!)

But over the years many miracles came my way. God blessed me abundantly in my obedience to Him. He was faithful. He’s been my provider all these years. When my house was literally rotting around the edges and I had NO money to fix it, a friend died and I inherited enough to fix my house, put a little cushion in savings, bought a really nice “used” care, and invest some for the future. Prior to that, a relative of mine died and gave me her home. I sold it and became the mortgagee for the house. The buyer paid me payments which offset my own mortgage payments on my house. When that mortgage was paid off to me, I still had my own mortgage payments to make on my own home. I didn’t know what I was going to do. But God did. Another distant relative died and left me stocks. I cashed them in and paid off my home. As I have tithed, God has always been faithful to His Word – to take care of ALL my needs.

Truly – my prayer is that everyone who is reading this testimony will consider becoming a Christian. It is very simple to become one. All you have to do is truly realize that you are a “sinner” (you haven’t been perfect), repent of those sins (turn away from them), ASK JESUS TO FORGIVE YOUR SINS AND COME AND LIVE IN YOUR HEART. You have now become a Christian. You see – Jesus is God and is also God’s Son. He is one of the three forms of God: God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. He came to earth in order to provide a way back to the Father in Heaven. Heaven is a place where there can’t be any sin. We can’t go to heaven if there is sin in our lives. God/Jesus sacrificed His PERFECT SINLESS life to take the punishment for our sins. He paid the price of sin for us. Now He is offering us a FREE GIFT of SALVATION – if we will accept it. Without this free gift of salvation we can’t be allowed into heaven. Our sin has been paid for in full by Jesus who died on the cross in our places.

I am so thankful to Jesus for His forgiveness of my sin, for taking care of me and my children all these years financially, and for giving me three children who are Christians themselves with Christian spouses and raising their children to know and love the Lord. My prayer is that YOU will accept His forgiveness of YOUR sins as well and that you receive Him as your Savior and the “Lord” of your life.
Woman

Well, GUY fifty comments earlier, if some man asked me what was important, I would not have said retirement investments because, unless I know you well–very well–it would not be a subject I would share. It’s none of your damn business, and your contemptuous attitude toward women shows in your comment. There are many men looking to improve their financial situation now that they have screwed up their own finances. Why are YOU asking, anywhay, eh?

There are many men who do not participate in a retirement plan. Much depends on earnings. I have no doubt that if retirement plan participation percentagees were ranked by earnings and by gender, one would find that participation is greatest at the higher wage brackets and that women’s participation would be fairly equivalent to men’s by bracket. But particiation tells you nothing about readiness for retirement. Return and total funs amassed does. The article isn’t sexist–it’s incomplete.

I quit working for others and started my own business, which is the only way I could really amass the exttra money I wanted to have a truely great retirement. But, as many have stated, now I have to work beyond my planned retirement age because of the sociopaths on WallStreet and the moron politicians who continue to support them over the people.
Heidi

Excuses, excuses! Ladies – you must always look out for number One! Even if you think you’ve found your soulmate, love of your life and he’s filthy rich, always remember that things can change when you least expect it. Young women – go to college – work hard – study something that you can truly make money at. When opportunities arise at work to prove yourself or take on more responsibility – take it. It may feel uncomfortable or scary at the moment but take the risk and try. This is how to make more money. Too often I see the women I work with shying away from the challenges to be comfortable in their job. If the topic of retirement savings comes up, I hear comments like – Oh we save through my husbands job, or I have no idea how much we have in our account, or I don’t understand stocks and bonds. Make an effort to just start reading financial news and articles. Eventually, you’ll start to understand. I’ve always been self sufficient, but when I divorced from a cheating spouse at the age of 36 with 2 & 4 year old children, I knew I had to focus even more on myself and the needs of my children. Luckily, I was better employed than my ex and I had a company car. While child support is important, live as though receiving it is just a bonus. Live as though it may not come in when you expect it to (as I have experienced). Why focus on income disparity between men and women?? Just focus on you and your income and strive to make more of it. I hate to say it, but learn to think like a man!!
Carlotta Tyler

Boy, did ING step in it, as the New Hampshire farmer would say.
This article assumed a lot and missed a lot more.
Women’s lives are more diverse than men’s due to the multiplicity of roles she may play over a lifetime and the variety of situations she may find herself in due to biology, generational shifts and a legal system that differentially values him and her. Women are prone to get pregnant. In the US society there are big penalties for that. High potential for layoff during pregnancy (reality not legal “protections”), time lost in pension accrual (if she even gets one – 82% in my generation did not) If she marries she will suffer a yearly tax penalty and virtually donate her Social Security pay-out (accepting either her own or her hubby’s on reaching 65).
Significant information is more often not conveyed to female children as they reach maturity….about finance, investment, life, office politics, etc.
This is the only society among the developed nations that pays people to go to war (Military Leave) to kill people and penalizes women to give birth without pay. And, incidentally, contributing the next generation of taxpayers to the society while getting the worst maternity leave in the industrial world.
http://Correction Carlotta Tyler

On the Social Security contribution the wife receives HALF of the hubby’s……which is often more than double what the mother-wife-woman receives on her own maternity interrupted work record.
http://hopefullily.blogspot.com/ Lily

Very interesting and truthful comments that open out the article–which I agree made too many sweeping statements that tended to blame women for things that simply are not under their direct control.

That said, there is one thing that women often do that drives me nuts. They waste their money on trivialities and their opportunities on dead ends. Women today have the most opportunities in the history of the world and are the richest they have ever been. Yet they too often squander both their opportunities on sacrificing for other people and their cold cash on garbage. On house decorations. On clothes. On all kinds of temporary pleasures that add nothing to their minds and simply divert them from the emptiness in their souls because they gave up on their dreams. BTW, men do this too, but for women it is more crucial that we not make the same mistakes men do, because most of us will never have as much money as men do to play with. Thus we end up in our old age without the money to live comfortably, alone, after everyone we sacrificed for is dead, or after we have turned our children into selfish louts who won’t give back to us. And we never did the big thing we were put on this earth to do.

I honor every person who has taken time off and lost income and opportunities in order to take care of children and ill spouses and elderly parents. That’s not what I’m driving at. But ladies, you can do this and first become a dentist instead of just a dental hygienist who never makes a good living. Too many of you still think that to take care of personal and family obligations, you should sacrifice your own career or fulfilled life ambitions. This is similar to voluntarily undergoing foot-binding. The world is the less because of women who have not dared to fully become who they could be. Women who are obsessively scrapbooking instead of discovering the cure for cancer, etc.

That’s the waste I am talking about. We need to be. We need to get on Wall Street ourselves and change the way it works, if that’s what we care about.

And meanwhile, we don’t need lectures from on high about how we are shortchanging ourselves because we don’t look at the big picture, with the implication that we are stupid. Women look at the big picture all the time. When we put our trust in a man, we take more risks than any Wall St. arb ever did. And we pay for our mistakes with our own blood, not by shrugging it off and letting the federal government bail out our company.
SMS

I am so disappointed by the quality and content of this article. I expect much more of ING and will no longer be able to trust future ING publications. Using such limited data and manipulating it to place nearly all blame on the shoulders of women as though it’s “obvious” that women aren’t long range thinkers is unacceptable. A basic course in gender aspects of workplace economics would refute or complicate nearly all of this article. I hope future articles will be more carefully reviewed and researched before publishing.
Amanda Deady

I am 30 years old, have a sucessful career, and own a home. I learned I needed to invest when I realized my parents had done a not so good job at it. I started working when I was 16. Out of the house at 18 and never looked back. I too fell into the trap of being a “have it now society.” I became so burdened by my debt it was ruining my life. So I decided to get myself out of it. During all this I learned something so valuable, live like you are old (please no offense). In saying this If you can’t pay cash for it, you don’t need it. Of course with some exception. I also learned to take advantage of a 401 K and pay myself with saving. I am a young investor but I do no one thing no one else it going to do it for us so be wise with your money, save, and enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Amy

Really irresponsible blogging. How am I supposed to feel about the fact that my financial institution suspects that I don’t care about the big picture? (Or about my financial institution trying too hard to be cool and using outdated slang like “O, snap.”)

You could have talked more in-depth about the factors mentioned in the editor’s note. Or you could have refrained from attributing the higher percentages of women living in poverty to their own short-sightedness. If you had simply provided information about demographics without commentary, that would not have been offensive.

Doesn’t it seem plausible that women tend to have less money in retirement because they make less money over the course of their careers? Not only are women penalized if they take time off to raise children–they also make less money than their male colleagues for doing the exact same jobs, even when career history is controlled for. Not to mention the fact that women’s work is undervalued, and when women start to outnumber men in a traditionally male profession (for example, clerical work or psychology), average salaries decrease.

There have been a lot of rigorous studies on the wage gap. I wish you would have considered them before writing this post.
Linda

I am currently 48. I started my 401k, at the age of 25, the first year the company offered it. My pay back then was a $6 an hour. By staying home with the folks for as long as I could, I contributed 15% every year and there was NO company match… the company did, however, have an ESOP. The 401k/ESOP has now been converted to an IRA following my departure from the company two years ago at which time I had amassed an amount of $300K through contributions and reinvestments. In my current position, which pays a 65% lower salary than the previous one, I invest as much as I can afford. However, this year I was able to take advantage of the low mortgage rates and put some of my savings towards the purchase a condo of which I hope to retire to when the time comes.

At the age of 27, I began investing with a full-service mutual funds broker who “raked me through the coals.” After a couple of years of losing money in the funds he suggested and I selected, I yanked all of my money out of his accounts and paid the required penalties figuring that I could get it all back by investing on my own than to have the funds languish in a couple of stupid mutual funds. That was during the go-go years of the late 1990s, and I pretty much recouped all that I had lost.

Upon moving my money to the discount brokerage, I began reading as many personal finance books and magazines I could get my hands on. A subscription to Value Line proved to be most beneficial as I learned and generated my own sense of confidence to invest in the stock market. Along the way, I have experienced many lump and bumps, but I have also gained confidence in investing in the stock market by learning what my risk tolerance is. Today, I have a fairly aggressive portfolio… quite uncommon for most women I think.

What I learned from investing came from books, magazines, my mom and eventually experience. Both men and women in America lack the confidence in investing their funds… in most families (but perhaps the well-endowed) it is not part of the lesson plan. If you want to learn, the material is out there, but one needs to be persistent and always needs to “keep up on it”. I currently keep abreast of economic news by reading the Wall Street Journal. Like many women in many households, my mom was the one who was in charge of alll financials matters… evden after her death two years ago, my father has no concept of how to invest; yet, while I was growing up, he was always quick to say “anybody can do it.”

My father was essentially correct: anybody CAN do it. It just takes an enormous amount of reading, experimentation, patience, and persistence. Above all, one must have the desire to do it. There is much to learn and understand, but it is not an impossible task. He, unfortunately, doesn’t always practice what he preaches, has no desire to do it, and has refused to learn anything about investing even two years after my mom passed.

I realize now that I am, indeed, bucking the trend for most women in America. However, in my perseverance to have my nest egg, I sacrificed, first, by not getting married and, second, by not having children. If I ever do get married, my plans are to protect my retirement savings and other investments via prenuptial agreements. I am too far along in my life to have to worry about some “gold digger” stealing all of my hard worked effort. It is likely that I will never get married… oh well.

Finally, it doesn’t help that many companies still pay women at lower wages than men at similar jobs using similar work skills. While the trend of higher pay for women has been recently reported, it is still limited to a small contingency of women… and mostly those who have graduated from college recently in fields where women traditionallyhave not studied. For the most part, women still primarily work in most of the low-paying, administrative positions… though that has to some degree paid off in this past economic downturn, as most women were able to keep their jobs longer overall. But no matter who they are, people on the lower to middle ends of the pay scale lose out because they are the ones who often don’t have much left over (after housing, food, clothing, and transportation costs) to invest in themselves for retirement.
GRNess

Female savers are out there, but the fact is, I’m afraid the statistics that we’re in the minority are sadly true. Don’t be offended by it, just do something to change it. I have learned from very responsible parents that you live according to your means and you save, save, save whenever possible. My spouse and I are both college educated, but don’t make a lot of money, however, we have always lived frugally and make a point of saving our money. I think my saving grace was marry someone who was not a “spender.” Choose your spouse carefully ladies and make sure that when you marry, you have legal documents written up that specify that should your marriage result in divorce, you take any personal retirement savings with you. Do not ever combine your accounts. It’s just bad money management. You can’t rely on marriage lasting forever. I have been married twenty years and am on-track for retirement, but I’m still not going to run the risk of assuming we will definitely ride off into the sunset together in our old age. I’m looking out for “mama” with a company pension, deferred compensation plan, Roth IRA, and personal savings account in my name only that will go with me if/when I go.
b

In the USA, women make 80-cents to the man’s dollar. Women will always be “behind” in investments until there is equal pay.
Nancy

You have got to be kidding, I survived an abusive, money grabbing husband who took most of what I earned, and then we got divorced. I managed to parlay my small assets into a nice retirement without any male spouse to tell me how to do that….Shame on you!
Femalesaver

I believe that people should not graduate from college with 100K debt. If you have to go that far in debt, then its not a college you can afford. Parents, don’t let your children incur that kind of deb either.
CM

I find it interesting that a lot of women are arguing with this article’s author by making the excuse that the reason they’ve fallen behind on retirement saving is because they’ve put their children or husbands first. That’s EXACTLY the point this author is making. You’re so on top of the finances for the family, making sure THEIR needs are taking care of. How about factoring in your future? One of you admitted that if your husband left, he’d be financially secure, but you’d be poor. SO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!! And another of you mentioned your children’s college education as a barrier to your financial future. Suze Orman said something about this. You can always get loans for school, but you can’t get loans for retirement.

Women need to get their acts together, and realize that by putting themselves first, they’re making it possible for them to be independent (ie, not a burden on their children) and make it possible for them to continue being happy and healthy without anyone’s support.
TD

I have to admit I too agree with this article. Its not meant to be mean or degrading it is just stating what are mostly facts. Women DO worry more about others than they do themselves. They always say its the “mother” in them that drives them to take care of others needs before their own.
The first lesson I received about saving I was a 19 year old Marine (now 43). A MAN told me to save X number of dollars every payday and I will be richer in the future. He took time to explain to me the importance of saving for my future and the necessity of having an IRA. He gave me a nice little binder with a very crisp $1 bill that was to be my first dollar saved. Um…..one day I wanted some M&M’s and that was the only dollar I had so Im sad to say I spent it and everything he told me was flushed from my brain.

I spent 8 years in the service and was Honorably Discharged with NOTHING saved. It was not until I started working my current job that I decided to get serious about saving. I contributed 10% of my pay for the first 9 years to my company’s retirement plan (they match). After 9 years I decided I wouldnt miss another 1 or 2 % from my pay so I slowly started bumping it up until I reached 25%. After 15 years and a stock market crash I still have managed to save $135,000 toward my future. I have since scaled my contribution back to 8% because I want to begin investing the rest in my Roth IRA.

I never married although I came close once. It was after I became extremely serious about MY finances and MY future and the man I was seeing just was not on the same page. Never had money and always looking to borrow. I felt like I needed someone to enhance what Im trying to build not someone who could bring nothing but bad credit and debt to the table. As much as I talked to him it just wasnt registering so I decided after almost 4 years (and his 2nd repossesed car) that enough was enough.

I was never taught by my parents. Neither of them had any knowledge of money. They divorced and my mom worked doubles to put food on the table for my 2 brothers and I. Im happy to be in a position that I can plan for my future and help her at the same time. I will not help so much as to sacrifice my future though. Its not always easy but I dont need the flat screen t.v. or the shiny new SUV until my 12 year old car breaks down completely. I take simple vacations usually to places within an 8 hour drive and I stay at discount hotels even then. I dont need the latest gadgets and am working toward ridding myself of my satellite bill. Too much money and there is nothing ever on.

We as women have to think more of OUR future than our grand mothers did. It was a different world back then and the time is now to adapt and overcome.
Margaret Plaganis

I agree with EF from NY whole-heartedly,
Most of us have not been raised with sophisticated, successful economic role models.
Many of us remained ignorant about investing or chose to neglect our personal economic welfare as young women.
We embarked instead on careers which took second place to “care-taking” a partner’s career, raising families, managing households, etc.
A thousand years ago, when I began working to support myself through college, it was standard practice to offer women 1/2 the wage given to men. “Since men were head of household” they were “entitled” to more pay for the same work. That practice was not just or right. It was common and based on rigid, solid society-based “rules”. Just as other civil rights issues have been slow to change by law. Our beliefs and attitudes about what is “right” or “just” have been shaped by our culture’s prescribed roles for women.
We underestimate the decades of damage done by this historical inequity. Our habits, attitudes, beliefs and motivations to shape our lives are strongly impacted by “invisible” parts of our society.
I salute EF for her courage and determination to shape a strong economic life for herself. I salute the hard work it takes to move away from our family history, gender roles and fashionable influences. I’d like to hear more from her about how she educated herself about financial matters. It might help others to learn how to ask for help, especially about financial matters we don’t understand.
Sincerely,
MP from CT
Judith Lorimer

I am single and retired from 33 years of teaching in 2004 at the age of 63. I am very fortunate in having a good pension plan that pays me enough-about $42,000 a year- to live comfortably, though not lavishly.I actually am taking home more now than I was when I was working because I was putting a fairly high percentage of my salary into retirement accounts. Even after retiring I still make regular deposits into savings accounts and a mutual fund investment account. I paid my mortgage off early, and while working contributed to both a 401k and a 403b plan as well as contributions to the state retirement fund. I have a couple of IRA’s and a Roth IRA, and get a small amount from Social Security. I also have an assortment of investments that have pretty much recovered to pre-recession levels, plus a few CD’s and some Savings bonds that are still earning a higher rate of interest than most bank accounts.. I turned 70 recently and will soon have to take mandatory distribution amounts from the annuity accounts and IRA’s, but I don’t really need the money yet , so most of it will go into investments or savings accounts. I think that single women making a modest salary (my highest annual pay was $53,000) can manage to save enough, even without a defined pension plan, to have a comfortable retirement if they start early enough. I probably should have started planning and investing for retirement before I actually did (mid-80′s), but so far things have worked out petty well. I’ll never be rich, but I should be able to hold my own, even with the ups and downs of the economy.
Self-Educated

Ladies, the point of the article is to make you stop and think, and if it offended you, then at least you’re thinking. We women do tend to put ourselves on the back burner to care for others. However, you can take care of others AND look out for yourself at the same time. My family never discussed money growing up; my father was the breadwinner, and Mom was a home-economist. I found out when I was a teenager that she always had a savings account of her own that she deposited money saved by couponing at the grocery store, or other savings “earned.” That was what her mother taught her and it was her version of a 401K. This lesson stuck with me, and when I was in my early 20s I was fortunate to have a work colleague whose motto was “If it is to be, it is up to me.” She was actively involved in her investments, read the Wall Street Journal and anything she could get her hands on regarding investing. She took the time to share her experience and knowledge with me, and the two of us lobbied to get our employer to finally offer a 401K plan. I moved on from that company about 5 years later, but the experience has stuck with me ever since; I continued to educate myself about investing and stocks, bonds and mutual funds. I bought my house when I was 31, and have continued to save and invest through career changes and starting my husband’s business 5 years ago and then my own business 4 years ago. Now, at 42.75, my husband and I have almost paid off our credit cards (business startup costs for both his and my businesses, and a few stupid splurges before we smartened up) and are on track to have no debt but the mortgage in about a year from now. We live well, but have a modest lifestyle compared to others: Our cars are 6 and 8 years old, but well-maintained and we don’t care who the “Joneses’ ” are or what they have! We are too busy running both our businesses and living our lives to keep up with the latest worthless status symbols that will add nothing to our quality of life.

The Bottom line: Every woman has the opportunity and the means to educate herself: Information is free online and at the library (remember those?!) The keys to fincial freedom and success? They are simple: 1. Live below your means (no credit card debt) 2. Pay yourself first through savings and the most important: 3. EDUCATE YOURSELF and take an active role in your financial future. Always remember: “IF IT IS TO BE, IT IS UP TO ME!”
Christine

Thank you Self-Educated. I agree entirely. ING is simply pointing out some sad discrepancies, not be judgmental. The fact is, many women (and men!) know less than they need to about savings and investing and many in our society (definitely NOT just women) are intent on “instant gratification” to an extent our parents and grandparents never dreamed of. It feels as though in the post-recession some are heading back to living under their incomes and putting some away but more education is needed.
As for the “robber barons” in the finance field, we need to demand more accountability of our legislators and the regulations they create or change. Accepting the status quo is so much easier and as mentioned above can derail even the best laid plans.
http://Hunter37 James T. Collins

I was married to a woman for 48 years that money burned holes in her pockets. I was lucky enough to put together pensions that allow a good standard of living when combined with SS. The fallacy in this situation is inflation and the rotten government we have at all levels and the taxes inflicted by self serving politicians buying votes with public money. She died, I did not divorce her for the curious. Every case is different but I find myself trying to protect my income at a time when I should be enjoying life. So I have great empathy for women with spendthrift husbands and the mishaps, financially, that this brings.
A Suze Orman Fan

Thank You Self – Educated . You said it the best and I agree one hundred fold with your Keys to success. YOU have to put yourself first, No one cares more about YOU than YOU. Investing should be everyones second job. Every $1 invested counts, it’s never to late to educate yourself, and start investing. Not doing it – Is the worst mistake you can make.
Rachael

Wow lots of ladies responding on this one, and I have my sob story to tell as well. I’m 28 divorced single mom with 2 small kids, working my butt off to pay for the short comings of my lame ex. But I do it with a smile and realize I make more money than many and followed my dreams early to get a good education. Although my retirement is practically non-existent at the moment, I plan to invest aggressive in it shortly (with-in 3 months). The main reason for the lag is due to no funds, I’ve been paying off credit card bills all year long. But thanks to many good financial books I’ve read lately, including: Prince Charming isn’t Coming: How Women Get Smart About Money, I have gotten a better hold on my finances and I hope that by the time I retire I’m in a better position than my male counter parts. On that note I do have to say that I am a bit disappointed in ING with this article as I do find it quite offensive to women. My mom unfortunately passed away unexpectedly a few years ago. She was always dependent on my father which I believe was just a sign of the time she grew up in. Women retiring now didn’t have the knowledge and opportunities that women today do. I know my generation will be flipping the switch on the men.
Julie

My husband and myself have been saving for years and hoped to retire early, if Wall St decides to behave itself. I am in charge of the finances. We have no debt except the mortgage, which I pay extra to every month. We both have 401K’s and I am maxing out on my contributions. We also put extra aside to additional retirement funds we have set up through a fee-only financial advisor. The financial advisor doesn’t represent funds or banks – she represents me because I’m the one that pays her, so she advises me when to move money to safer or more aggressive area. I believe we are on track to retire early based on all this planning. My master plan is to be able to retire comfortably and travel quite a bit. That is why I am saving so much at this time.
I believe the initial article that stated women don’t save for the future. I see that in my friends.
JAN c

I agree with most of the postings here that yes, women aren’t stupid, should invest, should save, but for many of us almost to the retirement age, this is all very NEW. We weren’t brought up to do this stuff. We didn’t know how to do this stuff. When I began working many years ago, one never heard of a 401K and IRAs. If you saved any money you saved it in a bank when you went to cash your check. Believe it or not, people back 50 years ago actually paid their bills with CASH MONEY. When you bought groceries you didn’t swipe your card, you took $50 bucks out of your wallet and paid cash. And, yes back then you could actually get a weeks worth of groceries enough to feed 4 people for $50. This is not so long ago people.
Men went to work and some, not all, got pensions for staying at their job for 20 or more years. Find a man today who is 33 or so, who has been at a company for 5 or 6 years AND gets a pension. Pension, what’s that!
I say thank God now that women ARE getting to manage their own money and there should be a course in middle school to teach investing to everyone not only women. I am sure the young men would benefit also.
Zhang

Wow. I’ve learned more from the comments than from the article. Thank you for sharing your stories, everyone. I’m in my mid-20s and the culture push towards marriage is so strong. It’s good to know there are strong and independent women out there who make the run on their own. It sounds hard, but ijt’s good to hear that you are doing it and doing it well. Thank you!
Queenbea

Applause! Applause! Women who are speaking out! This article is nauseating to say the least. The majority of women do look at the “big picture” and no matter the age today young and old alike we are are trying to make some sense of where to invest other than our mattresses! The old proverbial save, diversify, and buy a home is not advice that is going to take us into the future. My suggestion is increase your financial education, learn what they “don’t teach” in school about finances and watch the rich…what do they do…they seem to get rich whether the economy is up or down…what is their secret to “cashflow”???
Lori

Nothing like a crappy article to bring out the fierce in women! And some mighty fine ladies with whom I could imagine a get-together with a glass of wine and talk about all that we have done and plan to do to make our lives better. This article pointed right at me. I came from two hard-working parents (a teacher and a banker) that are still together today and are enjoying what they have carefully saved up over the years. Did I learn anything? No. I am 48, divorced when the children were elementary school-aged and still caring for them as teens. Oh, I get a whopping $800 a month, when I ask. I don’t ask. I thought I was marrying Prince Charming and I was going to be taken care of. Well, he turned into a Princess-not-so-charming that kept putting on my glass slippers. My parents put me through college and I am self-employed which was a blessing to be at home, but it is hand-to-mouth most of the time. I am grateful to have learned how to be a saver from my banker father, but I still do not know how to earn. My dad also told me to open my Roth IRA. I remember that day. I cried. I simply couldn’t imagine any money I could possibly turn over. My future was a haze. I invested a little at Schwab but it wasn’t until Sharebuilders that I learned just how to invest. Schwab talks over your head. ING talks right to you. Now I have confidence in money building and I am ready to work on what is next for ME! And the men keep lining up…. but that isn’t where my head’s at. I am 100% into my own personal and financial growth and stability. I can’t wait to see what I am becoming!
http://victoria victoriacays@gmail.com

Back in the early 80s I subscribed to a finance magazine put out by Harvard. I couldn’t understand most of what they were talking about, but I figured I might absorb something just by sheer exposure. An article about IRAs was pretty straight forward so I thought I’d try it. After that, my story is pretty much the same as that of KJS. And like she, I haven’t been totally in the dark throughout the process. Small consolation. I’m just glad that my sons are much better prepared for reading the financial map of life than I was at their age and that I was instrumental in their basic education. I wasn’t a single mother but as far as financial planing I might as well have been. Please don’t assume that men just know better all on their own or because their fathers input in their education.