Businesswomen are Poorer in Retirement than Their Male Counterparts

Posted January 15th, 2008 by Susan Gunelius in Finance

women retirement savings planning I read a great article from WomenCorp today by Kent Irwin of eFinplan LLC that lists eight factors which typically leave businesswomen poorer during their retirement years than businessmen. It’s an unfortunate reality but one businesswomen need to be aware of and tackle in the short term.

Here’s a recap of the eight factors Kent lists in his article:

Women earn less money
Women’s health insurance may cost more
Women may take ‘time-outs’ from work
Social Security checks may be lower for women
Women live longer than men
Single mothers are the poorest in retirement
Women may make less on their investments
Women are not well represented in the financial planning industry

Kent provides great suggestions for what businesswomen should do to mitigate the effects of these factors that naturally work against them as they plan for their retirement years. Give his article a read or bookmark it for future use. As Kent suggests, you may even want to bring the article with you to your next meeting with your financial planner to make sure you have all your bases covered. Don’t sell your retirement short.

Do you have any other suggestions for how businesswomen can maximize their retirement savings? What has worked particularly well for you in relation to your retirement plan strategy?

4 Responses to “Businesswomen are Poorer in Retirement than Their Male Counterparts”

Elizabeth Gordon on January 16, 2008 1:44 pm
That is one of the reasons I recommend women consider starting their own business, even if it is just something small on the side at first. Finding away to turn your talent into tangible business value is a great way to diversify your retirement plan. In addition to traditional retirement planning, starting a business (when it is built properly) can provide extra cash flow for your savings plan, as well as a residual revenue stream and long term security for you and your family by having an asset of value that you can one day sell. So many savvy businesswomen spend their career toiling away making someone else rich. Start using your smarts and creativity for you. I am so excited to see that we are seeing such an influx of new women business owners. Find out more on how to do it in my upcoming book, The Chic Entrepreneur: Put Your Business in Higher Heels.
Susan Gunelius on January 16, 2008 5:28 pm
Elizabeth, Thank you so much for stopping by Women On Business and sharing your suggestions for businesswomen. Please don’t forget to come back and let us know when you’re book is available to purchase!
Robin Matuk on January 26, 2008 5:59 pm
Amen. We have got to got to GOT to get over the mentality that it’s too scary to start a business, or worse, not worth the risk. With statistics like these, it is increasingly more important that women capitalize on the benefits of risk taking; I think these stats show that we need to be more risk savvy rather than less.
Susan Gunelius on January 26, 2008 10:23 pm
Robin, you’re so right. I think women in general tend to see the big picture more than men, which can lead women to be more conservative in their decision-making. I agree that the time has come for women to take risks and drive their careers forward.