A gender gap persists in retirement savings. Women with caregiver roles often experience career gaps which means lower savings, lifetime wages, and Social Security. A 2024 survey by the National Council on Aging and Women’s Institute for a Secure Retirement revealed less than half of surveyed women over age 25 have retirement savings.

This gap may be traced to the gender pay gap. Women have historically earned less than men so women may need to work longer before they can retire.

Savings: Men vs. Women

In 2024, women surveyed by the National Council on Aging considered themselves less financially secure and unsure of how to plan and save for retirement than in 2023. According to Prudential, 55-year-olds surveyed in the United States hold less than $50K in median retirement savings in 2024 and 67% believe they will outlive their savings. Additionally, women have less than one-third of the median savings of men and are more likely to delay retirement due to caregiving duties.

With data compiled in late 2022, the Transamerica Center for Retirement Studies saw the following trends based on generation and gender:

Reduced Earnings

On average, women earn 84 cents for every dollar earned, a ratio that has remained unchanged for almost twenty years. This gap widens for women of color and women with disabilities, who earn even less compared to their male counterparts.

Lower earnings result in reduced savings for retirement. Women often experience employment breaks due to maternity leave or caring for family members, which affects their Social Security benefits and contributes to a smaller net worth. A woman's net worth is an average of $5,541, significantly less than a man's average net worth of $12,188.

In 2022, the average monthly Social Security benefit for retirees, disabled workers, and aged widows/widowers was approximately $1,788, totaling around $21,455 annually. Comparatively, in 2022, men received an average monthly Social Security payment of $1,838, while women received $1,484.

Reasons for a Savings Gap

• Women often prioritize different financial goals than men, such as emergency funds, debt repayment, and child support, impacting their capacity to save for retirement.
• Women's access to employer-sponsored retirement plans is generally lower, especially for part-time workers, which disproportionately affects women. This leads to fewer women having the opportunity to contribute to 401(k)s or similar plans.
• Many women are forced to withdraw from their retirement savings prematurely. This reduces the potential for long-term growth of retirement funds.
  
• Women's 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:financial literacy trends are lower than men's in the United States.

Narrowing the Gap

The sooner individuals focus on 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:saving for retirement, the better. For women, the paid 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) at the federal level could effect change. While the FMLA offers 12 weeks of unpaid leave, only 13 states and Washington D.C. have enacted mandatory paid family leave systems.

The wage gap may need to be addressed with policy. Iceland serves as a prime example, having implemented a law that mandates companies with 25 or more employees to report that they provide equal pay for men and women. Failure to comply results in daily fines. In 2021, President Joe Biden outlined an ambitious plan to tackle financial disparities between men and women with the White House Council on Gender Equality.

The Bottom Line

Women tend to earn less than men. Lower wages translate to lower net worth and savings, which impact how much money will be available in retirement. Closing the gender wage gap and implementing policy changes could help 澳洲幸运5官方开奖结果体彩网:bolster retirement savings for all people in the U.S.