October 1, 2008

Women Could Face More Savings Shortfalls than Men

Recent research from Hewitt Associates says both women and men are on track to replace 85% of pay at retirement, assuming average life expectancy; however, women need to replace 130% of their final pay, while men need to replace 123% of pay at retirement.

Reported by Rebecca Moore

Noting that women not only make less on average than their male counterparts, but also are expected to live an average of three years longer than men, Hewitt claims average women will need to save 2% of pay more than men to have the same standard of living in retirement. Other factors contributing to a lack of retirement readiness for women is that they save less than men, contributing on average 7.3% of pay compared with 8.1% for men, and invest less aggressively.