Key Takeaways
- In a recent survey, 50% of retired women said that retirement was more expensive than anticipated.
- Almost half of retired women (46%) said they had retired earlier than planned, which may be detrimental to women’s finances, as they typically live longer than men.
- Due to the decline of pensions, more people are responsible for saving for retirement on their own.
For many women, their vision of retirement may be far from reality—especially when it comes to how much it costs.
Half of the women surveyed in a recent study by Corebridge Financial said that retirement was more expensive than they had anticipated, while just under half said that they retired earlier than they expected.
Experts say retiring earlier than planned can have negative financial consequences: early retirees may have insufficient savings and may need to collect Social Security early, resulting in lower monthly checks. And since women have longer life expectancies than men, they may need more in retirement savings or make their dollars stretch for longer.
“Women are both starting retirement earlier than expected and managing costs that are higher than anticipated. These dual challenges point to the importance of creating an action plan early in your working years that can help you both build your retirement savings and make them last throughout your retirement,” said Terri Fiedler, President of Retirement Services at Corebridge Financial.
Most Say They Wish They Had Started Saving Sooner
The majority (63%) of women said they wished they had started saving for retirement earlier. More than 40% said they didn’t start to prioritize retirement until they were age 41 or older.
Since investors benefit from the power of compound interest, those who start saving for retirement earlier in life may not need to invest as aggressively as those who start later. In fact, nearly one-third (31%) of retired women surveyed said that, when they were working, they wished they had contributed more from each paycheck into a retirement plan.
And while more workers could rely on pensions in the past, the responsibility of saving for retirement has largely fallen on individuals. One-third (33%) of retired women said they had a pension versus 9% of non-retired women who said they had one. “This reversal of ownership reflects a changing retirement landscape,” the report said.
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