ROCKFORD, Ill. (WIFR) – Retirement can be an intimidating process for many one study shows it is more of a daunting process for older women.
Research done by Seniorliving.org found women have it even harder than men. In the past few years, especially with inflation, the costs of retirement have created a weight of stress on women. Their research shows that 14% of older women feel very unprepared for retirement, compared to 7% of older men. Corie Wagner, a senior industry analyst at Seniorliving talks about some of the reasons why women feel more unprepared.
“Women have had fewer years of earning potential, so if you are taking years out of the workforce to raise children or care for family members like an older parent, you are just gonna have fewer years to be saving and accruing money from a job,” said Wagner.
“Also, unfortunately, in a lot of cases, even if you are in the workforce, women are still getting paid less than a man might be getting paid for the same work so you have less money to put into your savings accounts and plan for retirement” Wagner explained.
Financial trends like inflation have become a concern for all Americans but they found older women are more concerned than older men about inflation, living costs, and the future of social security. Women express more anxiety over their male counterparts in areas like healthcare costs and running out of money. A few factors that play into this are women having longer lifespans and fewer earning years than men.
Even if women feel less prepared for retirement, it is never too late to reach out to family members or a professional to learn how to improve your financial circumstances and become more confident when it comes to retiring.
“Just one other measure, this is a group that we should really be paying attention to and more resources need to be available for women as they prepare for retirement” stated Wagner.